Many Thanks and the Queen Mary

We are all feeling healthy and are finally out and about again . Thank you to all of you for thinking of us and for your many birthday wishes! To avoid talking about and acknowledging the fact that I turned 30, I want to catch you up on other things we have been up to.

The day before Brody got sick, some friends and I traveled up to Long Beach to tour the Queen Mary. For the month of January, there was free admission to all CA residents. So my friend Brooke and I took our kids and drove up. Long Beach is a pretty tricky city to drive around and we ended up taking a wrong turn and finding ourselves right in the middle of the shipping yards of one of the biggest ports in the US. It was very funny, but also a little scary having huge trucks, massive cranes, and thousands of crates all around us. The kids loved it though.

We finally made it to the Queen Mary and had a very interesting time. Let's just say I am very glad that admission was free because it would have been a total waste of money. Normal admission is $25! What a rip off! Then they charge you $12 for parking when you have been there for more than an hour. They are also trying to renovate the place, so it is really hard to find your way around. We then asked some of the staff where to go and they told us to go on the upper deck. We went and hung around there for a while, which was fun, but not too much to see. I did get a few good pictures, though, and the view of the coastline was beautiful.
We then tried to find some other things to see besides the deck, but had a very hard time. They have a hotel within the ship, lots of gift shops, and a Ghost tour and movie. Nothing of that interested us, especially with kids. The engine room seemed fun, but it took us forever to even find it. The entrance to the museum/engine room was in this very obscure part of the ship, which was so hard to find with absolutely no signs as to how to get there. So frustrating. Plus, despite what we were told, that place was NOT stroller friendly, so the kids had to walk most of the way and we hit breaking point toward the end with them (Brody mostly).

We finally made it to the museum and everyone was happy. It was a nice museum, but still not worth $25. I learned a lot of how popular the ship was in its day. It kind of reminded me of the Titanic movie. That was the only thing I had to compare it too. The engine room was absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe how all these controls and huge steam pipes could move such a massive ship. The further in you went in the engine room, the more claustrophobic it became. Brody decided he had enough and threw a huge fit, so we all headed back out and headed home. Here was Brody when we first entered the engine room and in a happier mood.

It was interesting to go see the Queen Mary once, but I don't think I will be going again any time soon. At least, not with the kids.