A Question, and Queen Mary Redux

I have apparently been taking photos and posting in this blog for 12 years. I've finished my backlog of all the photos that had been burning a hole in my hard drive, and I also no longer live in Southern California. So, the question is whether or not I continue posting here when the photos will not be in Southern California anymore?

Should I start a new blog? Rename this one? I expect I have .5 followers, so I would love if ANYONE would like to comment on this regarding what they think the best route would be. I do enjoy having my photos out and available online, so rebranding seems wisest. The original intent was a tourism bent to get people to visit the fantastically beautiful state of California, but as this is not the hottest blog online, I expect very few people would notice if it quietly morphed into Yet Another Look At My Photos Blog. Granted, that has less of a draw.

Aside from that, this is a post for my beloved, gorgeous Queen Mary, who holds a surprisingly large chunk of my heart for tons of inanimate steel and wood.

If you do happen to be near Long Beach, the Queen Mary is actually totally and completely free to check out. Because she is a hotel, and has multiple restaurants, you can just saunter right in as free as you please. I will admit the parking is a definite thing, but I HIGHLY SUGGEST taking one of the water taxis. They're between 1 and 5 dollars and you get to ride around Long Beach Harbor on the water and take pictures of all the loveliness. Very few boat rides nowadays are so affordable.

But this is probably the most writing I've ever done in this blog, and I haven't even gotten to all the photos I'm posting. Here we go.

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An establishing shot of her bow.



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Her "wings", the bridge and the Observation Bar.



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Meanwhile, at the stern is the Verandah Grill.



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The view across the harbor is lovely.



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She's known as The Ship of the Woods, and from the interior, you can tell why.



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My favorite place onboard is the sunny lounge midships on deck A.



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A detail shot from the same room.



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While I was visiting (June 2023) the first class pool was still closed, but I was able to get a shot inside through the glass door.



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A detail shot from the interior promenade deck.



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The interior of the Observation Bar, a very relaxing place to spend time.



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And this was a lovely way to end a day on the Queen Mary.

Santa Barbara

While a lot of people consider Santa Barbara a relatively pricey town, there's still a lot you can do on a budget for fun. This goes for pretty much any town with a mission, to be honest. They're always filled with history and beauty and reasonably priced.

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Here's a nice shot of the fountain outside of the mission.



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A green and sunny courtyard on a beautiful day.



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I love shots with benches in them. I'm still lightly hoping to put out a vanity book of benches I've taken photos of, just so I can page through and imagine sitting in all the serene places.



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There's always interesting old history items in the museums all of the missions have.



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When we visited we also headed over to the Santa Barbara courthouse. You might think that's not interesting, but the place is absolutely beautiful. Here's a car parked outside that I thought was particularly photo-worthy.



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The courthouse has a mural room, a clocktower, views to the ocean and a sunken garden. My eye caught some red tiles ready for the roof repair, though.



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Ending here with a parting photo of the fountain at the entrance.