Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday, November 26-28

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Margaret here.    The snow came in as a strong reminder that we do not like it.  That was Sunday, and we were just a little worried that it wouldn’t let us get out of Chicago on Monday.  Our flight was to leave at 11:20 am on Monday, and every flight up to 8:00 am was cancelled.  But we made it out of Chicago on time, and the flight to Los Angeles was uneventful.  In fact, the plane landed 30 minutes early.  It didn’t matter though, because there was not a gate available, and we used up that time waiting.  We took a Lyft to Ginny and Mike’s house in Long Beach, which took well over an hour.  The traffic in LA is…  well, no words how awful.

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It was really good to see Ginny (my cousin, one of the Pink Hat Ladies who recently went to New York City) and her husband Mike.  They have the cutest house, what I would call Craftsman, but they call California bungalow that was built by a well-known local builder named Miner Smith in 1922,.  It was renovated about three years ago, and Mike has added some modern touches like solar panels and has bolted the house to the frame.  They are just a short walk to the beach and to downtown Long Beach.  If it weren’t for the traffic, I would find this location very desirable.

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Dinner that evening was at a local restaurant in Long Beach.  We enjoyed this relaxed yet lively town.

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Ginny is still working part-time as a teacher’s aide at a local high school, and gets home about noon. 

 

On Tuesday morning the two Mikes and I took a nice leisurely walk to the beach.  How pleasant was that?

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That afternoon was a very special adventure.  Several months ago, in the Chicago Tribune, Mike saw an article about a King Tut exhibit at the California Science Center in LA that caught our attention.  Ginny got us tickets ahead of time, and that afternoon we took off for the museum.  Thank goodness she was driving.  This exhibit is truly one of the best we have seen.  We saw artifacts that had never before left Egypt and were presented in a way that provided an experience beyond words.  You can check out the museum web site  https://californiasciencecenter.org/exhibits/king-tut-treasures-of-the-golden-pharaoh,  but be sure to look at my photos of some of the artifacts on my Google photos.

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That evening, exhausted, we just ordered pizza that was actually pretty good for California, and hit the sack early.

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Wednesday afternoon we went on a tour of the Queen Mary.  Again, be sure to look at the photos.  And we had dinner at a really nice restaurant, Parker’s Lighthouse.  Delicious!  And what fun to spend time with Ginny and Mike.

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Thursday, November 29

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Margaret here.  We walked to a neighborhood restaurant for a great lunch.  Ginny drove us to the dock (less than 30 minutes away) and after many hugs and tears, we boarded the Royal Caribbean ship Vision of the Seas.  I left my coat in Ginny’s car.  ....Humpf

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