Long Beach Sand Sculpture Contest

I had my eye on this event last year, but we had a scheduling conflict so we couldn't go. But that's okay, because we finally got to it this year!

The annual Long Beach Sand Sculpture Contest was on August 11th. It also happened to be held on a stretch of beach right next to the Long Beach Dog Beach, so Stewie came with us. As usual, he wasn't a big fan of the water (even though it was super warm and felt awesome--it was hot that day!), but we tried to coax him in anyway:

It was the first time we've been to that dog beach, and it was alright...nothing compared to our precious Arroyo Burro, of course. The beach was PACKED. But it was also the height of summer and I was actually sad we didn't bring our own swimsuits so we could join the crowd in the water.

The sand sculpture contest was small but fun. We only stayed a little bit (like I said--it was hot!) so we didn't get to see the finished products, but seeing the work in progress was more interesting anyway.

A big salamander:

Some sand-carved type:

A castle:

There were also a few professional sand sculptors on the side creating this:

Pretty neat, huh? Side/back view:

And, finally, a gratuitous Stewie shot, because he's cute: