Long Beach Transit will be operating its Museum Express this June through August, transporting guests in air-conditioned buses to popular Southern California museum attractions. Destinations include the Richard Nixon Library & Museum, Irvine Museum of Art, Getty Center, Ronald Reagan Library & Museum, LA County Museum of Art and the Griffith Park Observatory. Round trip fare from Long Beach is only $6; this does not include your museum admission. To learn more about museum destinations and dates available, please visit www.lbtransit.com.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with the Magic Lamp Mediterranean Grill & Bakery in Belmont Shore! The alluring and exotic Magic Lamp restaurant is offering two Valentine’s Day menus: a Vegetarian Feast for $39 per couple and a Royal Feast for $53 per couple. Couples will enjoy their feast while listening to the romantic sounds of the violin played by Dayren. Beer and wine are available, and reservations are recommended. Treat that special someone to a truly memorable evening at the Magic Lamp.

To reserve your Valentine’s Day table, call 563 987 3080 or email MagicLampGrill@aol.com.

Since 2003, Carnival Cruise Lines has been spreading good cheer among Long Beach and LA area residents and visitors by offering year-round cruise itineraries out of the Long Beach cruise terminal. For locals, the proximity of Carnival and the ease of embarking out of Long Beach provide a simple and complete vacation getaway–with no airfare required. For everyone else, Carnival’s place in Long Beach offers a perfect excuse to explore all the urban waterfront city has to offer.

If you haven’t taken a Carnival Cruise out of Long Beach, make 2008 the year. Here’s everything you need to know to find your way to an ideal cruise vacation. Go here to request a personalized, monthly update on Long Beach cruise fares by email.

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Hop aboard The Big Red Bus for a 12-wine, three-wine location wine tour and a jolly ride on the old-English style, double-decker bus with outdoor seating on top. Included on the bus will be French baguettes and an expert guide to lead you on a tour of French wines. Additional food will be available for purchase from CasaVino and Brix.

For $49.99 (+ tax), you will visit three wine bars and enjoy 12 tastes of French wines. You”ll stop at CasaVino, The Wine Crush, and Brix Wine Bar in Sunset Beach. You can begin at any of the three locations at 1pm and you will finish back where you began at around 5pm.

Reservations are mandatory; call now 562-216-1590 to reserve space. Hurry, seats are going fast!!

Seal Beach, Calif. — Giving chocolate and flowers to your sweetie on Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be cliché, as long as you know where to shop. Lei of Love is a family-owned florist specializing in all things Hawaiian–including fragrant tropical flowers, delectable Hawaiian chocolates and colorful Polynesian jewelry. A full service florist, Lei of Love specializes in the arrangement of custom gift baskets, specialty leis and unique tropical bouquets featuring orchids, ginger and anthuriums as well as traditional roses. National delivery services are available for flower arrangements and gift baskets.

Try adding a tropical flair to your Valentine’s Day this year, with Hawaiian-themed gifts from Lei of Love. For more information, click to www.leioflove.com, call 877-500-LEIS or visit the store at 220 Main Street in Seal Beach.

Each year, Gray Whales make the journey from the Bering Sea south to the coast of Baja California. These creatures move slowly past Southern California’s coastline between November and March, prompting scores of nature enthusiasts to head out on the water.

Whether you live in Long Beach or are just in town visiting, a whale watching excursion in January can be an invigorating, memorable experience. On a good day, you will see a few spouts, majestic flukes (tails) and ridged whale backs rising up from the water.

Long Beach whale watching excursions are available out of The Pike area, near the Aquarium of the Pacific. Try Harbor Breeze Cruises (100 Aquarium Way, Dock 2) or Pierpoint Landing (200 Aquarium Way).

Remember when the Griswold family arrived at Walley World theme park in National Lampoon’s Vacation? And, as the ultimate vacation mishap, the park is closed for renovations? It’s likely you’ve had a similar experience in your own travels: perhaps arriving at a so-called resort that looks like the Bates Motel or realizing at 2:00 am that you’re staying in a party town.

Let’s face it: Vacations are best experienced without too many surprises. To that end, here are the tips you need to know when planning a trip to Long Beach:

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As long as it doesn’t rain, five Long Beach Parks will give kids a chance to play in the snow on Saturday, January 5, 2008. The parks are providing the snow and sleds, and kids aged 5 to 12 can participate in winter-related craft activities for free. Activities will be held between 11:00 am and 3:00 pm at Cesar E. Chavez Park, El Dorado Park West, Houghton Park, McBride Park and Silverado Park.

Legends Sports Bar, often considered the heart and soul of Belmont Shore, has reopened after being closed for more than two years due to extensive fire damage that occurred in June of 2005. The new Legends features 33 flat-screen TVs and an upstairs level called the “Sky Box.” Legends has been a local landmark since 1979 and continues to enjoy a loyal following. The restaurant and bar is located at 5236 East Second Street in Long Beach.

This holiday season, travel-savvy LA area residents and visitors are booking their flights in and out of Long Beach. Sure, Long Beach Airport (LGB) may be a mere speck on the aviation landscape relative to its sprawling cousin LAX. But what it lacks in size, LGB makes up for in service, offering weary travelers an efficient and friendly place to begin–or end–that holiday trip.

LGB ushers in almost three million commercial airline passengers annually. That number isn’t so surprising, given that those who’ve used LGB once tend to swear by it. Just ask a few of the smiling faces in the terminal and you’ll understand why: Continuously moving security lines and 10-minute check-ins, two unbelievably strong selling points, are pretty hard to come by at LAX.

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