Aquarium of the Pacific

Happy Monday all! I can't believe I have been living here in California for almost two months already. I absolutely love it and am really starting to get comfortable here. Unfortunately the weather this last weekend wasn't great. It rained on Friday night which never happens in Southern California and then on Saturday and Sunday it was chilly/windy (65 degrees is considered cold here). We wanted to do something inside, so we decided to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA. Again the traffic getting there was a nightmare. It took about 35 minutes just to make a right turn into the parking garage ($8 with aquarium ticket). I guess a lot of other people had the same idea about staying inside. I recommend going early in the morning to avoid the crowds. 

City of Long Beach

View from the parking garage 

Bridge that looks like a roller coaster 

Entrance 

After we finally parked we had to wait another 20 minutes in line to purchase tickets. I could have bought them online but I wanted to see the different packages they offered at the box office. We decided to purchase the behind the scenes tour package ($18/per ticket) along with the aquarium tickets which ended up costing around $95. Considering the price of some other aquariums I've been to in the past, I think this was on the expensive end. We started off the trip with the behinds the scene tour which I highly recommend you doing. There was only one other couple on the tour with us so it was very private. The tour lasted about an hour and included a guide of the vet, large tank with divers who were feeding the fish, kitchen, and quarantine. If you read my blog regularly you know I love water and fish. This tour was both educational and fun and absolutely awesome for me! We even got to feed the fish some seaweed in the large tank and watch the stingrays eat lunch. After the tour was over we went around to the different exhibits both inside and outside. I think that it would have made more sense if we had done that first and then did the behind the scenes tour last. The aquarium over all was over crowded with screaming children and pushy adults. If I hadn't just done that private tour I think I would have pushed a child in the shark tank. We only walked around for about an hour until we couldn't handle it anymore. The day was fun only because of the private tour we did, but I don't think I will go back again. Too expensive and too over crowded.

The lobby with a blue whale replica 

Behind the scenes dive center

Divers going into the tank to feed

Large tank with sharks, turtles, eels, stingrays, fish

Feeding the stingrays

Diver

Fish in quarantine 

I could stay here all day

Baby bamboo sharks 

Shark eggs

More divers 

Bright fish

Fish food, sorry goldfish 

More fish food

Baby seahorses 

VIP only 

Sharks and Dory

Huge grouper 

Bottom of a stingray

Sea turtle

More divers 

More sharks 

Jelly fish 

Please touch starfish etc

Sunbathing seals 

Please touch sharks 

Black tip shark

Please touch stingrays 

Spending the day at the aquarium made us hungry for some delicious fish, sorry Nemo and Dory. We decided on Rock'n Fish right on Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach on the ocean. We had oysters to start as an appetizer and they were really fresh and had no grit. My boyfriend ordered the jambalaya and I ordered the macadamia nut crusted mahi mahi with fries and spicy mac n cheese. Both of our meals were really delicious and we got to enjoy the sunsetting while eating. Together with two beers our meals was around $85 including tip. Parking on the street was difficult to find so we parked in the garage across the street ($2/hour). Overall we had a great day together exploring new places and a new town. 

Entrance 

The view of the ocean

Oysters 

My mahi mahi with pineapple salsa

Jambalaya 

Sunset 

I hope everyone had a great weekend and a great start to the new week.

XoXo,

Valerie 

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend celebrating with family and friends. We had a very packed weekend spending a lot of time outside enjoying the California sun. On Friday we were lucky enough to go to the Honda Center for an Anaheim Ducks vs Dallas Stars playoff hockey game #2. My boyfriend is a huge Dallas Stars fan, and this is the first time that they have made the playoffs in a long time, not like the Philadelphia Flyers that make it almost every year :) It just so happened that they are playing against Anaheim in the first round so we knew we had to get tickets. Although we were sitting in the nosebleed seats and the Stars lost, it was honestly one of the most fun games I had ever been to. Duck fans have a lot of energy and are actually really nice to other fans. The stadium is also really nice with hundreds palm trees surrounding the parking lot. Parking was $25 across the street at the JT Schmidt restaurant and fairly easy to get out of the parking lot after the game. I'm glad we were able to experience this together and had a great night in Anaheim. 

The Honda Center

The other orange and black team

Game time

First period 

Sold out game 2

On Saturday we decided to go to the Santa Monica pier in Santa Monica outside of LA. The drive from Irvine to Santa Monica honestly sucked. We were stuck in traffic for what seemed like hours crawling along the freeway. Once we finally arrived we decided to just valet our car so we would't have to worry about fighting for a parking spot. Valet parking was $10 for the first hour and $2 every 20 minutes after. The pier has rides, games, restaurants, and street entertainers. It reminded me of when I was a child going to Wildwood at the Jersey shore with my family. After the hours we spent in traffic we made a straight line for Mariasols Mexican restaurant to enjoy an alcoholic beverage. We sat at the bar at Mariasols while enjoying our margaritas, chips, and salsa since we were not going to wait for a table. The drinks are on the expensive side, and they even have a $85 patron margarita. After we finished our drinks we wanted to go ride the roller coaster but the line to buy tickets and ride the rides was over an hour wait. We had enough of the traffic and waiting so we decided just to go home. The pier is a landmark in Souther California, but I honestly don't think I would go back. Too crowded, too much traffic, and too expensive. Checked it off the bucket list and moved on to the next thing. 

Way to over crowded

Beach and full parking lot

Rides on the pier

Beautiful California day

Our margaritas at the bar 

Menu

Live music

Direct view to the ocean from the bar

Santa Monica, CA

Roller coaster that we didn't get to ride

The pier entrance 

On Sunday we typically like to do something physically active so we decided to go on a hike at Crystal Cove State Park in Laguna Beach. I typed in 8471 N Coast Hwy, Laguna Beach, CA 92651 into my GPS and entered the park at the Pelican Point entrance. Parking is $15 for the day which allows you to park from 6AM- sunset. We parked in lot 1 and walked along the boardwalk to the beach entrance. You can hike along the beach or one of a dozen different hiking paths. The state park is absolutely beautiful and clearly very well taken care of. I can't wait to go back and spend the entire day laying on the beach, taking a swim in the ocean, and maybe even fit in a good hike.

View from the hiking trails

Looking over the cliff

Panoramic view

Cactus looking over the edge

Rocks and waves

Low tide

Happy Easter!

Map

Boardwalk to the beach

Trail looking at the ocean

Little lizard

Cliffs

Until next week. 

XoXo,

Valerie