Martha's Marvellous Munchies

No more California after this, I promise!  We'll be back to normal life again.  This is just a scattershot tour of the highlights from Long Beach. in no particular order.  If nothing else, you get a few more cute photos of Toby to look at. Long Beach is part of the greater Los Angeles sprawl, and while it might not be your first choice for a holiday destination, it has a pretty harbour area and a few good attractions (the Queen Mary of course being one).  We spent several days just pottering around and enjoying time in the sunshine. Outside the Convention Center Strolling along the boardwalk The harbour and downtown. An inoperative lighthouse had a pleasant little park around it... ...perfect for fun and games! Shhh, don't tell him you can put money in it! We drove to Huntingdon Beach one evening, where we were appalled to find that most of the car parks wanted $15 from us!  Finally we found a meter to put a few quarters in, and were...

Well, you got a little break there, due to Toby putting the laptop out of commission and Graham having his hip replaced.  The laptop is now better and the husband is getting better, so on with the saga! We thought it would be kind of nice to venture out on to the Pacific Ocean, rather than just look at it from the shore, so we investigated our options.  The Channel Islands seemed like a pretty manageable trip, even with a one-year-old, so we booked a boat and hoped for fine weather.  The Channel Islands National Park encompasses five islands and the ocean around them, just off the coast of California.  Like many islands, they have some pretty incredible biodiversity, with many unique plants and animals.  It would have been great to stop off and see it close up, but actually staying on the island entails taking everything you might want with you.  With a toddler this always seems to involve everything bar the kitchen sink (actually, that could be handy to...

Those two words really ought to rhyme, shouldn't they?  You might not expect to find them in such close proximity, and in California, of all places.  But read on, and all will be explained. The Spanish is pretty obvious.  As you may be aware, the Spanish were the earliest European settlers in these regions, and as in Texas, they sought to convert the natives and colonise the area by building missions.  You can tell they had the pick of the land, because the Mission in Santa Barbara is in the most beautiful spot, just in the foothills of the mountains.  We spent a while relaxing and letting Toby run around in the park, which incorporated a rose garden and some venerable trees. Looking at art from a recent festival - not your average chalk drawing! View from the Mission Toby loves having sun cream put on his face!   The self-guided tour took us through the peaceful inner courtyard of the Mission.  Up some stone steps, we wandered ...