(Left)
In the summer of 1997, we decided to go to Santa Catalina
Island, which is about 26 miles off the Southern California Coast. We rode the ferry over to the Island and stayed at a hotel on the Island for three days and two nights. The name of the hotel is La Paloma. It was an older, quaint hotel up the hill from the main beach.
Here, you see a photograph of the walkway up the middle of the hotel. There are small "cottages" on either side of the walkway. There are also small alcoves with tables and chairs.
The hotel had a "New Orleans" feel to it, with overhead vines
and many colorful flowers growing on the grounds. It was removed
from the road, so there was no roadway noise. It was quiet and
peaceful.
(Right)
Joshua & Rachel clowning around
on the walkway in front of our room.
(Left) Joshua and Rachel standing by the harbor.
(Left) Here I am trying to teach Rachel how to snorkel. She did pretty good, but had a hard time remembering to breath through the snorkel. There was a lot to see under the water...
(Right) A particularly curious manta-ray. This manta came back into the swimming area each day. I'm not sure who was more interested in the other, him or I.
Josh was in heaven playing on the beach. (Left) He built a fort with rocks from all over the beach.
(Right) When you play hard, you gotta eat a little dirt!
There were lots of other things to do too, when we didn't want to be in the water. (Left) Josh and Rachel in the Wrigley
memorial. This memorial is on a hilltop overlooking Avalon
Bay. It also overlooks the Arboretum, which has all sorts of
plants that are indigenous to the area. It's about a two and a
half mile hike to this memorial, uphill. We hiked up to it,
but rode the tram back to town (maybe we should have done it
the other way?).
(Right) Here you see Rachel, Joshua & Penny in the "glass-bottom"
boat. Most of the bottom of the boat is actually made of glass. We went for a 45 minute cruise, and saw a lot of different kinds
of fish. But we mostly saw Garibaldi, the State fish of
California. Since it is a protected fish in California, it
flourishes here. It is a beautiful bright orange color, which
makes it quite easy to spot in the water.
(Right) Meanwhile, back at the hotel, we greet each morning with
breakfast on the veranda. It was right across the walkway from
our cottage. We could look out onto the hills of Avalon. I
could have sat here all morning. (But there was too much to do).
(Left) On the day before we left, a couple of large cruise
ships pulled into port. Since it was mid-week, the town had been
pretty quiet. But a couple of thousand "tourists" livens up
the town real quick. But there was still pretty of room for us.
When time came for us to board the ferry for the return trip
home, we all wanted to come back as soon as possible. We think
we're going to go back this winter some time. Might not be too
great for the beach, however.
