FioreBird's Travel Series: CALIFORNIA, Part I

Fiore’s Travel Series: CALIFORNIA, Part I
Pasadena, California - Post 1 of 2 - United States

Pasadena is a busy, but 'hip' city to visit. It's California... and there are tons of shops and places to eat pretty much everywhere. In the following post, I am going to feature some of the places we visited while in Pasadena, California.

An Insider Tip:
The parking in Pasadena, California sucks, and will pretty much be the case everywhere an hour or so away from Los Angeles, California... Bring extra quarters and change for parking, and plan your driving time accordingly. The meters generally have two hour parking available.

**Please note all photos and information is created by me unless otherwise linked/noted.

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For the Video Game Lovers:

The Neon Retro Arcade
The Neon Retro Arcade is awesome if you are into the old school video games. The cost is $10 for one hour or $20 for the day. One can find many pin ball machines in the back area. The best pin ball machine to try is the new Star Wars one. The machine is newer, and the lights are nice and bright, but many of the old school pin ball machines are still pretty cool and functional. There is a Simpson's pin ball machine, which was also worthy of trying. The games change out every once and while, I guess to keep it fresh...

Other games here include: Street Fighter, Rampage, Asteroids, Frogger, Super Mario, Donkey Kong, two different Star War stand up consoles, and some sit down racing games. The arcade has all the eighties retro arcade game consoles. There is also a new retro arcade that just recently opened in January 2018 in Northridge, California... one of the next bucket list items. Here is their website for more information, http://neonretroarcade.com/.

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Places to Eat:
There are a plethora of places to eat in the area. Everything is good from the sushi, poke bowls, to the cookies, and the ice cream. THERE ARE SO MANY OPTIONS AVAILABLE, it's hard to know where to start. It's cool to have those options.One can find this most everywhere an hour outside of Los Angeles.

Our favorites while visiting included the following:

Hello Gelato: It's Italian ice cream and supposedly it's healthier than traditional ice cream. The pistashio flavor was on point. Address: 20 E Colorado Blvd #101, Pasadena, CA 91105.

A' Float Sushi restaurant: The sushi is fantastic, and comes around a conveyor belt system filled with water. The sushi dishes are in little wooden boats afloat the water, hence the name. The service is good here, and one can also order off the menu as well.

Loved visiting here with my partner for the Christmas holiday. It seemed more festive during this time. Address: 87 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91105. http://eat24hrs.com/restaurants/order2/menu.php?id=35769.

The Bea's Knees: This place is an absolute affordable MUST SEE stop!! The shop has some of the most amazing cookies and treats here, amongst many other things, such as gifts, wine, cheese and other foods. Try the baclava pictured below. Address: 120 S Raymond Ave, Pasadena, CA 91105.
https://www.thebeaskneespasadena.com/contact-us/

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For the Nature and Architectural Lovers:

The Huntington Gardens
The city of Pasadena is overlooked by mountains, so it's picturesque despite the many buildings around and citylike feel here. For my fellow friends who are into nature and flowers, I would particularly recommend taking time to visit Huntington Gardens. It features some stunning plants, trees, flowers, ponds, and garden areas... It's so beautiful, I'll feature it in it's own post in Post II of Pasadena tomorrow... It only costs $25.00 a person for a day visit. One can buy tickets online or onsite. http://www.huntington.org/directions/.

Castle Green:
There also was this really cool building we stumbled across while walking over to the retro arcade. It was called Castle Green. I would love to check the inside of it out further next time we are able to land a visit. It looks the next tour is the Castle Green's hosted Holiday Tour on December 2, 2018. Tickets are $30.00 in advance, and $35.00 at the gate, see more tour info here: http://castlegreen.com/tour/. I plan on going, so I hope to see you all there!! According to the Castle Green website, the building itself was built in 1898, and has some cool history for any other fellow avid architectural lovers out there. To read about Castle Green history, click their web link here: http://castlegreen.com/about/. Address: 99 S Raymond Ave, Pasadena, CA 91105.

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...Until next time my friends... See you tomorrow for Post 2 of 2 of Pasadena, CA featuring the beautiful botanical Huntington Gardens.

TO CATCH UP ON THE SERIES ...

FioreBird's Travel Series
POST 1 - Oregon:
https://steemit.com/travelpine/@fiorebird/fiorebird-s-travel-series-oregon
POST 2 - Madeline Island, Part I:
https://steemit.com/travel/@fiorebird/fiorebird-s-travel-series-madeline-island
POST 3 - Madeline Island, Part II:
https://steemit.com/life/@fiorebird/fiorebird-s-travel-series-madeline-island-part-ii
POST 4 - Madeline Island, Part III:
https://steemit.com/life/@fiorebird/fiorebird-s-travel-series-madeline-island-part-iii
POST 5 - The Grand Canyon, Arizona Part I: https://steemit.com/life/@fiorebird/fiorebird-s-travel-series-arizona-part-i
POST 6 - Sliding Rock State Park, Arizona Part II:
https://steemit.com/life/@fiorebird/fiorebird-s-travel-series-arizona-part-ii

...On a really random side note... The first post of the FioreBird Travel Series won first place in the recent travelpine contest. Our @kpine Steemit neighbor hosted it. The post was all about Oregon, located in the Pacific North-West of the United States. If you like trees, check it out.

Coming Soon:
Pasadena, California, The Huntington Gardens Part 2 of 2
Duluth/Superior
Wisconsin Point
The North Shore
Lake Superior
The Drive 2000 Miles Across the United States
The Blue Dragonfly Inn - Cimarron, New Mexico
Totagatac Flowage - Minong, Wisconsin
Los Angeles, California
Long Beach, California
Santa Monica, California
Venice, California
Cozumel, Mexico

P. S. Don't forget to follow my account if you're interested in seeing more travel tips, and/or art, and photography series @fiorebird.