Thursday

After a day of sessions, a few drinks, and food on the Queen Mary’s and then a self-guided night tour, Deborah was tired (and she is still on East Coast Time) and ready for sleep. We arrived in Air VW the Gray, and Deborah walked up while I parked the EV. I had managed to forget my wallet and had to walk back to the parked VW and retrieve it after I reached the hotel. The EV was just under 70% charge. I used a charge station, a slow one, at the QM parking lot. I paid $25 for parking and a few bucks for the charge. Half the machines were not working.

Before this, Deborah was done with her sessions and turned down a dinner with a vendor she is not using at King’s Fish House in the Art Deco part of Long Beach and instead joined me for a walk in the garage to reach Air VW the Gray to travel to the QM.  It was a short pop over a bridge and then plugging in the EV. I had been there in the afternoon to see if this was something we wanted to do. I learned from the gift store and ticket seller that there was a Jazz Night, which was $0 and came with an after-night complimentary access to the QM. While not a tour, it was a chance to walk the ship. I donated $10 each to the ship’s restoration and got the tickets.

We were on the guest list and soon were in the Observation Louge at a small table. Our waiter, Michelle, got Deborah a drink special (a vodka and expresso take on a Creme Brule) with a large piece of candy sugar covering a third of the cocktail glass while I had a Stella. We had some light food and enjoyed the music.

The band singer was great and leaned into her role. The crowd was mixed from tourist T-shirts and shorts to period 1940s and earlier outfits. Folks danced to the music. It was lovely.

We paid our bill with some complexity to align with Deborah’s expense report.  Next, we walked the decks and enjoyed a perfect evening and all the lights of Long Beach. We found the bridge, looked at it through the glass, and viewed ballrooms and other places. We walked from the front to the back and down three decks. The ship looked more alive and ready to sail with the darkened light than a museum. Even with the bar bill and parking, it was still a cheap night in Long Beach.  Excellent, and I recommend the Jazz Night on the QM.

(Scary)

Before this, I was in the hotel debating writing options with Mariah by text. It was not going well. I may just stick to blogs and forget fantasy. I may have aged out with my idea of Fantasy as Elric and Lankhmar stories.

Before that, I drove the EV across two large, scary (for me) bridges to get to the Battleship Iowa, first in the class and the last American design of completed battleships. The ship was in excellent shape (it has now been a museum longer than in active service), and I did a self-guided tour. I was sorry that my tour missed the engine room, but Midway’s Engine room is open and closely matches the Iowa Fast Battleship design. I did get to the bridge and flag bridge and crew’s quarters. No tour of the big guns and only a door open to see inside a 5′ gun.

I must visit Philadelphia Naval Yard and Battleship New Jersey to see more areas. Also, the deck is in poor shape and covered with plywood (only part of QM was this way). I was told that one area was open today as they had just finished the re-decking. It looked good. I know that New Jersey decking is almost finished after years of work.

I wanted to see inside the 16″ guns and engine room. Maybe there will be a special tour for those who want to go. Next time!

It was an excellent walk, and ladders were often steep and required care. It was not yet hot, but I suspect that seeing Iowa in the heat would be awful. Glad I got it on a cool morning.

Before this, Deborah rushed to her sessions. She got some expense report-approved breakfast and was soon crammed into small rooms, as her sessions were well attended but in too small a setting. I walked to the Pot Holder Cafe and had breakfast there while writing. It is the usual breakfast place with the typical $20+ price (coffee was $4.50). It is not bad, but there is no reason to return. I wrote the blog there, and the staff was kind and thoughtful (maybe that would be a reason to return).

I was surprised by the many Art Deco buildings and lovely food joints a few blocks from the Hyatt. I will be back as we have until Wednesday here.

And that takes me to the start of Thursday.