Category Archives: Uncategorized

September 22, 2025 Our friend Nick is visiting, so we decided to take him on a walk through the neighborhood where we live. California Heights is Long Beach’s largest historic neighborhood with nearly 1,500 homes built in the 1920s and 1930s, predominantly in Spanish Colonial Revival style. Here is a sampling of some of theContinue reading “California Heights, Long Beach, California, USA”

September 19, 2025 Seal Beach is in Orange County just south of Long Beach. It is a charming town with one of the widest beaches we have ever seen. So wide that the ships lined up offshore, waiting to get into the Port of Long Beach, appeared to be sitting on the sand. The beachContinue reading “Seal Beach, California, USA”

September 11, 2025 On the campus of California State University Long Beach, this pretty Japanese garden was opened in 1981. It has everything you’d expect from a traditional Japanese garden, including a beautiful pond With bridges and viewing platforms It is stocked with over a thousand koi There were also waterfalls and fountains a teaContinue reading “Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden, Long Beach, California, USA”

August 28, 2025 Located between Newport Beach to the north and Laguna Beach to the south, Crystal Cove State Park stretches for just over three miles along the coast. Sitting below cliffs, it is for the most part not visible from the Pacific Coast Highway (locally known as the PCH) that runs along next toContinue reading “Crystal Cove, California, USA”

August 24, 2025 Manhattan Beach may not resemble its namesake in New York but they do have, at least, one thing in common. They are both expensive places to live. In fact, more homes exceeding $1 million were sold in Manhattan Beach than any other city in California, including such famous places as Malibu, BeverlyContinue reading “Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles, California, USA”

August 21, 2015 At Huntington and Malibu, they’re shootin’ the pier (Surfin’ Safari, The Beach Boys) Apart from Hawaii, perhaps no place is more associated with surfing than Southern California. And in California, Huntington Beach is the center of surf culture. Each year, it is the site of the World surfing championships and has earnedContinue reading “Huntington Beach, California, USA”

August 20, 2025 California Heights, where we live, was once part of a massive ranch. In 1784, the King of Spain granted 300,000 acres to a former soldier named Manuel Nieto as a reward for his military service and to encourage Spanish settlement in California. On his death, his children inherited the property and hisContinue reading “Rancho Los Cerritos, Long Beach, California, USA”

August 13, 2025 The Orange County Fair has been going since 1890. It is now one of the biggest fairs in the world with an attendance of over 1 million visitors during the 23 days it is open each year. There are the traditional farm animals and vegetable competitions. But the main attractions are theContinue reading “Orange County Fair, Costa Mesa, California, USA”

April 27, 2025 We went for a hike along the Shotover River with our brother-in-law, Bill. The river gets its name from one of the early European settlers, William Gilbert Rees, who named it after his business partner’s English estate, Shotover Park. It has a particularly beautiful Maori name, Kimi-akau, which translates as “looking forContinue reading “Shotover River, Arthurs Point, Otago, New Zealand”