I just returned from a 3-night visit with my awesome friend Marcia who lives in Long Beach, California. We decided we would stay aboard the Queen Mary during our visit since neither of us have been on the ship before.

A few quick facts about the Queen Mary:

•  Her maiden voyage was in 1936.
• She was regarded as the only civilized way to travel by the elite of high society in that era.

Continue reading Road Trip! The Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA at The Painted Hinge.

In January, the hubs and I took a few days to get away and explore a new spot on the coast.

Last year I discovered that we have not one, but TWO beaches in California called Moonstone Beach (the other is in Trinidad). I’m a bit of a rock nut hound, so my initial reaction when I found this out was “There are actual beaches where I can just waltz right out and find gorgeous, flashy moonstones scattered about???

Continue reading Road Trip! Moonstone Beach in Cambria, CA at The Painted Hinge.

The hubs and I took a much-needed vacation and drove up to Fort Ross CA for a mid-week getaway.

About 45 minutes above Bodega Bay, Fort Ross is an unincorporated town named after the Russian fort established there in the early 1800’s. It is considered part of Jenner, CA but is 12 miles above the actual town of Jenner.

If you truly want to get away from it all, this is the place to go.

Continue reading Road Trip! Fort Ross CA at The Painted Hinge.

The hubby and I recently made a trip to Fort Bragg, CA just a few miles north of the town of Mendocino to get some much-needed vacation time in. While we were there, I took advantage of the lovely scenery and took a bunch of pictures.

I’d love to take all the credit for these shots, but it’s really hard to take a bad picture when the scenery is just so incredible:

The following two shots are of a huge redwood stump that had washed up onshore.

Continue reading Road Trip! Fort Bragg, CA at The Painted Hinge.