D-Day ... B-Day

It's kind of anticlimactic. I don't really feel any different.

I do, however, feel very loved. I have the most amazing family and friends. Thank you all for making my day special.

I am finished with the list, and the rest of the entries will be posted shortly, along with some final thoughts. Maybe by that point this whole 30 concept will have set in.

Or maybe I will always feel like a kid ;-)

#17 Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

Next on my list is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Completed in 2002, this is the youngest cathedral in the United States. Also, supposedly there are no right angles in the architecture. Perfect for a math geek like myself.
When we arrived, we were greeted by a volunteer who told us some fabulous stories about the building and the architecture. It was such a cool way to start the day.
Outside the cathedral is a gigantic bell tower. There are too many awesome things about the campenile to write here, so you should all go check out the website of the cathedral. Actually that goes for just about everything in this post.
It was all so fascinating, but there is way too much information to cover. So, for now, enjoy the pretty bells.

Painted onto this fountain is the same bible verse in about 30 different languages.

Etched onto the grounds in front of the cathedral is a replica of the positions of the stars on the night the cathedral was blessed.

This is the magnificent entrance. These doors are INSANE.

This tapestry hangs over the baptismal fountain. It is absolutely stunning.

And so is the fountain. While we were here, we saw one of the visitor's fill her water bottle with holy water from this fountain. Seriously?

One of the main features is a towering pipe organ. While we were there, several different organists played, filling the entire space with glorious sound. We sat and listened to them for awhile, just soaking up the atmosphere. Next to the pipe organ is the cross in the window, which is absolutly stunning. It's positioned on a downward slant, which directs the light down on the congragation. It also has a great effect of bursting light behind the crucifix.

Underneath the cathedral is a massive mausoleum. It is pristine and canvernous. Also, Gregory Peck is buried here.

Outside the cathedral is a path leading to a sculpture garden. One of the pieces on the way to the garden is a pieta. Quite possibly the most interesting pieta I've ever seen.

Outside is a sculpture garden of quirky-looking animals. This was my favorite of the bunch.

The path that winds through the garden had triangle patterns throughout, and when I reached the end, I found this:

It's a snake head! Get it? A snake ... in the garden ... ...

This place is amazing, and I can't wait to go back. I want to go when it's all decorated for Christmas or Easter. And I'd love to hear some choirs sing. The acoustics are crazy inside.
Miles: 53.4
Cost: $5 for parking

Miles to date: 631.8
Cost to date: $177.66

#16 Naples

Another fun part of Long Beach is the canal town of Naples. This area is really close to me, and I've driven past it literally hundreds of times but have never explored. It turns out that Naples is a lot like Venice, but closer to me :-)
The most famous part of Naples is La Bella Fontana di Napoli. This is located in the city center and is knows as the
most popular meeting place in the area.

The canals in Naples feed right into Alamitos Bay.

Look closely in the window ... there's a carousel horse!

Captain Morgan guards the canals of Naples. We found at least three statues of him around there.

The house I want. It's beautiful.

It wouldn't be a proper canal without gondoliers! These two waved and posed. We didn't hear them sing, but we
heard one of the other guys. It was ... painful. But he was pretty, so we didn't mind so much.

The whole neighborhood was hardcore decorated for Halloween. I'm totally coming back for Christmas. I can't wait to see what the denizens do for the holidays :-)

Miles: 5.8
Cost: FREE!

Miles to date: 578.4
Cost to date: $172.66

#15 Hike to the Hollywood Sign

This is the activity I was most looking forward to on my list. I have wanted to hike up to the Hollywood sign for many, many years. Luckily, I have some great friends (and two puppies!) who decided to make the trek with me.

We started at around 9am. Before we had even left the parking lot we saw Vince Vaughn! He was doing the hike as well. And he looked good.

Before we headed all the way up to the sign, we made a little side trip. On one of the paths to the sign, we got to see the original Bat Cave. Seriously! This is where they filmed the Batmobile entering and exiting the Bat Cave (from the Adam West TV series). We got to explore the whole area and go through the cave. I geeked out a little.

It turned out to be the perfect day to do the hike. It was so clear we could see all the way to the ocean. Gorgeous!

We turned left at this point. On the right is a more difficult path that takes you 20 feet above and behind the sign.
We are working our way up to that one.

It was a relatively easy hike ... until we reached this hill.

That was really the only rough part. The hike itself is about 3 miles, and there were plenty of people along the route.
It took about an hour and a half to reach the top.
This sign was a liar! We still had about 15 minutes to go from this point.

But, I made it!!

The view from the top!

This hike was AMAZING! I would recommend this to anyone and everyone. I can't wait to go again!!!

Miles: 63.4 plus 5.6 walked
Cost: FREE!

Miles to date: 572.6
Cost to date: $172.66

#14 Harbor Cruise

Living in a harbor town is really cool, but most people don't take any time out to appreciate everything that goes into running an international import/export business. The Port of Long Beach has a really active outreach program, and
one of the things it offers is a harbor tour. The tour is 40 minutes by boat and is narrated by Port staff.
Having worked there for a long time now, I know most of things they mention during the tour, but I dragged
three friends with me so they could share in the fun!

The day I chose to go was the annual Green Port Fest. This is a whole day of activities, tours, performances and displays celebrating port workings and environmental initiatives, local businesses and local culture. There is also free food, and lots of it.
The harbor tours book up quickly during the year, so I thought there would be a better chance of getting tickets if I went during Port Fest. It worked!
We boarded our vessel and headed out. One of the first things we saw was ITS (International Transportation
Service).

This is one of six container terminals on Port property. The vessels carrying the cargo dock at these container terminals, and their containers are loaded and unloaded here by those massive cranes. Here is an example of a
docked vessel being unloaded. The size of these vessels are astounding.

Next we saw Sea Launch. This company takes satellites into open water to launch them into space. So Cool!

As a special treat for the Port Fest visitors, the Long Beach Fire Department had a water boat spinning around and spouting water. Very fun.

On the right, we passed the weather station.

One way that the Port is helping the environment is by encouraging tenants to use shore-side power. This shows a vessel from Alaska Tanker charging up at BP.

As we sailed past this bouy, we saw a group of seals hanging out.

At the end of the tour, we docked next to the Queen Mary.

You'll get a closer look at the Queen Mary a little further down the list ;-)

I have been waiting to take this tour for a long time, and I am so glad I finally got to go! Even though I knew most of what we learned on the tour, it was so cool to see the things I've been working on in action up close and personal. It was also really cool to introduce my friends to my world of work.

Miles: 8.2
Cost: FREE!

Miles to date: 503.6
Cost to date: $172.66

One month to go

One month from today, I will turn 30. This is crazy. I cannot believe that it's already here. For someone who has been anticipating this day for many years, I suddenly feel very unprepared for the day. I have no idea what I'm going to do to celebrate - isn't that crazy? I'm doing 30 things to lead up to the big day, but then ...

#13 Dodgers Game

For my 25 list in NYC, Yankee Stadium was on my list. It seemed only right to include Dodgers Stadium on this list. And Joe Torre was nice enough to join me in both locations.
I'm not a big baseball person - football, basketball and hockey are preferable for me - so I took with me two baseball fans:

One of the greatest things that the Dodgers offer is the All You Can Eat Pavilion seating. For $35, you get seats in the outfield and unlimited food and drink. The drink was especially important, since it was 95 degrees and we were in direct sunlight for the whole game.
The life-saving mister ... it felt really good after sitting in the heat.

The options!

The famous Dodger dogs! (Can you tell I was almost more excited for the all-you-can-eat aspect than the game?)

Fortunately, the game turned out to be HUGELY exciting! There were SEVEN opportunities for grand slams. Seven.
Manny Rodriguez hit a 3-run homer, right to our section. Actually, pretty much every exciting that happened,
occurred right in front of us. We totally got our money's worth. Our seats were in right field, right behind
Jessica's favorite player Andre Ethier.

The game was a shut out all the way until the last out of the 9th inning, and then they scored two runs. But the Dodgers still won, and this win put them into first place in the division! Very exciting to be there for that.

If I ever go to a Dodgers game again, I'm totally sitting in this same section. It's ridiculous how great a deal it is. Especially if it's hot, because those 7 bottles of water and 2 cokes I drank would have cost me more than I paid for the ticket. Seriously.

Miles: 56.6
Cost: $44.10

Miles to date: 495.4
Cost to date: $172.66

#1C CSULB Japanese Garden

The third and final stop on the Garden tour is the Japanese Garden at Cal State Long Beach.

The main part of the gardens is the giant koi pond.


And there's also a waterfall! You know now how I love the waterfalls :-)

There is also a meditation room:

And a gigantic zen garden:

And a staple of Feng Shui - the zig-zag bridge. It is believed that negative energy and bad ch'i have trouble navigating corners, so the zig-zag shape prevents the bad ch'i from progressing.

There were several families there, and most of the children spent their time near the koi.


I love Japanese Gardens. They might be my favorite type of garden. Unfortunately, this one is so small, otherwise it would be the clear winner of the three college gardens. However, due to size and options and general atmosphere, I have to give the edge to the UCLA Botanical Gardens. Barely.

Miles: 4.8
Cost: FREE!!

Miles to date: 439.8
Cost to date: $128.56