Review - Travel - California - Long Beach - Long Beach Navy Memorial

My family and I spent some time last week in Los Angeles and Long Beach enjoying amusements and interesting sights. While looking for The Queen Mary (queenmary.com) at the Long Beach port, we stumbled upon the Shoreline Aquatic Park tucked nicely behind the Aquarium of the Pacific. Kid-friendly with lots of things to see and a nice, well-maintained trail to explore.

There's a small, metered parking lot which hosted a food truck at the time of my visit.

A brief history of the port area.

USS Frank E. Evans and the Lost 74 - the ship collided with an Australian aircraft carrier (HMAS Melbourne) on June 3, 1969 in the South China Sea. 74 sailors were killed. Their names are dedicated on this plaque.

The massive anchor was from one of President T. Roosevelt's sixteen ships in his "Great White Fleet". The ships were sent around to demonstrate America's power as trading partners. The anchor was salvaged in 1908 by Al Larson

This flag mast was from the Long Beach Navy Hospital (c. 1942).

According to the plaque at the base, this signpost connected LBNSY (Long Beach Naval Shipyard) to NAVSTA (Naval Station) and was erected to commemorate the "Fighting Sullivan Brothers" who lost their lives aboard the USS Juneau CL-52. This ship was a light cruising ship that was torpedoed in the Soloman Islands in 1942. There were five Sullivan brothers on board that ship. Due to their loss, they enacted a "one-per-ship" rule for siblings! The connection to Long Beach was through one of the brothers who lived in the city.

This, my friends, is a Navysphere sculpture based on an Armillary Sphere (see the info plaque above) which was a model for navigation. Kids may think it's a giant jungle-gym to climb on so please be sure to discourage that tendancy. This sphere commemorates the History of the United States Navy in Long Beach and is dedicated to architect Paul Revere Williams who designed many of the Naval Station's buildings. It was donated on July 10, 2004.

A compass.

Inside this bench is a time capsule that was buried on May 1998.

The bathrooms (on the left side of this photo) are close to the aquarium building and were pleasantly clean. There was also a basketball court and vending machines.

If you have time, there is more to explore along the water and a walk up to Lion's Lighthouse or Lion's Lighthouse for Sight. Although the 65-foot lighthouse is not open to the public (it was built in 2000 as a decorative advertisement piece for the Lion's Club and was never used as an official lighthouse), the views on the hill are nice.

Hours: The park might be open 24 hours but the gate to the small parking lot is only open during daylight hours. During the day the park is safe. I wouldn't recommend visiting after hours.

Address: 200 Aquarium Way, Long Beach, CA 90802

More information on the memorial's history can be found at USS Frank E Evans Association

More information on the park can be found at Shoreline Aquatic Park

More information on Lions Lighthouse

Book Review - The Secret Life of Hidden Places

When I picked up this book, I thought it would be more like a travelogue and offer some unique places to visit. However, I would definitely not consider this a travel guide even though it's been listed in the travel section. Some of the places, like the Winchester Mystery House (https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/) you can visit because they are open to the public and this book offers an interesting overview of the house, Mrs Sarah Winchester, and her obsession with her home.

There are lots of interesting places described in good detail in this book such as The Krazy Kat Klub Speakeasy in Washington DC, The Sleeping Beauty Apartment in Paris, France (a time capsule apartment that had been untouched for 70 years), Labryinths, and much more.

Title: The Secret Life of Hidden Places: Concealed Rooms, Clandestine Passageways, and the Curious Minds That Made Them
Author: Stefan Bachman, April Genevieve Tucholke
ISBN: 978-1-5235-1698-8

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Book Review - The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2025

Our family visits Walt Disney World several times a year, but it's been while since we've gone to the other coast to Disneyland. So I went ahead and bought this book to see what has changed (a lot!) so we can plan a visit.

The goal of this book is to save families money and time at one of the most popular (and crowded) amusement parks in America. This book has over 400 pages of very useful information. Every restaurant, ride, activity, hotels, and more are discussed in detail throughout as well as when to go, how to maximize your number of days, where and how to get discounts, etc.

Another thing I love about these guides are the ratings provided for each ride and activity with regard to preschool child, grade school child, teens, young adults, over 30 adults, and seniors and then whether the ride is seasonal and/or has Lightning Lane options.

There's a small section on Universal Studios Hollywood in case you plan to add that to your trip.

The back of the book features pull-out maps to take with you (for those who don't enjoy relying on the park apps).

Notice - there is currently a 25% off coupon on this book for a limited time!

Title: The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland 2025
Author: Seth Kubersky, Bob Sehlinger, Len Testa
ISBN: 978-1-62809-155-7

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Book Review - Moon Death Valley National Park

Browsing through the library for places to visit in the future, I found this book on Death Valley National Park which is on my bucket list of places to visit. It's not really a place to visit during the summer break due to the super high temperatures (and a lot of local businesses actually close for parts of the summer due to the heat).

You know I love the Moon Travel Guides for their full-color maps and highlights in addition to the tips and beautiful photographs. This book is divided into sections - Death Valley National Park itself, Furnace Creek and the Amargosa Range, Stovepipe Wells and the Nevada Triangle, Scotty's Castle and the Eureka Valley, Panamint Springs and the Saline Valley and more. Within each section is a detailed map, highlights, where to go, when to go, visiting in a single day, accommodations, recreation, etc.

What's really valuable is knowing where you will need a high-clearance vehicle or a 4WD vehicle because some of the roads and trails are not appropriate for normal passenger cars or even RV's or trailers.

The first 20 or so pages highlight the top 6 experiences followed up a very useful chart of In-Park lodging options.

Title: Moon Death Valley National Park: Hiking, Scenic Drives, Desert Springs
Author: Jenna Blough
ISBN: 978-8-88647-040-6

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