Most people use vacation for R & R - Rest and Relaxation. Les and I have a third R - Recreation! When we weren't relaxing or resting, we were exploring big time!
Friday evening we left Marina Del Rey on the
Catalina Marina Del Rey Flyer. Our first stop was Two Harbors, a small port on the island of Catalina. Two Harbors has one hotel and two camp sites. We considered staying there, but the hotel was booked and we were not interested in roughing it! Pulling out of Two Harbors, it was just a short 30 minute trip into Avalon Bay.
We checked in to our hotel -
La Paloma Las Flores. Built in the early 1900s it has both cottages and "apartments." We were in apartment #9, a corner unit on the top floor. It was about the size of an average hotel room with the addition of a small kitchenette. It was definitely showing its age, but was clean so we were fine with it!
It had been 17 years since we were last on Catalina Island. We celebrated our 2nd anniversary there. I have no idea why we hadn't gone back sooner! We ate at
Antonio's Pizzeria Friday night and quickly remembered it as the Karaoke place from years ago. No karaoke this time, but still good food!
Saturday morning our first adventure began. As most of you know, I am a runner and Les is a cyclist. Anytime we "ride" together it is on a tandem. I have not owned a bicycle since about 5th grade and it was a three speed. So we decided to rent mountain bikes from
Brown's Bikes. If you look at the map below, you will see different colors. Turquoise is for all riders, yellow for intermediate, red and white checks for advanced and red is stay off.
Les started me off on the turquoise roads. We did several loops around the streets of Avalon, allowing me to get use to shifting my 21-speed bike (big difference from my old 3-speed!). We then headed up a "yellow" street to the Botanical Gardens. This was just over a mile and I made it! After coasting back down, Les thought we should do more. At this point, I did not have the map memorized, so I didn't know we were going up a red and white street. Until it got steeper and steeper!
Part way up, I had to stop for water. Appropriately, we stopped in the shade near a pet cemetery! I told Les he could bury me there!
Look closely and you'll see my "cyclist's tattoo" on my right calf - lovely grease. Proof that I did ride!
We made it to the top and the view was spectacular.
At the top we had a decision to make - turn around and go back to town or go down the backside, meaning another uphill climb. The decision seemed easy to me - downhill all the way! But my sweetheart thought otherwise. "You can do it..." he told me. I was doubtful, but agreed. We coasted all the way down to the Edison power plant, topped off our waters and it was time to go back up. I knew I was in trouble very quickly as I shifted to my lowest gear and still had trouble pedaling! I finally decided to walk my bike to the top other than risk falling off!! I consider myself in decent shape from running, but I used muscles I don't normally use and hurt in places I don't normally hurt! But it was still fun! This picture was taken from our room, the white wall is the road we were on.
Saturday night we ate at the brand new
Avalon Grille. Brand new as in it opened on May 24th! The food was exceptional. We also enjoyed talking to a young couple at the table next to ours. They live and work on Catalina Island and had some great tips for us. After dinner, we had to go to Big Olaf's of Catalina. This is a wonderful ice cream parlor. We may have even seen Olaf - whoever the guy was, he was Big!
I woke to quite a bit of soreness Sunday morning. The solution of course was to go running! Afterward, we headed to Descanso Beach and rented a kayak. We had an amazing time on the ocean. My
Modest Activewear was the perfect, comfortable outfit! The obligatory foot picture...
We saw lots of sea lions. They would swim close to our kayak, but I had a hard time catching them on film! If you click on this picture you can see a larger version and you WILL see a sea lion!
One hour and 2.4 miles later, we were at
Toyon Bay. We didn't know it at the time, but this is used as a science school for students. They come for 3 or 5 days and learn neat stuff about plants and animals, kayak, snorkel, and hike. School was not in session, so we were the only ones there! We spent a delightful two hours, sitting on the beach, snacking, and relaxing. A few other kayakers showed up after about an hour, but none stayed for long.
Of course, we had to paddle 2.4 miles back, but it was worth it! Once again I used muscles I don't normally use and hurt in places I don't normally hurt!
Saturday night we ate at
The Landing where we had ocean view dining. It was also Prom night for Avalon school. It was so fun to watch the students in all their finery making their way to the historic
Catalina Casino - in golf carts! We finished the night with some more ice cream from Big Olaf's and a great time of people watching! Les has such a quick wit, his comments about so many people were killing me.
I'm not sure which of my Lori friends own this place, but I'm glad to know she sells "good stuff"...
I finally found a sea lion that would be still and let me take a picture with it...
He wanted a kiss, but his fish breath was just too much!
Before we were ready, it was Monday morning and time to go home... One final treat - we saw a bunch of dolphins on the way back! Again, they are just too fast to get pictures. I finally quit trying and just enjoyed watching them. We also saw a couple flying fish - cool stuff!
The true test of a great vacation? You feel like you've been gone a long time! We were only gone three days, but we packed in a ton of fun! We won't wait another 17 years to go back.
