SoCal

i had a very awesome day at the AOTP, sun was shining and the sea life was frolicky and mostly cooperative to the cameras. :) holidays and weekends tend to get crowded out here, but there are other things to see if you are a well planning traveler, not a seat-of-the-pants tourist like myself. there is a mall nearby to escape the heat/watch a movie, the beach to enjoy the heat, there are scenic boat tours varying in time and of course, the queen mary is right up the road, in all her haunted glory. also for a brief time, some of the titanic exhibits are on display there. am going to do a repeat trip to long beach, and soon!

the weekend at big bear lake was totally relaxing. got to walk around the lake and it's preserve, had the opportunities to go horseback riding, parasailing and tour the lake on a pirate ship! for a winter town, it was surprisingly fun to hang out there for a weekend in june!

always better than going by yourself is going with company, which is exactly what i did on this perfectly clear and cool monday afternoon.  we decided to hit the santa monica pier and then walk up a few blocks to the third street promenade.  a long day and blisters prevented us from hitting the magicopolis, even a brief walk through the area, but it was totally recouped by walking over the PCH (pacific coast highway) via pedistrian bridge back to the oceanside of the highway, back down to the pier.  seeing an amusement park right on the pier was very cool and nostaligic of times gone by.  the pier is definitely a family with little kids kinda thing to do, although a lot of adults were fishing off the edge or splashing through the waves on the sand.  bubba-gump shrimp co. where we had lunch is right on the pier, but they also had a few nice (and expensive) seafood restaurants at the pier, as well as a boardwalk type of area where you could buy souvenirs.

today was a late start and so only a short visit to the queen mary.  only had a choice to do the temporary titanic exhibit, or the self-guided tour of the ship, and since the ship was going to be there for a long time, decided on the titanic exhibit. interesting setup of a exhibit, showing a lot of the room setups, objects found on underwater excursions, and of course, stages leading up to the inevitable disaster.

after the ship, i headed on back to venice beach and spent my first evening on the beach.  tried to take pictures of the sunset, but the PCH (pacific coast highway) blocked the rest of the sun's trip down.  stayed on the venice boardwalk till late, people watching.  what colorful entertainment they provided!  saw snake charmers, glass walkers, percussion players, dancers, and of course, muscle beach!