Rancho Los Alamitos

On our way back from the Queen Mary, we stopped at historic Rancho Los Alamitos.  In 1834, the 85,000 acre rancho was one of five partitioned out of a Spanish land grant of 1784. After many divisions and changes, in 1967, the descendants of the last residents donated the house and remaining 7.5 acres to the City of Long Beach.

The museum tells the interesting history and docents give free tours of the ranch house.  Since we arrived not long before closing, we just wandered the grounds.

I always like interesting stonework.

By now you'd think Ron would know better than to turn his back on a woman with a camera.

We were interested in how the roots grow right out of the ground on this tree.  We found out that it's a Moreton Bay fig (ficus microphyllia), which is native to Australia.

Since then we've seen many of these trees, all freakishly big, including one in Ventura which has its own plaque.

I love how they had to measure the circumference 4 1/2 feet above the ground.

Although we were a bit rushed with time constraints, the rancho really is a remarkable place with history that parallels the development of southern California.