Just Can't Get Enough of the California Experience!

--Downtown Fullerton: Extraordinary boutique--Gilding the Lily--owned by Aunt’s similarly cool sister—chock full of sparkly things from German glass glitter to vintage jewelry to velvety millinery swirls and flourishes. My kinda place. http://www.gildingthelilyvintage.blogspot.com/ (great soundtrack, BTW!!)

Sweet little local history museum featured architectural photographer Julius Shulman’s 1950s and 1960s work documenting Fullerton houses and other buildings—a visual foray into the mid-century lifestyle, followed up with a visit to neat downtown shops like
mod Otto and retro-hot Out of Vogue.

--Long Beach. Aquarium of the Pacific. We got the lowdown on that sea monster we had seen washed ashore near Huntington Beach the day before: a massive wad of kelp. Checked out the touristy pier, saw the stately Queen Mary anchored across the harbor.

Drove up the interesting and scenic Pacific Coast Highway, admiring the pretty beach towns along the way: Redondo, Manhattan, Venice (where we parked and walked a bit, great for people-watching!); I could have kept going on the PCH but we hung a right at Santa Monica and meandered through 90210 on our way back home. Rodeo Drive looks as…ah…well-kept…as its inhabitants.

--Theme Park Day. I get my fill of the theme park experience in my own home state, that’s for sure…but thought we should at least check out the west coast’s “happiest place on Earth” for ourselves, at least do a little drive-by. They have that place so walled off, despite its location in the middle of Anaheim—unlike the World in Orlando, which has its own power grid plus acreage to spare—that there’s no way in hell you’re going to see that castle without a ticket, mister. So after an amble around Downtown Disney (free parking, first 3 hours!), we headed for our next adventure: the fried chicken at Knott’s Berry Farm that we’d heard so much about.

Fiorella’s in the French Quarter still wins the fried chicken smackdown in my book, but at least we can say we’ve eaten at the birthplace of the boysenberry. Also—if you think you can “do” Knott’s Berry Farm in 45 minutes, here’s the way to go: buy a “shopper’s pass” for half-price admission at Guest Services, and if your “shopper” hand stamp “accidentally” washes off in the restroom, get your fill of the thrill rides and be back at the gate before the clock strikes three quarters of an hour for a full refund. Now, I’m not saying I did anything like that…but the person with me might have…

Thus concludes our whirlwind tour of SoCal—can’t wait to go back!

Up Next: Sanibel sand in my shoes...