Long Beach, CA 10/28 -- 10/30/2016  [Back to Photo Page]

Long Beach is located about 22 miles south of Downtown Los Angeles.  It is the second most populated city within the Greater Los Angeles Area and a principal city of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.  The port of Long Beach is one of the world's largest shipping ports and the second busiest container port in the US.  It is in San Padro Bay and side by side with the port of Los Angeles, where we embarked on a cruise trip to Mexico in 2013.

Getting there ...

The main purpose of this trip was to go to Bands of America Marching Championships regional competition in Long Beach.  This was the last competition for this season for Saratoga High School Marching Band and Color Guard, and it was also Iris' last marching band performance in her high school career :-(
I left work early on Friday afternoon (and went to pick up a rental camera at BorrowLenses since I need a 2nd camera for long shots in addition to the static wide angle video).  The traffic had started to build up on Highway 85 and 101 when we were on the road.  With a quick stop at an In-N-Out burger for dinner, we arrived in Long Beach at ~ 10PM.

Second Day (10/29) ... 

• Sunrise
  We took a walk from our hotel to the nearby Long Beach Shoreline Marina, which has a nice new of the Queen Mary and many yachts in the harbor.  The cloud added a dramatic sky as a backdrop for the pictures. 
  

• Bands of America
  I was appointed as the videographer to shoot SHS's performance for both Prelims and Finals.  In addition to the static wide-angle shot requested by the band director, I also set up a 2nd camera with long lens so I can shoot some highlight and close-up actions (I can then edit them together as shown in the video below).   Saratoga High School won the Outstanding Music Performance, Visual Performance, General Effect and overall first place in AA class in the Prelims, and was qualified to enter the Finals in the evening (10 out of 23 schools).  SHS got the 7th place in the Finals with their performance titled "En Grande".
  

Third Day (10/30) ...

• Sunrise
  We took another walk toward the beach this morning.  It was more cloudy today that the glow on the horizon last only less than 5 min before it became a dull gray day.
  

.

• Aquarium of the Pacific
  The Aquarium features a collection of over 11,000 animals representing over 500 different species in exhibits ranging in size and capacity from about 5,000 to 350,000 gallons. Exhibits introduce the inhabitants and seascapes of the Pacific, while also focusing on specific conservation messages associated with each region.  The Aquarium is listed as one of the best aquariums in the US.
  

Going Home ...

We had an early lunch after the aquarium visit at Bubba Gump Shrimp, and it was our first real meal in 2 days (only had a drive-thru at McDonald's last night).  We started to drive back at about noon.  Although we were about one and a half hours behind SHS buses when we started, we had plenty of time to catch them up (with only one quick stop), and we arrived back home 5 min earlier than they did.  Marching Band is a demanding activity for both students and parents, however, I think I will miss it after Iris graduates...

[Back to Photo Page]