Saturday in San Pedro

Even though the hotel I stayed at for the past two nights is comfortable enough and reasonably priced, it sits next to a very busy and noisy street. Loud cars, sirens and garbage trucks make it a challenge to sleep in Los Angeles. Traffic was not too bad as I drove a half hour away to my destination of the day, the town of San Pedro. First, I walked around Point Fermin Park, taking photos of the shoreline and the historic lighthouse. In the second photo, you can see Catalina Island in the distance.

There were quite a few bird watchers with nice cameras searching for avian subjects. I used my point and shoot camera and captured a Rufous Hummingbird. There were also some very large, interesting looking trees. I think this is a Moretin Bay Fig tree.

Next, I visited the USS Iowa, the only battleship on the West Coast open to the public for viewing. It was so cool walking on the original wooden teak deck and around the ship, inside and out.

Most impressive was the Iowa's 12-inch guns, although there were other smaller guns and even some modern armaments when the ship was reactivated in the mid-80s. Included here are photos of the 5-inch guns, Phalanx cruise missile defense, Tomahawk box launchers and Harpoon cruise missiles.

As I toured the interior of the ship, I saw the difference between the flag bridge, which was used for non-combat situations, and the armored conning tower, a more protected interior bridge.

There were examples of some officer's quarters...and then there was President Roosevelt's private bathtub. Yes, a special tub just for when he was on board the ship.

In the afternoon, I visited the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. It was fairly small, but they had a good representation of local ocean life. I was most impressed by the nudibranches...I'm not sure I've seen them before. Here's a Hooded Nudibranch with its "mouth" open and closed. The moon jellyfish were also pretty.

Tomorrow, I was going to revisit the American Driving Museum to ride their old cars, but it appears it's closed for Easter Sunday. We'll see what else there is to do around Long Beach, then I'll be staying on The Queen Mary again.