Thursday, July 30, 2009

Queen for a Day!


Spent a lovely day aboard the Aqualink AND the Queen Mary yesterday. The price to ride the Aqualink is now $5 one way, but I had two 2-for-1 coupons for me and my son. My other son brought his bike on board and then rode home from downtown. Three other people had bikes too. Sounds like a good premise for a travel article. A thoroughly eco weekend. A thoroughly modern beachfront. Look mom no sand! Hmm, needs some tweaking.


I got half price tickets from Goldstar for the Ghosts and Legends tour. The entrance for the tour is different from the general entrance, which made for a lot of wasted time wandering around. Once we did get to the tour entrance, we waited on the gang plank with about 15 people for about 5 minutes. Our tour guide was great with just the perfect amount of knowingness as he delivered the sometimes over-the-top references to ghosts and gore and grizzliness. It was fun going to places that are usually off limits like the swimming pool and the hull at the bow of the ship, but it was too dark to really get a feel of what the locations looked like and the piped-in screams and moans and gurgles were way too loud.


We strolled around the deck a little while and had some coffee with a great view of the Long Beach skyline and the undivided attention of a gaggle of pigeons. We didn't pick up the earphones for the audio tour just walked around and read placards here and there. We walked over to the Queen Mary Gateway and all the the shops are empty. I would have thought they could fill that place to cater to the cruise ship passengers. Maybe they should start a new ghost tour in that little prefab ghost town.


On the cruise back to Alamitos Bay, we noticed a lot of wildlife-- pelicans, seagulls, and even some seals sunning themselves on the buoys. I tried to get a picture, but I was so excited I didn't wait for the camera to focus. Something in the effort to clean up the harbor area is working.

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