On the drive from Fresno to Los Angeles we passed dessert land and areas of land covered with oil rigs that were working away.
We also came upon Pyramid Lake, located in the Great Basin Desert, which we had learned about while at Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe has just one outlet, the Truckee River, which flows into Pyramid Lake.
While in Los Angeles, we were able to spend some time with the boys’ Uncle Luke. Asbury was especially happy because this day also fell on his birthday, and he loves hanging out with Uncle Luke! The boys were also excited to check out the city their uncle calls home!
The boys were finally able to get into the Pacific Ocean. They loved swimming and playing in the waves!
While at the beach, we walked along the pier at Hermosa Beach.
We all went for a walk by the ocean cliffside, where the boys got an extra workout on the way back up because their pockets were quite weighted down with all the rocks they had collected!
It was fun to see the boys’ Uncle Luke on the West Coast for a change!
Next door to LA is Long Beach, California, one of the busiest ports in the country, creating a constant flow of trucks and trains carrying cargo to and from the port.
While in the area of Los Angeles, we also visited The RMS Queen Mary. After serving for more than 30 years, the ship was retired and moved to Long Beach, California, where it now operates as a hotel, museum, and event space.
The RMS Queen Mary was a giant British ocean liner, so large that it is about as long as fourteen school buses lined up end to end. The Queen Mary had 24 life boats, most of which could carry 145 people each.
For an additional size comparison, The Queen Mary was about 140 feet longer and nearly twice as heavy as the Titanic.
This ship regularly carried passengers between England and New York City, including many wealthy and famous travelers between 1936 and 1967. It was known as one of the most luxurious ocean liners in the world, as well as one of the fastest. The letters RMS stand for Royal Mail Ship, meaning it also carried mail for Britain.
During World War II, its passenger service was stopped and The Queen Mary was converted into a “troop carrier” since it was so large it could carry thousands of military to and from operations quickly. The makeover included painting of the ship gray and it was quickly nicknamed the “Grey Ghost.”
On display at the bow is a 40 mm Anti-Aircraft Gun, which used to help protect the Queen Mary during World War II.
After the war, the Queen Mary was also nicknamed the “Baby Boom” or the “Bride and Baby Shuttle” because it carried thousands of war brides and their babies across the Atlantic to join their husbands in the states.
Once its mission in World War II was completed, the ship was reconvertred to an ocean liner for about twenty more years until 1967. At this time, air travel was becoming more common and fewer people were traveling on ocean liners, so the ship was retired.
Down in the engine room, we found a 25 foot Lego display of the Queen Mary. It was noted that the Lego model took 600 hours to build!
One of the Queen Mary’s huge propellers can still be seen in the Propeller Box, a viewing area where visitors can look through the water at the original propeller. The area is filled with fresh water, which helps protect the propeller from corrosion. The Queen Mary had four of these huge propellors, each one weighing 35 tons!
The wrench needed to work on the propellors.
A few sights from on deck!
One of three smokestacks.
The Queen Mary began her final voyage on October 31, 1967. After a 39-day journey from England, she arrived in Long Beach on December 9, welcomed by a large flotilla of boats to her new permanent home.
That’s a wrap on LA!
Next stop: Joshua Tree National Park in California.