Travel: Santa Monica Pier

The official end of Rt 66 (Cali side) is the Santa Monica Pier. There is an “end sign” and everything!

When you see the first sign, it is attached to a Rt 66 souvenir shop. If you are traveling the route and you are interested in the actual history of the road, stop there and talk to the man running it. He is a wealth of information, stories and photos.

That last pic – not the real people, in case you were wondering. Our Cali visit was during the lead up to the summit between Don and Kim.

Santa Monica Pier opened on September 9, 1909. It was the first concrete pier on the west coast. Santa Monica Pier has a great page about the history of this little nugget of awesomeness, complete with a roller coaster and it can be found HERE.

Let’s talk about the roller coaster, it’s name is West Coaster. It is a steel coaster, constructed in 1996 by Morgan Manufacturing, that rises to a height of 55 feet and races at speeds of up to 35 mph. It begins with a helix followed by a gentle first drop, a quick bunny hop and concludes with one final helix before returning to the station. We were treated to two run throughs for the price of $10.

And yes, we took a selfie or two…

We paid similarly to ride the ferris wheel, though it was a bit longer of a ride than the coaster and offered unparalleled views of the beach and coastline.

We tried to figure out if this was an ocean rescue by the Coast Guard of that little boat it hovered over but after one revolution the chopper was gone and I could not pinpoint the boat without it hovering above.

All in all, this was a fun little stop to end our epic journey on Rt 66. It is also the jump off point to start the epic California Coast portion of our vacation. But, before we do, there has to be a pano picture taken!