Off to see the Queen (Mary)- Tuesday, July 18, 2006

We really needed a slower day after two straight days at Disney in the heat. We changed our plans a little and took it relatively easy today.

First, we slept in until late. We all needed it.

We had an early lunch at Jack in the Box. Then we drove north to visit the Los Angeles Arboretum. You might remember that we visited it on part of our tour of filming locations. This time we went in, because admission was free today. Among the beautiful plants and landscaping, we got to see the house where they flmed Fantasy Island. (I tried to get Emma to say "The plane! The plane!" but she doesn't cooperate with photographers. It was hot there, so we didn't stay long.

After the arboretum, we drove south to Long Beach to see the ocean liner, the Queen Mary. We took a self-guided tour. Even though we paid a lot for it and got lost several times, we still had fun exploring the enormous ship. Julie has wanted to see it for a long time.

Since we were going to the Long Beach area, we tried to get in touch with my cousins Cathy and Bob. We couldn't get together with them today, but we have made plans to see them next Monday.

We came back to the room realtively early to pack and get ready for the next leg of our trip-- San Diego. Julie is doing some laundry now. The girls went swimming again. We also got to watch the Disneyland fireworks from the hotel's pool area. I think the fireworks themselves were easier to see tonight than they were on Main Street, but we didn't get the naration and music.