ALONG COMES MARY

Recently I had the fun of stopping in Santa Monica, the ultimate SoCal destination. There, you will find their famous boardwalk with not only great food & souvenirs, but RIDES! Roller coaster, ferris wheel, bumper cars & more. you probably have seen it featured in movies (I love Disney’s Mighty Joe Young, where he rescues the little boy from the burning ferris wheel) or perhaps you have been.
They also have gorgeous walk & bike paths along the beach, & a fun playground where not only little ones play; exercisers, joggers, walkers, all frequent the monkey bars & swings to add to their work out. I had a blast swinging overlooking the theme park, water, dogs enjoying a walk, rollerbladers & cute surfer dudes;-)

Nearby are shops galore & their 3rd Street Promenade. While I didn’t get a chanch to check that out, I could see they had a farmers market of some kind going on…I cannot wait to check that out, of course! I did go in some of their other shops, like a great Goodwill (I am a huge thrifter!) & afew doors down from there was…..wait for it…a gluten free cafe!!;-) You can either be seated in their dining room, or enjoy something from the bakery case in the front part at the “Community Table”, where I enjoyed my Vegan GF Pecan Caramel Cheezecake. I highly recommend this! I had a tough time deciding on it as they also had GF cookies, brownies & other varieties of cakes. I love cheesecake & lately have found that I like the VEGAN kind even better.

I do have one minor peeve with this spot, though–they only have specialty coffee. While my double shot espresso was great, I would have preferred just a regular coffee;-) They also have smoothies & teas that look great.

Whats a post about SoCal without a picture of palm trees?;-)

SM is truly one of the most beautiful areas in the LA area, just be aware that parking is pretty much all metered, so have cash & coins on you (& some meters do take credit cards) & watch your clock for when the time expires!:-)

(*All photography copyrighted & taken by Along Comes Mary. Please contact her for permission BEFORE using in your own media. Thank you!)