January 16 Long Beach

I’m embarrassed to say it . After 9 months we finally ventured down to Long Beach . It’s only 30 minutes to the South of where we live . It’s out of sight out of mind , shepherded from view by the Palos Verdes headland .I had a preconceived vision of this area based on a horror 4 hour return trip from LEGO land . My view of the area was badly tainted after that experience. The only thing I knew about the place was on the cigarette box the old man used to smoke . Long Beach is a city in its own right , much bigger than I imagined . It’s home to the massive Los Angles port , big industry and the gateway to Catalina Island and all things eco tourism on the Pacific .Just South lays Huntington Beach and a stretch of Southern California’s best beach locales stretching all the way down to SanDiego . Once rounding the last headland at Palos Verdes we are met with a vast shipping port . A big arse bridge spans San Pedro to Long Beach . In Long Beach we park at the waterfront near the Aquarium and a host of restaurants. This joint is pretty cool , clean and quite pretty . Nothing like we expected . We only came for a drive by and immediately it becomes apparent that Long Beach requires a full day of exploring . The Aquarium, The Queen Mary ( old style passenger ship) , the waterfront, restaurants, outlet shopping , a convention centre , old ships( used in the Pirates of the Caribbean),port and ocean cruises and a modern well kept city centre . Some parts of it reminded me of Surfers Paradise . Time quickly ran out as we really only touched the surface . It’s an under rated tourist destination that deserves better marketing . You don’t here of Long Beach when it comes to hollidaying in LA , but it has everything you want for keeping the family busy . Long Beach , we’l be back .