The 7th Road Trip of the World

Today was the start of the seventh road trip my family has taken, albeit a bit later in the year due to scheduling conflicts. Our main destination is Catalina Island, but we headed up to Long Beach today to visit and spend the night at the Queen Mary. Mom, my brother Zach, and I got into her red Honda Fit, the traditional road trip vehicle, around 11:00 am to start the drive up.

           
The first stop on the journey was DisneyLand (as all the best road trips should begin) to eat lunch and say hello to some friends. For those who don’t know, I love visiting DisneyLand and would be totally satisfied spending the entire road trip at the happiest place on earth, but we were only there for a brief visit. We had sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich and I met up with Ms. Koch, Mikaela, and Mrs. Horvath in DisneyLand to say a quick hello. Mikaela and I attended the same middle and high school, Julian Charter School, and Ms. Koch was our humanities and 9^th grade English teacher. We watched a band play music from Mary Poppins with Mary Poppins for a bit and then Ms. Koch and I met my mom and brother outside the park. After a little more conversation we said goodbye and began our drive to Long Beach.

My 6th grade class

Hello DisneyLand!

Earl of Sandwich

After about an hour drive we arrived in Long Beach at the Queen Mary. The luxury liner set sail in 1936 and was the biggest and fastest ship for the time. It’s also huge, over 1,000 feet long. We checked into our rooms and began to explore the boat. Everything is quite elegant and most of the Queen Mary is still how it was in the 1930s. I couldn’t help seeing the similarities to the design and grandness of the Titanic. We walked around seeing the different areas of the boat. We walked through an exhibit about Princess Diana and the royal family. I had trouble keeping track of who was who in the royal lineage. There are too many Georges and Elizabeths in royalty. Later, we walked through the engine room to see the different pieces of engineering that made the Queen Mary so fast for its size. We ate dinner at Chelsea Chowder House and went on a tour of the ship. Our tour guide told us about the history of the ship and showed us many of the areas the first class passengers frequented. He also informed us of the different artwork that is featured on the Queen Mary, including 56 types of luxury wood (some of which are extinct).

Ahoy!

Can you hear me now?

Hoist anchor

Full speed ahead

1st class party room

            After the tour we waited for my other brother, Joe, to arrive since he had to work today. Once he came aboard, we retired to our rooms for the night. Tomorrow, we’ll go on a scavenger hunt in Long Beach and sail over to Catalina Island for the rest of our trip

For a different perspective of today’s account, you can read my mom’s blog here.