| We occasionally hit the supermarket and something catches our
eye. In this case it was the ornamental corn which always looks bright. I'm
not sure how edible it is. I imagine it is fine and it just has a slightly
different taste. I think the blue ones are really cool. |  |
 | Along with the corn
there are the gourds which also make a colourful display. Again I think they
are mostly for display but someone no doubt has a recipe for them. |
| Sometimes you find other things which are really cool. Like this
buffalo stool or toy similar to a rocking horse. I can imagine small (and
big) kids having great fun with this. |  |
 | So we took our leave
of our new friends and turned south for San Diego. But we travelled slowly and
headed first for the coast and the town of Long Beach. This is where the
ocean liner, the Queen Mary, ended up, becoming a floating hotel. And next
to it is a Russian submarine. You can tour this but we weren't sure how
it ended up in Long Beach harbour. Perhaps this was the Red Oktober.... |
| Of comparable size to the Queen Mary is this cruise ship. These
seem to still be doing well as we have seen a number in ports up and down
the coast.. |  |
 | Long Beach is a
working port handling a huge amount of container traffic. This dockside was
idle but I suspect only temporarily. |
| Out in the bay was a huge ship (empty) and at anchor. Maybe it
was only waiting for the tide.... |  |
 | The Queen Mary was
once one of the biggest ships but this shot shows you just how huge some of the modern cruise
ships are. This one dwarfed even the Queen Mary. |
| And on the other side of the inlet to the Queen was the town of
Long Beach with a massive marina and the palms which are so common along
this part of the coast. |  |
 | As we drove away
south from Long Beach we passed the Aquarium, one of many along the coast.
This was not a small building! |
| As we headed down towards Huntington Beach ( the birthplace of
surfing in the US) we passed a number of naval air stations and watched this
helicopter practising hovering and landing. |  |
 | We stayed
overnight at Huntington Beach then moved a little further south to San Elijo State
Beach where we stayed for several days, again only a few yards from the sand. We were just fascinated by the
waders at the water's edge with their long beaks. |
 | We also caught a
number of beautiful sunsets. I'm not sure we have really grasped being here
watching the sunsets over the Pacific. And the beaches are still emptier
than we expected. This is a surfing beach but it is still not quite surf
weather. |
| For the moment we just enjoyed the views and the colours and the
peace. |  |
|