While in Southern California in the early part of June, we went on some outings with just me and kids while Chris was working at the conference. There was some trepidation since these big outing we do as a whole family, but I was determined to make the most of our time there.
Our niece is an employee at Disneyland and she was able to get us free tickets to the park! It’s been over 20 years since I’ve last visited and this was the kids’ first time. It was memorable to spend half of our day with our niece and have the cousins spend time together…rare and special opportunity.
Our next sight seeing tour was the Queen Mary ship in Long Beach. Ever since seeing the movie “Titanic,” I always wanted to see in person what it would be like to travel on a luxurious ocean liner back in history. The ship did not disappoint and we enjoyed going up and down the stairs to different part of the ship. I originally purchased the historic tour of the ship, but I accidentally bought it for the wrong date. So we settled to do the “Haunted Encounters” tour since there was space available for that tour on the day and time we showed up. (Lots of side eye from the kids, but no matter, I was determined to have a fun outing with the kiddos).
Over the course of the history’s ship, there have been 49 deaths on board and many occurrences of seeing and hearing ghosts on the ship while others have had experiences of things moving randomly, lights flickering on and off, smell of cigar smoke in unoccupied rooms, feeling an eerie presence in rooms, housekeeping staff changing the bed sheets and then finding the bed sheets crumpled up on the floor, kitchen cart moving in the hallway by itself, and ladies in white dresses dancing in different rooms. The tour guide told us that as many as 10 employees have quit after these encounters over the years.
The design and decor are reminiscent of that time and it must’ve been so exciting to aboard and travel on that ship. However, what gave me the creeps about the ship was its elevators (metal trap doors and smaller than our average size elevators) and indoor pool (lots of tiles and not enough natural sunlight…we couldn’t go into the indoor pool area to see it but could peek into it through the windows).
These were two of our main adventures in SoCal! I hope you enjoyed the pictures. Thank you for visiting and wishing you all a great start to the weekend. 🙂 Esther
Categories: #travel family Homeschool Adventures Mom lIfe motherhood Photography Play Raising kids siblings travels
singlikewildflowers
Welcome to my blog! My name is Esther and I'm so happy you are here. I'm an avid nature photographer and a daydreaming thinker. My posts revolve around photos of nature's beauty, homeschooling adventures with my 2 kids, sporadic reflections on my child's heart condition, Bible reading reflections, gardening feats, and other mish mash things. Hopefully you'll leave encouraged, pensive, or smiling at the simple things of life. Thank you for stopping by and hope you'll find some interesting posts to read!
sing like wildflowers 
Thank you for sharing your vacation pics! You three seemed to be having a very good time. I found the shots of the Queen Mary particularly intriguing.
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You’re welcome, Liz! Thank you for checking out the post. Queen Mary was an interesting tour and the ship does have an eerie ambiance. It could be the old fashioned look that contributes to it and the sheer size of the ship. But the long hallways decorated with wood might be chilling to walk through at night.
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I’d pass on Disneyland, but that ship is fascinating. I had a great aunt who traveled back and forth to Sweden by ship. I ought to dig into the few family records I have to see if I can find the name of ‘her’ ship. I doubt it was this luxurious, but it might have been similar. I don’t know what to think about the hauntings; I have a friend who swears the haunting of a certain house in Galveston is real, not to mention the Wal-Mart! It was built on the site of a former orphanage, and employees often come to work in the morning and find toys strewn over the floor — even though the store has been closed all night. Hmmmm…..
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I’m not sure about the hauntings either, but people have had experiences of seeing spirits and hearing them. We have a haunted mansion in San Jose, called Winchester Mystery House, and people have said they’ve seen spirits on tours. The lady who owned the place was terrified of the spirits who would come and haunt her as her late husband’s wealth came from a firearms company he owned, so she made a labyrinth of her home to confuse the spirits. She never stopped renovating her home.https://winchestermysteryhouse.com/sarahs-story/
Those personal tales make you wonder! I don’t know. Yes, it would be interesting to see which ship your great aunt traveled in. I’m amazed that you could possibly find a record of it.
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I haven’t been to Disneyland since 1980 and before that in 1963, so I imagine it is now very different. I like the picture of the kids with Goofy. Very nice! I did not know any of the history of the Queen Mary, so thanks for sharing that and the photos – I learned something tonight!
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I’m so glad you learned something new from my post! It was an eerie place and with all the years that it was in operation, the ship has many tales to tell. It’s actually a hotel right now and I wonder what it’s like to stay there as a hotel guest.
Disneyland is doing a lot of remodeling but the general ambiance of the park seems to the same as when I went decades ago. That picture with Goofy was last minute. I saw him and to track him down to take those photos! Kids thought I was crazy but you only get one opportunity. Do you know these characters have bodyguards? Kids said they need bodyguards to protect them from overeager moms like me. hmph!
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When I went in 1980 as part of the California bus trip down the coast, I thought it looked very different. I had no idea the characters needed bodyguards. The kids are funny, but for real, I wonder why. That’s part of the charm having your picture taken with a Disney character while at Disneyland!
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They probably need assistants to help them navigate the crowds and overeager guests. I wasn’t that excited to take pictures with the characters when I was a kid, but this time I was determined to get those photos for the kids. Goodness…I’m one of those moms.
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It’s okay to be “that Mom” … I have a homely collage picture of myself taken with one of the Seven Dwarfs. I will send it to you in a separate comment.
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Thank you for sending them! I love your colorful outfit…so fashionable for a Disneyland outing.
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You’re welcome Esther – now you can tell the kids that back in ’66 I “endured” the same thing. (I thought it was fun.) My mom called that my “awning top” – back in the day, people had striped awnings on their houses. I’m sorry I had to put it on a separate post, so just delete it from there … WP would not permit me to post a second time. SMH!
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Awning top. That’s funny. I used to wear suspenders because they were fashionable in the 80s. Yikes.
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I remember the suspenders look too. I used to sew, as did a friend of mine back in the early 70s. I made most of my clothes as I had long arms and legs and they didn’t have clothing for tall women then. Anyway, she got a pattern for shorts with an attached bib that were short overalls. We each made several matching outfits to wear with white teeshirts underneath and thought we looked pretty cool.
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That is so cool that you could sew your clothes!! It takes a lot of skill to be able to do that.
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I guess my mom wanted a character photo too:
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Yep, she sure did!! And the picture is adorable.
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I don’t know about adorable though. I was at that awkward age and that awkward age continued for a while … I have some pictures with my cat-eye glasses (which are making a comeback BTW) and some odd fashion choices back in the day. 🙂
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My awkward phase lasted too long. I can’t bear to look at my old photos.
Yep, fashion styles go through cycles and make comebacks!
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Some of my photos are pretty cringeworthy too – I have included them in my blog so no one can say I just picked the sweet toddler pics. You’re younger than me, but in the 70s, the maxi dresses were all the fad and my parents bought all my clothes and said “no” to a maxi dress. But I did get an allowance from them and I did used to rake leaves or shovel snow in the neighborhood to buy records back in my early teens, so I bought a maxi dress, a wooden purse that looked like a treasure chest and flat, lace-up Grecian-style sandals. I wish someone had taken a photo when I “modeled” it when I came home from the store. My mother said “you’re not going to school dressed like that and you’re not going anywhere with us in that get-up.” I think I kept the purse and shoes and returned the dress.
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That outfit sounds so cool and boho chic!! I wish you had a picture of it.
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My face is the Mickey Mouse pretzel! Almost too cute to eat!
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I agree! It’s so cute to eat but it got demolished. We needed to refuel for the walking and navigating around the crowd.
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I meant “fave” not “face” 😂
I love big soft pretzels too!
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I had to read it twice first and then realized what you meant!!
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Thank you for sharing your vacation pics! Iam so…so..glad, my dear friend, Esther! I haven’t been to Disneyland see. only for read & see picture on Google. I like the picture of the kids with Goofy. Very nice! I did not know any of the history of the Queen Mary, so thanks for sharing that and the photos.
Tack care, Eshter!
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Fabulous! It’s many long years since we were in Disneyland- our boy was about 7 or 8- but I look back at the photos and remember the joy of those parades.
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Yes, the parades are so fun and exciting to see! The band does a great job of lifting everyone’s spirits and the characters, of course, make the parades that much better.
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