Long Beach, California

Some might say that living in Southern California would be a dream. It's true, the near-perfect temperatures all year long would be nice. The traffic, however, is not something that I would miss. I recently spent a week in Long Beach, California, and want to discuss some of my experiences there.

First off, I loved the city. It felt as if I were driving around in some sort of video game (Grand Theft Auto, anyone?) everywhere I went. I loved seeing palm trees as far as the eye could see. It's a beautiful place.

I certainly wanted to go to the beach while I was there and had some free time. So, naturally, I looked up the closest beach in proximity to my hotel. That happened to be the Junipero Beach.

I was anticipating having to pay for parking when I drove down there. I was pleasantly surprised to find a spot on the side of the road available without a meter. So, that was certainly a plus.

The beach itself is very wide and very long. I took some stairs to get down to the bottom and ventured my way across the coastline.

I was fairly disappointed.

While yes, it is a large beach and I had plenty of space to myself, it felt dirty. I came across a dead bird that looked as if it had been there for a while.

It did have a nice path closer to the road that several people were using to jog and ride bikes. So, it seemed like a fairly family friendly area.

Now, I've been to other beaches in Southern California and this one doesn't even compare. I probably should have done more research before choosing this particular beach, but I enjoyed my time in the sun.

I also want to give a shoutout to a great selection of food. I enjoyed some authentic Argentinian food, amongst others. The biggest disappointment in that department, however, was that the nearest Cheesecake Factory was in Anaheim. But that didn't stop me from driving there for lunch.