Miscellaneous California Landscapes

This gallery contains photographs of landscapes and places in the state of California. We haven’t explored much of that state yet, mostly just stopping here and there on our way to or from somewhere else.

Lori decided to run the Long Beach Half Marathon in 2010. Instead of making a boring drive out to LA and then down to Long Beach via the I10, we instead took a boring drive along the I8 to San Diego and then made our way up the Pacific Coast highway, stopping at many of the beaches, wildlife areas, and places of interest we found along the way.

We spent the night at a the Casa Laguna Inn & Spa at Laguna Beach, which was a good base from which to do the tourist thing, and the next day we pressed onward to Long Beach itself.

Long Beach has a great waterfront near the convention center area where you can visit the Aquarium of the Pacific, Shoreline Aquatic Park, Queen Mary, Lion’s Lighthouse for Sight, and a tourist trap called the Shoreline Village.

We spent a lot of time at the Shoreline Village, it being across the street from our Hotel, the Hyatt Regency, with easy access to shops, restaurants, and harbor views. Our favorite place in the village was a small food shop called the French Riviera, run by a young French expatriate who sold great sandwiches and fresh-baked pastries, which we washed down with real Orangina’s (none of that fake Texas import stuff).