Long Beach California

Our journey to the coast of California included gridlock traffic on the 10 freeway, thankfully it was the Martin Luther King holiday. Being on any super highway towing a car behind a 40 foot motorhome is a nerve wracking challenge, although Captain Jay makes it look easy !

Our Long Beach California park was apparently the only RV park in the area and it was "nestled" in a large parking lot! It was adjacent to a lovely scenic city park with walking trails so we'll take it. I was anxious to be in Long Beach because I was so interested in seeing the Queen Mary which was just across the bay from us. We settled in the first day went out for dinner and planned to see the QM day two.
We made our way over to the bay and paid for a self directed tour of the retired ocean liner. She has called Long Beach her home since 1967 and in my opinion, time has not been kind to her.

 

I had such high expectations of the tour and I have to admit I was disappointed. From the time we arrived there was a strange vibe in the air.  The staff had no energy, they weren't helpful and I didn't feel they were engaged in being part of this amazing bit of history. The ship is very aged and it hasn't been maintained, during our walk around the ship we didn't see anyone around, including other visitors, I was very disappointed to see a Starbucks on board, really? That saddened me, I wanted to see a tea room with cucumber sandwiches...something regal and elegant, a staffer with white gloves or someone in a starched uniform. We considered having lunch at the restaurant but decided it just looked tired and old and was virtually empty at lunch time. A highlight, which I missed, was when Jay and Sandy visited the engine room, the two captains loved it, so, overall it was worth the trip!

 This attraction could be so much better,  I hope in the future that the City of Long Beach with restore this attraction to its former glory.
We stayed in Long beach for 5 days and we enjoyed other sights and had some amazing lunches on the water, the weather was so..so but that didn't dampen our enthusiasm for the area. We also visited Laguna Beach and it was a wonderful day trip with extraordinary views of the beaches and some very fancy stores and finally some ice cream for the trip back up to Long Beach to pack up for our trip to Malibu.

A gorgeous beach!

Next stop Malibu Beach!