By Balan Selvamuthukumaran ’27
Please read Spring Break Trip: The Grand Circle first.
Though my spring break is technically over, my trip didn’t actually end with a final trip to Amboy Crater. We still had an extra day ‘till my best friend went back home to New Jersey, and we had to make good use of the last beautiful California day he had before going back to the cold. With that being said, I was very reluctant to spend time doing the usual tourist-y things in Los Angeles (I’d already seen them multiple times, in fact with my best friend the year prior) and did my absolute best to convince the group to spend some time at the beach instead.
Thankfully, this worked out—my best friend’s girlfriend hadn’t seen any of the beaches of California yet, and my friends from Pomona were happy about the chance to spend a peaceful day at the beach after our long road trip. Everyone had work to do or at least wanted to read a book on the beach instead of doing something incredibly active, and it was the best day possible for it. The five of us got lunch near the Promenade, and then we drove close to the Santa Monica pier (thankfully after snagging public parking!) set up on an empty patch of sand.
Unlike previous Santa Monica trips, we avoided the pier, beach volleyball courts, and in fact the ocean for the most part. None of us were really dressed for the beach, so we chose to sit around and talk for a while. We briefly considered buying a soccer ball off one of the traveling vendors but we concluded it was mostly not a great idea and contented ourselves with beautiful ocean views. I’ve never actually been to Santa Monica—or really, any of the beaches in California—outside the summer months, so it was nice to see the place when it was a little less crowded and there was more of a breeze. It’s also a great place to go cycling while you watch the coast, so I expect I’ll head off again at some point (especially if I can round up a car—it’s a loooong trip by train).