Catalina Island

Catalina Island is easily accessible by boat for an hour and by helicopter for 15 minutes from the Southern California mainland. It is situated across the beautiful Pacific Ocean from the Southern California mainland.

It is the perfect place to unwind, for a romantic getaway or just spending fun for the entire family.
The island is said to be 21 miles or approximately 76 square miles with its width at 8 miles at its widest point (Long Point) and half mile wide at its narrowest point at Two Harbors at the Isthmus. It also has a coastal perimeter of 54 miles.

History wise, you will have to learn a lot more of the island's history if you are interested about it.
Avalon is one fo the island's significant permanent civilian settlement and with quaint Mediterranean charm.

The entire island is mostly ideal for outdoor activities where you can get a lot of new adventures and experiences as you go for further exploration.
You can get to enjoy various Discovery Tours such as exploring and discovering the crystal clear waters through diving and snorkeling, trail hikings, zip lining, kayaking, ad more.
It is recommended to try all the different types of tours they offer. Just in case you want to experience them, one day isn't enough.

Balboa Park

3-19-11

Since it was early yet for the day, we decided to try going Balboa Park in El Prado, San Diego, from Gaslamp Quarter. We actually didn't know what is in the park, so that was kinda fun meeting the unexpected! :).


So, the first thing we saw was the Museum of Man which we went into after finding a car park. We had an hour left to tour around before they close, so we managed to see those that we wanted to see.
It was almost 5pm. so that all the museums were closing. We just opted to visit some gardens there instead and managed to click some few shots. We forgot to bring our tripod so we had to do the usual "alternate poses" for me and the hubby ;).



I got fascinated by one of the trees located on one side of a corridor. (What's the name of this tree?) I thought it was like a tree with fake branches, but it's real! So, I thought it would be great to have some shot with me in it, lol!

That ended our last day in CA.

Hanging Out At The Gas Lamp Quarter

3-19-10

It was still cold when we were in San Diego, CA the entire week but didn't hinder us to go to the Gaslamp Quarter to hang out.
The place is quite cool as a hang out. You won't get bored if you love to shop, or looking for entertainment. I mean party club goers can definitely enjoy the place as there are many clubs that open during the night. I was there at broad daylight, so they were closed! ;)

I can say I would pretty much prefer going during day time since I am not fond of clubbing, but I like shopping! LOL!
It is also a place where you can eat. Lots of them around the place, so you won't be having any problems when you get hungry.

We tried the Old Spaghetti Factory at the 5th Avenue, and they have the best spaghetti ever in San Diego, I must say ;).

Ordering a meal here comes in complete package; - salad, bread, spaghetti entree' beverage and dessert, with a good price!
Watch out! Wear loose clothing when you eat here...you'll have the tendency to pop up, lol.

Oh, and of course a quick shopping in the area was never forgotten. I got some stuff I wanted once again ;).

Visit To The Queen Mary

March 13, 2011

While in Long Beach, we visited The Queen Mary ship and bought tour tickets for two, which was a self-guided audio tour. We wanted to tour where we could take our time and where we could explore the ship in our own pace with an audio guide.
Part of the tour that was included in our tickets was the "Ghost & Legends Tour" of the Queen Mary which is sort of an interactive show tour with special effects that highlights some of the ship's famous paranormal hotspots as we were guided into the ship's haunted past. The entire tour was an hour and a half. It was actually kind of fun for us because our tour guide would try to scare us at times while walking on the dark alleys, lol!

After the ghost tour, we had the audio tour to visit the entire ship. I found the audio tour a little bit boring later on because we had to do a lot of walking back and forth and the distances are quite far. We even had to use the escalator to go up, but the escalator happened to be not working, so we had to climb it like stairs and it seemed to me it was more than a hundred steps way up high! UGH!
Unfortunately, we didn't finished up that tour, and instead I had to tell my hubby we need to find a food shop because I was starving, lol!
But in fairness, the place has a lot of food shops, so it wasn't hard to find one ;).
There is also a hotel at the ship if you want to take your time in the ship.

I got some achy feet with all the walkings, but I could say it was still fun as an experience.

Our Catalina Island Experience

March 12, 2o11

We're now on the middle weekend of our 2-week trip in California and now settled here in Long Beach. Since it's the weekend, we planned of going to Catalina Island. It so happened that our hotel was just 5 minutes away from the Catalina Express Ferry Station.
We bought tickets for the 11AM schedule going to Avalon, and took a quick brunch at the ferry terminal canteen since we still had few minutes of waiting.

The ferry trip is one and a half hour before reaching Avalon. This is when you are boarding Catalina Express at downtown Catalina landing in Long Beach, CA.
Once you're in Avalon, you can already see the scenic view around the area. Awesome views!

There are lots of discovery tours that can be done in the island, so if you want to experience all of them, one day isn't enough. Hotels are also in the island, so when you want for a few more days of R & R, you can choose to check on the hotels and the packages before going there. I am not sure if they can accept walk-ins but the island is really busy and can be crowded during peak days.

We signed up for the "Skyline Drive Tour" where we had the bus tour with a narrated journey by the tour driver himself. We were taken into Catalina's protected wilderness area as we ascended ten miles where spectacular vistas, deep canyons, quiet coves, the blue ocean and the exciting part was seeing the island's largest inhabitants at a close range...the buffalos!

This tour lasts 2 hours and 15 minutes and has a bus stop at the Airport in the Sky. This is an old airport that is no longer operating, except that some private planes are still using it. It is here where you can shop at the small shopping store and they have a a food shop too. Restrooms are also available.

After we got back from the tour, we walked around a little bit and we toured some shops as well. There are lots of them in every street, including food shops and other business establishments.
How I wish we could have just spent few days there, but next time is always a good chance! ;).

Sn. Francisco City Tour

Trip Date: Sept. 19, 2010 - SFO, CA

After finding a parking spot around the area, we signed up for the San Francisco City Tour taking the All Loops Package which include a visit to Golden Gate Bridge, and a visit to Sausalito.

We actually thought we can complete the tour since it is unlimited hop-on, hop-off from the bus for 48 hours and we can make our own itinerary whichever comes first, the way we like it.
There are 27 bus stops on the 4 diverse loops, so we just carried our loop maps with us. ride the bus and from there, we made our itinerary.

After touring the SFO downtown area, we hopped off the bus and strolled up Lombard Street. I almost gave up going up further on the hilly street...stopped 5 times to rest and catch my breaths due to the sharp incline.
But after reaching the top, it was all worth it, seeing the most crooked street in the whole wide world! Whew!

Going back to where the bus stop was tough...we got lost, and I think we were walking endlessly, and felt it was like we walked 3 miles going back and forth!
By the time we reached the place, we realized we could no longer make it to the 3rd loop.
We then proceeded to go on with the rest of the 2nd loop which included the visit to Sausalito.

Sausalito is a charming coastal town that has breathtaking views of the bay. I couldn't seem to find my photo in here but I'll update it in this post once I see it, :)).

The entire day was exhausting but we didn't mind. We enjoyed the tour.
There's always the "next times" of going back to SFO and continue to visit those places we missed during our tour.

Fisherman's Wharf

September 18, 2010 - San Francisco, CA

Who isn't familiar when it comes to Fisherman's Wharf? It's the popular destination of many visiting SFO and famous waterfront community in SFO (San Francisco).

We tried our luck with our GPS, went there and the place was so crowded.
Since it was weekend, finding a parking spot is tough! We finally able to get one after going around the place for 10 minutes.

We though of seeing Alcatraz Island, and we saw a ticketing booth close to Pier 39 to get a ticket for the ferry boat. It's a small trip adventure that has something to look forward to, so off we went.

Our trip was called "Alcatraz Tour Cruise" (Escape From The Rock) and we boarded the Blue Gold Fleet at Pier 39.
The tour includes the history of the island, the facts about the Golden Gate Bridge and other facts about the bay.
We had a closer look of the Golden Gate as we went under it. It was foggy that day, so the entire bridge wasn't really clear.

We thought the tour would allow us to go down the Alcatraz Island, but it was only a cruise.

Oh, and we also saw a group of sea lions hanging out close to the pier at Pier 39. There were tons of them, and no wonder why that "fishy" smell on that area seems to be strong!

The Gamble House (A Visit)

September 11, 2010 - Pasadena, CA

Call us unlucky this day when we went to see The Gamble House.

It was around 5pm when we reached the place, and so we were not able to catch up the last tour in the house. So, I can't share that much about the house except for a few.

The Gamble House is an internationally recognized masterpiece of the turn-of-the-century Arts and Crafts Movements in America.
It is in this house where you can see the most complete and the original examples of the work of the architects Charles & Henry Greene, built for David & Mary Gamble of The Procter and Gamble Company.

The Greene brothers' works made a strong impact on the development of 20th century American architecture.

It's one of the best place to go visit if you have high appreciation of fine historic architecture.

Visiting Family in California

September 10, 2010

Although this trip was more on a business purpose, we thought of seeing our family in LA in the weekend.
I haven't seen my uncle and his entire family for more than 30 years, the reason why I and my husband took the time to schedule the dates to see them.
Later in the afternoon, we were able to settle in at the hotel, where my uncle was patiently waiting for us at the lobby.

What a nice feeling for those tight hugs and seeing my uncle and introducing him to my husband :). The evidences are in these photos below, don't you think?

My uncle took us at Staple's Center to see the place. It was after 5 pm of Friday, so most of the buildings that time were already closed. We had no luck going inside the Staple's Center either due to our cameras and tripods which were not allowed to be carried inside.
We then proceeded to a dinner at Ichiban restaurant in Glendale, later joined by another uncle of mine and aunt which was more of a fun!

As our final itinerary for that day, we went for a night visit at my cousin's house. The kids were so much fun to be with...a good chance for us to bond together as a clan ;).
Whew! tiring day since we barely had no rest since we arrived from the airport.
But the weekend was something being looked forward to, hanging out and a mini-reunion with the entire family.

Ciao!

San Francisco City Tour

September 19, 2010

This day was our City Sightseeing Tour aboard the hop on-hop off double decker bus . Weather is still a bit cloudy and chilly.
We did signed up for the complete tour including a hop off to see the Golden Gate bridge up close.

It was a whole day activity since it includes all the 3 big loops. Unluckily, there were some spots we missed to visit. I wanter to visit the Golden Gate park, but due to time constraints, we missed the timetable. (maybe next time, it would much be easier to do it since I can pretty much recall those places I wanna visit). The next time around would all just be a focus on those certain places ;).

The only hop off we did was to go walk towards Lombard Street going to see the most crooked street around the world. The walk going to the street was uphill, and oh boy! I was catching my breath before I reached the top, LOL! I thought I couldn't make it to the top, but thank God.

Going to our next bust stop was challenging because we got lost, and I was super tired walking and it was chilly. I was getting impatient as hubby had noticed it. Thank God for portable GPS on my phone! whew! We already walked more than 2 miles before I remembered that I can use GPS on my iPhone! Thank goodness for the modern gadgets nowadays...it's a lifesaver!

It was a nice fun ride for our last loop that afternoon, where we visited Sausalito. It was like a small city up the mountains, and boy! The standard of living is classy up there. Many houses are built exclusively on top of the mountain where the residents are famous in the society.

We also visited the Golden Gate bridge through the North - Vista Point, but that was quick! It was getting dark, but the view was still awesome. I should have taken some good photos of it, but again, we were always catching our time. {sigh!}

Alcatraz Cruise Tour

September 18, 2010

While we were in Pasadena, we finally had the weekend to visit Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, CA. And from there, we bought our tickets for Alcatraz Cruise. (Escape From The Rock"). I was thinking we can go down to the island to actually visit it, but it was just a cruise tour, where we sailed passing by the Alcatraz Island, and the Golden Gate bridge.

We boarded the Blue Gold Fleet at Pier 39. It was fun seeing a group of sea lions along the bay...no wonder why that "fishy" smell! lol.

Anyway, it was fun cruising the bay while a tour guide is telling the story about famous landmarks being seen from the bay. It was windy and cold, but bearable.

The cruise was an hour or so, and it was a good experience.

California Trip (Los Angeles)

September 10, 2010

After long hours of sitting on the plane (from Baltimore to LA ), we got our rented car and proceeded to our hotel. It's really worst to see the city in a traffic jam while on our way to our hotel. Then, when we reached our hotel, we thought of going to test drive the location going to my husband's training area from the hotel which was like 15 minutes away. Due to traffic, we arrived the area after 45 minutes!

Then, before going back to the hotel, we were starving as we hadn't taken our lunch yet, and good thing there was an eating place close to hubby's training office location.

Going back to the hotel was still worst, as it took as another40 minutes. We both felt tired, but we still had to meet my uncle whom I haven't seen for more than 30 years, and we promised to have a get together dinner.

After 5 minutes of getting settled and checking in at our hotel, finally! ...the meeting :)).

Disney's California Adventure - 3

Golden State:

• Soarin' Over California

This ride is like a virtual reality. You get to sit in an open simulated airplane and then see a seem-like breath taking scenes of California. The scenes are in a big screen but looks like you're in it! :). It feels like you're really up in the open air, and soaring and swooping like an eagle! Gosh! Did I tell I'm scared of heights?...I closed my eyes most of the time. LOL!

• Mission Tortilla Factory

This is fun thing to do if you love tortillas. You go take behind-the-scenes look at tortilla production. Of course, you'll always get a free taste! :).

• The Bakery Tour

Another tour where you can watch as bakers create fresh sourdough bread before your eyes. With free taste of a freshly baked dough! :).

Disney's California Adventure - 2

There are lot of things to do inside, but I would only be sharing my experiences to the attractions I went into.

Hollywood Pictures Backlot:

1. The Twilight Zone-Tower of Terror - I thought this would only be a regular elevator ride with ghostly effects...well, I like those things, but hubby and I didn't have the idea of sitting in that huge elevator and had a free fall of more than 100 feet down (3 times)! Take note: Be sure to wear that seat belt...or else, you would find yourself flying and hit yourself all around, LOL! My legs were shaking on that ride and I won't do it again!

2. Turtle Talk with Crush - Good place to take your kids. You'll get to see a turtle called "Crush" who talks with the kids. An interactive chat session for kids and Crush is just cute to see him talking to the kids. Humorous turtle too! :).

"Bug's Land:

3. It's tough to be a Bug! - This is a 3D show with the usual 3D glasses that they provide to watch the show. On the show, you also get to feel crawling "friendly" bugs under your seat...eeewww! But above all, it's fun! Nothing creepy!

Disney's California Adventure - 1

December 9 & 12, 2008
We had visited Disney twice since our hotel (Doubletree) is close to the park in Anaheim, California. It was nice to be in the park (in another place, lol!) due to the fact that we frequented Disneyworld in Florida the previous years...much bigger. But nothing else is much different when it comes to Disney. It's always a good thing to become "child-like" once in a while :).

Honestly, we enjoy kiddie rides better than the roller coasters and other high thrill rides, LOL! I and my husband are scared of heights, although in my case, I would always want to overcome and try thrilling rides, which I would end up NOT doing it when I'm alone, hahaha...

More coming on my next post.

See ya'll!

Going Beach Bound

Summer is here!, so it's time to start enjoying some sun and sand, don't you think?

America is blessed to have amazing variety of beaches, from the great lakes to the gulf of Mexico.
San Diego, for example, is home port to the US Pacific Fleet, and just by seeing those vessels pass by close to shore is truly an awesome sight.

Have you been to Coronado Beach in California? Coronado consists of 3 separate beaches along the Pacific shoreline close to San Diego.

The north beach faces due south, and when the wind is just right, surfers enjoy the steep angled swells. Mainly, this beach is just lovely for swimming where water is warm and summer surf is mild.

The central beach is one of the most favorite of many for photography. It has fine sand with particles of mica creating a golden sparkle. Just be sure you wear your flip flops when the weather gets too hot!

The shores, another beach which is also called sprawling beach is where mostly long-boarders do their stuff.

There you go...let's go beach bound! It's officially summer time! :).

The Death Valley National Park

I don't know why they call this park death valley, but this long, thin valley is North America's lowest and driest place yet alos one of the most fascinating. Winter is mild, spring brings out spectacular flowers, while summer provides bragging rights for those who experience the desert heat!
In warm months, daytime temperatures frequently top 100 degress. It went even as high as 134 degrees fahrenheit at the aptly named Furnace Creek - just 2 degrees shy of a later world record in the Sahara Desert.
This national park has 3.3 million acres of deserts and mountains located on the border between California and Nevada. It has bone-dry salt pans, shifting sand dunes, wind-scoured canyons and giant alluvial fans resembling rock rivers tumbling onto the arid valley floor. Death Valley is North America's lowest spot at Badwater Basin, 282 feet below sea level, the driest place averaging less than 2 inches of rain a year.
It must be an interesting place to visit. I am curious about getting its history and getting to see what's in there. Maybe someday :).