Day 37 - Long Beach, CALIFORNIA # 2

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It was a quiet night and we slept pretty well although the air conditioning was a bit annoying. We have had it on heating mode for the last couple of weeks and generally set it around 72 degrees (22 in Celsius) and often we just turn it off before going to bed so we don’t have the annoying on / off cycle happening throughout the night but here in LA the room we were in was set to cooling mode and it got really stuffy as soon as you turned it off so we had to leave it on all night.



We had a lay in to let Kerry get some extra shut eye and went down for breakfast around 9.00 am and I decided to make my own waffle for the very first time (they are generally always available at hotel breakfast venues so I reckon I’ve had about 100 opportunities previously on our travels here !). I was reasonably disciplined with my application of maple syrup being quite conscious of the calories. Kerry was feeling a bit better as it looked like the tablets she took last night are working so we decided to go for a walk around downtown Long Beach.



The area is so clean here in Long Beach and there are lots of murals on the walls and ceramic artworks on the sidewalks. It was about a mile to walk to the waterfront / marina area and as we went passed the Pike Mall Shopping area there was no-one around so we kept walking around the Shoreline Aquatic Park to the lighthouse and we could see across to the other side of the Los Angeles River to the Queen Mary ship (now a hotel).



It was now around 11am and the sun started peeking through the overcast skies overhead and was a comfortable 22 degrees. The marina is a big horseshoe shape and we walked from one end where the lighthouse was to the other end. At one section there was a small jetty and there were a few pigeons hanging around and I generally find these birds rather unattractive but today there was this one that caught my eye as on the feathers at the back of his neck the sunlight was making his feathers change to this turquoise like colour and I thought how pretty this looked amongst the dull grey colours they have and I was feeling a bit sad as most pigeons are in big groups where they are not known for their beauty but more for the wobbling heads and exertions they leave everywhere. And as I approached him for a closer look he turned his head around to face the opposite direction and the sunlight changed his feathers on the same area to a pink colour. I had now come to realise these birds actually do have nice features and I was not admitting the neat stripe on his back as well.



We moved on and came across Tequila Jacks Bar / Restaurant and my first observation was sighting a rather large glass that was full of Margarita on one table and then I saw a few more of the same and I convinced Kerry this would help with her recovery so in we go and we got the last table next to the boardwalk of this waterfront area and when the waiter brought out a complimentary basket of tortilla chips and salsa it took me back to our time in San Antonio on a previous trip where I had a beer or two in what seemed to be the same size and shaped glass.



Kerry ordered a house Margarita and I ordered a Dos Equis and the drinks were huge and I needed two hands to lift the glass it was so heavy. It was so relaxing being here that we took our time and at one stage I was contemplating staying until happy hour started at 3pm (there are worst things you can do !). After devouring the original complimentary serving of the tortilla chips and salsa and then our main meals and we both ordered the Beef Taquitos which were served on a bed of lettuce with rice and beans. Kerry had refried beans and I had the black beans. Once we finished these they brought out more tortilla chips and salsa.




We stayed until around 2.00 pm and left to explore the other shops around the shoreline village. We then walked home to our hotel which took around 30 minutes as Kerry was not feeling 100% from all the walking. I was thinking that since there are so many restaurants around here that I’d expect the Friday night vibe will be good tonight.



On our way back Kerry went straight to the hotel and I headed back to Vons to get the wine. I settled on two bottles of the Ste. Chateau Michelle 2021 Rose which I managed to score for the members price of $7.77. I looked at the label and it looked very familiar and then I realised this bottle comes from the Seattle, Washington region and we had enjoyed this same Rose on our drive down the West Coast through Oregon to San Francisco on our last trip here in 2019.



We chilled back in the room for a while and later headed to the restaurant across the road for dinner to the Bistro Lounge which is part of the Marriott Courtyard Long Beach Hotel and we had a nice booth seat and a nice waiter named Jesse. Kerry had the Pan Seared Salmon and I had a Sausage Rigatoni and both were excellent meals. We were back in the room pretty early to pack the bags in readiness for our Carnival Cruise starting tomorrow down to the Mexican Riviera which will give us a relaxing back end to this holiday to celebrate seeing all 50 states.

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Photos

View diagonally across the intersection out the front of our hotel where we had dinner last night at the Long Beach Taco Company. If you could look to the corner on your left you would find the restaurant where we had dinner tonight (we don’t venture fa
r!)