March 16, 2014: The temperature reached a high of 90 degrees on this winter day. A little warm for me, but also a perfect day to head toward the water.
My husband and I had the same craving for an umbrella drink and an ocean view about mid-afternoon, so we set out for Seal Beach, one of our favorite spots. Seems everyone else had the same idea and parking was not to be found. Also, there are not a lot of options in Seal Beach to get a water view and a cocktail. The Hangout was packed and River's End has just a tavern license - that won't work when you are looking for something with rum. All the other great places on Main Street lack the view, although are excellent options when that's not the goal.
Like a V8 commercial I realized that the perfect spot was actually in Long Beach: Boathouse on the Bay. There are several restaurants along Marina Drive that can give you gorgeous water views of Alamitos Bay and serve up fine drinks and food. We chose Boathouse, as we hadn't been there since the change from McKenna's on the Bay to Boathouse on the Bay, AND they had a steel drum band playing!
It was a perfect setting - with the sweet notes of the pans, we sat outside on the patio watching the boats on the bay, sipping potent mai tais, talking about how very lucky we are to live in Southern California, and in Long Beach, specifically.
Last evening was also our monthly date night and we decided to continue the afternoon's theme by heading to Tantalum, another excellent restaurant on Alamitos Bay. And another round of mai tais. No steel drums, but a glorious sunset view from our table and postcard scenes as the sinking sun turned the palm trees, passing Duffy boats and lone sculler into silhouettes.
Florida is nice, the Caribbean entices, Hawaii calls, but right here in Long Beach we have tropical breezes, steel drum melodies, umbrella drinks and the relaxing sound of waves on the shore.
Long Beach, it will surprise you.
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