Sunday, March 15, 2015

Day 6 - 12: LONG BEACH, California

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.

It was a fun 3 days with lots of walking exercise and good eating.  No weight loss though.  Too much ice cream.

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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