Friday, April 1, 2011

Greetings from Riverside, Part One

Jeff and I are on day two of our mini-adventure out here in a less coastal area of California than we are used to. Riverside is a lovely city so far. Well, at least it is within the perimeter of our hotel. Yesterday we woke up early and drove down to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. That was quite lovely and I got to touch a sting ray. Actually, I was terrified to touch it, even though it kind of seemed eager for me to touch it, like an eager dog or something, and yet all the kids were positively giddy to touch them. And the little sharks! And then there was me, the scared adult, lol. Unfortunately I got a bit sunburned but it wasn't nearly as bad as some people. I saw one guy who was so burned he literally looked purple!

I must admit I was a bit disappointed in the aquarium. There is so much to do and see but takes very little time to do all of it. After two hours we had seen everything and I was bored. I would have loved to have seen penguins and whales and maybe some more exotic marine life, but there really wasn't any of that. Although, it was really great to see jellyfish so up close and personal. They were so serene and beautiful. The giant crabs and lobster were also very interesting. And who wouldn't want to see an octopus in person? But I admit I love those penguins and there were none of those (save for the stuffed ones in the gift shop at $15 a piece).

From there we hopped on a few freeways and made a very long trip into Riverside. Even with a 7-lane freeway (three lanes of which were reserved for some sort of expressway) the traffic was still miserable and we went through the slowest 20 miles of all time. Or maybe it just seemed that way? Who knows?

Photos to follow...

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