It’s about 90
miles to Long Beach from Ventura. So
this should be a quick trip. But nooooo. Disaster strikes again. We were on the Ventura highway when a couple
of passing cars started waving at us and pointed back to the trailer @#!! So we pulled over and one of the wheels was
really smoking. The wheel bearing was
hot, hot, hot. Here we are stuck on
another highway going to LA. I think from
now on we need to avoid Los Angeles. We
called AAA only to find out we had no road service coverage on the
trailer. The car yes, but not the
trailer @#!!! So they gave us a number
to another towing company in the area, who gave us the number to a mobile RV
repair service who showed up within a ½ hour.
We were able to drive a short distance and exit the highway. Fortunately the axle was not badly damaged. Only the bearing, which was repaired, rebuilt, and replaced right there on the side of the road. After a 7 hour delay we were on our way again to Long Beach.
We are staying at
Golden Shore RV Resort. This RV park is
close to Port of Long Beach and the harbor where the Queen Mary is parked and
where the cruise ship terminals are. It
is also across the street from where we catch the ferry to Catalina
Island. It is a small park that was
crowded with big rigs; some look like permanent guests. The day and night is noisy with highway
traffic, port noise from the containers being moved off the ships and onto rail
cars. You hear trains all night. However this is a very comfortable RV
park. It is very clean and nicely laid
out and we have a very large site. Even
though we have big rigs on both sides of us, our site feels spacious.
DISNEYLAND and CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE
We spent three
days walking these two theme parks. As
usual it was way too crowded with long waits at most of the rides. You really do need Fast Pass for the rides
that have them. We spent day one at
Disneyland, day two at California Adventure and day 3 at both parks with a long
break mid afternoon where it got very, very hot (high 80’s). A lot of the best rides were closed in both
parks; Grizzly River Run, Matterhorn, Splash Mountain; mainly the roller
coaster rides. All closed for maintenance. In Disneyland, all of Critter Country is
closed. Major changes there.
FROZEN is all over
both parks. Did you know they are doing
a sequel to Frozen; Frozen 2. In California Adventure we watched a 10 minute
preview of CINDERELLA, which is now out in theaters. Rose plays Cinderella. You know, Rose from Downton Abby.
DISNEYLAND
![]() |
Closed for maintenance |
Spring is here!!
Dinner at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ yummmmmmmmm
CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE![]() |
Cinnamon roll breakfast! |
Dug from “UP”.
Can you find the kitty??
The Disney company supports feral colonies in their theme parks. They TNR (trap, neuter, return). It saves the cats and the cats keep the parks
free of mice, rats, etc. It’s a win,
win.
LOS ANGELES
ZOO
We visited the Los
Angeles Zoo on our 4th day here.
This is a very nice zoo on 133 acres and home to 1,100 mammals, birds
and reptiles. It was in the low 90’s, so
we strolled through the zoo very slowly and took lots of breaks.

These 2 Gray Kangaroos both have a baby in their pouch.
CATALINA
ISLAND
Another hot day at
Long Beach. As we rode on the ferry to
Catalina Island we were hoping it would be cooler on Avalon. It wasn’t.
So we slowly walked the main street and checked out the shops. Mostly tourist junk, so we just looked. We visited the small museum located in the
round building that once held the casino.
Lots of interesting info on the past visiting movie stars. Natalie Wood had drowned here.
Looking back to Long Beach
Leaving Long Beach on the Catalina Express we pass the Queen Mary. It is now a hotel and restaurant. Next to the Queen Mary is the cruise ship terminal (round dome) which is shared with the Queen Mary.


This is a clever way to get to their boat that is anchored out in the bay.
This 'ball' lets you walk on the water.
In the 1930's or 40's, Catalina was known for their tile making factories. The city of Avalon is full of these tiles.
We took the trolley to a hill top to visit the Wrigley Memorial and Botanic Gardens. William Wrigley (chewing gum) once owned this whole island.
MUSEUM of TOLERANCE
- This is a ‘must see’. It is a museum of interactive exhibits that covers all forms of intolerance and discrimination and confronts human rights issues. The tolerance center spotlights human rights abuses throughout the world; genocides, terrorism and hate crimes. The Holocaust Exhibit walks us through the period from the 1920’s to 1945 to witness the events in Nazi-dominated Europe. There is an extra exhibit on Anne Frank that covers her life from childhood to her death. This is very informative as we find out what happened to Anne and her family after they were discovered in their hiding place. This museum is intense but well worth the 6 hours it took us to explore it all. www.museumoftolerance.com
Museum courtyard
HI MELISSA
Sometime during
this busy week we found time to have dinner with a family friend, Melissa
Melchior. She is the daughter of our
friends Bonnie and Mike Melchior from Gig Harbor, WA. You met them on our past trailer tripping
blogs. Bonnie was a roommate in my younger days when
I lived in Vallejo. And Bonnie’s brother, Dan, is married to my 1st
cousin, Linda (lives in Davenport, Florida).
You have also met them in past trailer tripping blogs when we traveled
to the east coast. Tasha, (the 2nd
cousin you meet earlier in Ventura) is the daughter of another 1st
cousin, Bob; who is the brother of Linda.
Melissa is Linda’s niece. So is
Tasha.
We are all somewhat related. But Melissa and Tasha are not
related. However, Melissa’s mother’s
(Bonnie) brother (Dan) is married to Tasha’s father’s (Bob) sister (Linda).
Are you following all
that?? Whatever the relations, we are
all one big happy family.
Melissa recently
moved to Long Beach to work for Metro Ports.
She is the manager at the cruise terminal here in Long Beach. We got to see her cozy home and had a very
nice visit at a Mediterranean grille nearby.
Next stop is San
Diego.
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