Another Harbor Tour, and Thensome

Last week I spent a couple of days in Temecula. Steve was there too, to pick up my dad's truck. We went out to lunch at one of Mom's favorite places, BJ's.

I came home bright and early Saturday morning for our second harbor tour in as many weekends. This one was sponsored by our neighborhood association and I'm so glad I didn't miss it! Not only was it a picture perfect day, but the tour was led by employees of the Port of Long Beach, so it was nonstop interesting information the whole way.

Lucky for you I can't remember ALL the facts and figures we learned, but this one sticks with me: Long Beach and Los Angeles each have separate ports, which are right next to each other; the two of them combined account for half of all goods shipped into the country.

I was surprised to hear about the green initiatives being made by the Port of Long Beach. For starters, the ships are getting larger so as to require fewer trips (the current largest can carry nine thousand 40-foot containers). Also, the Port has built a railroad that allows the containers to go straight from the ship onto a train (reducing individual trucking trips to the railways, and the emissions that goes along with those trips) AND the Port has also installed a power supply that the ships can connect to so they don't have to idle while they're being unloaded.

Speaking of unloading, we got to watch this ship being unloaded. The automation reminded me of something you might see at Disneyland—with these 40-foot containers being made to look like toys.

We really nerded out on all the interesting things we learned, but we also enjoyed a super comfortable ride and perfect weather on the water. This cruise isn't one you can buy a ticket for, but I got the scoop on how to try to get back on board this boat on the few times each month it goes tours like this one, so visitors cross your fingers that your dates coincide with these tours (only in summer months) because you don't want to miss this!

I'll end this post with a picture of a great big cat and a teeny tiny dog. Today we had a video call with Peter and Jessa, and Allie (inset, on Brad's lap) got to meet Peaches. I think neither had any idea what was going on, but the humans all had a good laugh.