Southern California

May 2018

While in Southern California for a week of meetings at Port Hueneme, a few of us flew out a couple days early to do some sightseeing. After landing at LAX, we spent our first day exploring Santa Monica before driving up Pacific Coast Highway to our hotel in Oxnard. It's the first I've been on PCH in about 15 years. The scenery is as great as ever! The next day, we drove down to Los Angeles and took a tour of Paramount Studios. After our tour, we continued south to Long Beach for lunch at a place that had been featured on Food Network and then spent the afternoon at the Aquarium of the Pacific. We then headed back up north to Oxnard to meet up with our newly arrived coworkers from around the country at the hotel. The remainder of the week was spent at work, but I still managed to snap a few more photos in our off hours. Most were taken around our beautiful oceanfront hotel (Mandalay Beach Resort) in Ventura County and Port Hueneme. The weather was perfect and the scenery was quite nice!

001 PHL Runway
Looking down runway 9 left at PHL before we head out west
003 Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River in its concrete path
004 110 Freeway
The 110 freeway
005 Boeing 787
Hanging out next to a Boeing 787 as we wait for a gate at LAX
002 Rocky Mountains
Flying over the Rockies
008 Apple Store
The Santa Monica Apple Store
009 Third Street Promenade
Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade
010 Santa Monica Clock Tower
Santa Monica Clock Tower
011 The Misfit Restaurant
We had a delicious lunch at The Misfit Restaurant
012 Thunderbird Cocktail
Thunderbird cocktail at The Misfit Restaurant
013 Brussels Sprouts & Pancetta
Brussels sprouts & pancetta at The Misfit Restaurant
014 The Misfit Restaurant Interior
Taking a peak inside The Misfit Restaurant. We dined outside.
018 Topiary Dinosaur
Topiary dinosaur hanging out on the promenade
019 Third Street Promenade Sign
The Third Street Promenade is a fun pedestrian mall
020 Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach on the Pacific Ocean
022 Santa Monica Statue
Statue of Santa Monica, the city’s namesake
023 Wilshire Boulevard Sign
Walking along Wilshire Boulevard
026 Santa Monica Pier
The famous Santa Monica Pier
027 Santa Monica Beach
Looking down on Santa Monica Beach
029 Santa Monica Pier
The famous Santa Monica Pier
030 Merry-Go-Round
The merry-go-round on Santa Monica Pier
033 Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach complete with war protest
035 Santa Monica Beach Pano
A panoramic view from Santa Monica Pier
037 Santa Monica Pier
The famous Santa Monica Pier
038 Santa Monica Beach
Santa Monica Beach
039 Route 66 Sign
Who knew that Route 66 ends at Santa Monica Pier, at least ceremoniously.
040 Santa Monica Pier Sign
The famous Santa Monica Pier
041 Pink Building
This scene makes me feel like I’m in Miami
042 Pacific Coast highway
Driving up Pacific Coast Highway. We did this a lot.
044 Pacific Coast highway
Driving up Pacific Coast Highway. We did this a lot.
045 Mandalay Beach Resort
Finally at our hotel, Mandalay Beach Resort
046 Hotel Lobby
Finally at our hotel, Mandalay Beach Resort
047 Balcony
The view from my suite isn’t too bad!
048 Balcony View
The view from my suite isn’t too bad!
050 Big Bathroom
My suite has TWO bathrooms! Very nice!
052 Small Bathroom
My suite has TWO bathrooms! Very nice!
054 Courtyard
The courtyard at Mandalay Beach Resort at night
056 Courtyard
The courtyard at Mandalay Beach Resort in early morning
059 Hotel Lobby
The hotel lobby
060 Capital Records Building
The famous Capital Records Building
062 Paramount Studios Tour
At Paramount Studios for a tour
065 Star Trek Props
Star Trek props
066 Brad Pitt Benjamin Button Prosthetic
Brad Pitt’s head from Benjamin Button
067 Titanic Oscar
Titanic’s Oscar
068 Forrest Gump Oscar
Forrest Gump’s Oscar!
070 Bronson Gate & Fountain
The Bronson Gate is a symbol of Paramount Studios
072 Bronson Gate
The Bronson Gate is a symbol of Paramount Studios
073 Forrest Gump Bench
The bench from Forrest Gump. Didn’t we see this in Savannah too?
074 Courtyard
One of many courtyards at Paramount
076 Stage 1 Sign
Paramount Stage 1
077 Top Gun Porch
Does this porch look familiar? It was Charlie’s (Kelly McGillis) in Top Gun!
078 Technicolor Sign
Technicolor still has offices at Paramount
080 Blue Sky Tank
The blue sky tank is a parking lot when it’s not being used to film ocean scenes
081 Subway Entrance
These subway entrances are not real
082 New York Street
We’re not really in New York. We’re on the Paramount back lot.
085 New York Street
We’re not really in New York. We’re on the Paramount back lot.
086 New York Street
We’re not really in New York. We’re on the Paramount back lot.
088 House
More fake buildings on the back lot
090 Open Windows
These buildings are empty inside
091 Building Interior
Inside one of the fake buildings
092 School or Police Station Set
This could be a school or a police station
093 Building & Subway Entrance
More fake buildings on the back lot
094 Storefront
Record store or diner. You choose!
095 Water Tower
The Paramount water tower on the back lot
096 Stage 28
A peak inside Stage 28
097 Stage 30 Entrance
Headed into Dr Phil’s studio
099 Hollywood Sign
If you look carefully you’ll see the Hollywood sign in the distance
100 Prop Room
Roaming around the prop room
102 Prop Room
Roaming around the prop room
103 Star Trek Transporter
A transporter from Star Trek in the prop room
105 Red Tree
Roaming around the prop room
106 Dead Grandma Prop
A dead grandma in the prop room
107 Headstones
Amy Grey’s headstone among others
108 Restricted Area Sign
We entered anyway
111 Schooner or Later Deck
Lunch at Schooner or Later as seen on Food Network
112 Schooner or Later Menu
Lunch at Schooner or Later as seen on Food Network
113 Schooner or Later Interior
Lunch at Schooner or Later as seen on Food Network
115 The Mess Breakfast
I ordered “The Mess.” It was great!
117 Convention Center
The whale covered convention center
118 Roller Coaster Pedestrian Bridge
Roller coaster pedestrian bridge
120 Sea Horse
Sea Horse
121 Eel
Eel
122 Jellyfish
Jellyfish
123 Seal
Seal
125 Penguins
The penguins
127 Penguins
Up close with the penguins
129 Ray
This ray wanted to make friends
130 Lobby Fish Tank
Talk about a massive fish tank!
131 Flower Hat Jellyfish
Flower Hat Jellyfish
132 Octopus
The octopus was showing off for us
133 Starfish Touch Tank
Starfish of every color
135 Otter
Getting close to the otters
136 Otter
Getting close to the otters
137 Basket Star
This is an animal. It’s a basket star.
138 Diver Sign
The elusive homo sapien diver
139 Clown Fish
It’s Nemo!
140 Leafy Seadragon
The leafy seadragon is pretty unique to this aquarium.
141 Bubba Gump's
Bubba Gump’s! I ate here with Marianne 6 years ago!
142 LAX Sign
The iconic LAX sign
143 Port Hueneme Sign
Port Hueneme, our real destination for the week
144 Balcony View
The early morning view from my suite
145 Oxnard Neighborhood
Our hotel is in Oxnard
146 NB Ventura County Entrance
Naval Base Ventura County, let the work begin
149 Balcony View
Can’t get enough of the view from my balcony
152 Seabee Statue
There’s the Seabee at Naval Base Ventura County.
153 Courtyard
The grounds of Mandalay Beach Resort are beautiful
170 Pool Area
The grounds of Mandalay Beach Resort are beautiful
173 Hotel from Beach
The grounds of Mandalay Beach Resort are beautiful
175 Palm Trees & Ocean
Walking along the Pacific Ocean at our hotel
176 Hotel from Beach
The grounds of Mandalay Beach Resort are beautiful
177 Tar Sign
There is seriously tar on the beach. California is a wonderous place.
178 Courtyard
One last walk through the courtyard at Mandalay Beach Resort
179 LAX Theme Building & Tower
Taking off from LAX