Thinking about you today ... I was forced to leave beautiful So Cal yesterday after a lovely week there.
Drove through rain in Riverside, alongside rain in the AZ desert, and made it home just before the monsoon storm hit here!
I could see Catalina from the beach and pier when I was there; hope you have a great time!
PHXscuba
Hi,
PHX!
Thank you for thinking of me.
I got the email alert about your Facebook post too, but I have not actually signed into Facebook yet to reply to anyone.
I had an overall good time, but I was in a lot of pain and it put a damper on my enjoyment. My leg and hip were acting up (and this is all related to the back injury I first suffered in 1995, which has plagued me off and on ever since) and I was having a very hard time walking. I was hoping that once I got into a photo-taking groove I could block out the pain and forget that I wasn't feeling up to par. Sometimes I can do that. This time, the pain won the battle and I couldn't get into any kind of groove. I had to keep sitting down, and even that was painful. By the end of the day I was limping through Avalon.
So, I was definitely not on my photo game. Not like last year's trip. I feel like I barely got any photos, and I didn't do a couple of things I wanted to do (like the Casino tour), all because of being in pain.
Today, I am in the throes of the 'sun hangover.' Headache
, queasy stomach, etc. That's typical for me. It was muggy, warm and overcast for the first part of the day -- it was never all that sunny, really -- and then, all of a sudden, a magical, wondrous sea breeze wafted in and wiped out the warmth...to the point where I overheard someone saying, "It's so cold...." Of course, I didn't think it was cold at all. That sea breeze was my respite from otherwise overheating (on top of being in pain). I was delighted when I felt the temperature drop and the wind began hitting my face!
Some points of note:
1. Although I wore 110 SPF broad spectrum sunscreen (Neutrogena) on my face and 50 SPF sport lotion (Banana Boat) on my arms, my face is now tomato-red and my arms are fine.
I also sprayed my scalp with a different Banana Boat product (lower than 50 SPF) and my scalp seems fine. It's just my face that is bright red. I even wear giant sunglasses that cover half of my face and I still got burnt. Moral of the story? Banana Boat makes better sun protection products. I've used them for years and they do not disappoint;
2. At the golf cart rental place, I mentioned to a rather serious clerk/attendee that I was thrilled to see that my favorite seaside road had opened back up for golf cart driving, as it leads to a couple of photo spots that are better than the ones I dealt with last year when forced to take a different path. The rather serious clerk said, "Well, it's always been that way. You've always been able to use that road." I said, "No. Not last year. That road had been closed to any non-residents for a while, and last year I was not allowed to drive on it." She replied, "
It's always been that way. That's always been the path for the golf carts...well, except for, like, 7 years when the road was closed."
So, basically, I must be mistaken about the path I was not allowed to drive on because the road has always been open,
except for that short little 7-year time span!
I also said to the clerk that being able to drive on this particular newly-reopened path was good because it allows access to one of the better 'postcard photo spots' -- a spot at which my friends and I would always stop in our golf cart-renting heyday of the '90s. I could not access this same location last year, when I was prohibited from driving along the path. I could access other decent postcard spots, but
not this particular one -- because the only way to get to it was by driving into the hills via this path that had been blocked off to non-residents.
I was told this by the guy who rented me the cart last year.
However, the serious woman who rented me the cart yesterday again told me I was mistaken (which I was not) and that I
could access the photo spot last year too (which I could not). I actually began to silently wonder if she had ever driven the golf cart "scenic route" that is mapped out for the
visitors because I got the feeling that she wasn't familiar with what could be accessed from which path. Maybe the
residents can access certain roads from certain points, but the
tourists renting golf carts have to stick to certain roads and avoid the "private roads.";
3. In an effort to try to eat something on this trip (last year all I ate was my free birthday ice cream cone the entire day), I set out on a quest to find a nutrient-rich, protein-filled breakfast to give me energy and stamina to face the day. All of the places on my list of possible choices were either jam-packed with people or closed.
I had planned to sit down and eat a nice egg/bacon breakfast sandwich on whole wheat bread or something similar, with some fruit on the side. Naturally, what I ended up with was something called "The Best Brownie Ever" and "The Best Cinnamon Roll Ever" from the place that provided my free birthday cup of coffee. I will give you the scoop on whether or not those sweet treats were, indeed, the "best" brownie and cinnamon roll later, when I do the actual trip report
;
4. The guy who served me my free birthday ice cream (yes, I got that too!) told me that this year has been Avalon's busiest year ever. The birthday promo through the Catalina Express took a while to catch on, but once it did it was off and running. The ice cream guy and I agreed that we think this is the last year for the free ride, now that business seems to be booming again. I have to believe he was correct about the number of visitors to the Island this year -- when I was zooming around the hills in my cart I noticed that it was next to impossible to stop anywhere for any reason because there was always someone right on my tail, whether it was a long line of other golf carts or massive tour buses. I don't recall this being the case last year. I was able to actually stop in 2012, but this year it was very difficult to do that;
5. I tried to get as many of the totally free things as I could for my birthday (as opposed to just the discounted things). I still have not taken advantage of the free meal at the Buffalo Nickel restaurant (the location has to be accessed via taxi or golf cart, and I didn't want to waste my cart time by eating), but in addition to the free coffee and free ice cream I also obtained a free island trail map from the Catalina Island Conservancy gift shop and a free (full-sized) poster in a cardboard canister from the Aurora Hotel (which is located up a steep hill!). Those, combined with the free (a $72.50 value) round-trip boat ride to the Island, make me think I made out okay!;
6. In a remote section of the golf cart path, way up in the hills where the zip liners gear up and take off, I managed to stop in a no-stopping zone so I could get a quick photo of the platform from which they soar. While there a nice lady in another golf cart asked me to take a photo of her group...and it turned out that her name was also Sherry (though probably spelled Sheri), and she was from Los Angeles!!!
What are the odds that I would be up in the hills of Avalon, on a remote road, and the person who asks me to take a photo ends up having my name and is from my city? Life works in mysterious ways, doesn't it??;
7. I noticed more bright orange Garibaldi fish than ever before in the water. They were everywhere. Last year I don't recall seeing quite as many, but they were out in full force for 2013. Maybe the fish got the memo about the free birthday boat ride too!
; and
8. The longstanding Armstrong's restaurant (popular for its seafood) is
no longer there! It was open last year and now it is gone. The old space formerly used for the long-out-of-business Busy Bee Cafe has been combined with what used to be Armstrong's to form one big restaurant called the Blue Water Grill (specializing in seafood). So now you have Big Olaf's ice cream, Antonio's Pizzeria/Cabaret and Blue Water Grill in one big block.
Anyway, I have to get to sleep. I am still trying to sleep off the pain and exhaustion from yesterday. Until I can get back with a full report, here are a few photos (out of the very few photos that I actually managed to take)...
The sun rises over the ocean (in rather dramatic fashion) on the ride to Catalina...
For some reason, this photo makes me giggle...
This little guy (actually, big guy) waddled over to keep me company as I sat on the bench in my "thinking spot," overlooking the sea....
And the sun sets over Avalon in rather dramatic fashion too (I find this photo interesting because of the different types of trees in the same shot!)...
Night falls on the Casino. I was waiting for a sea lion that I had just spotted moments prior to pop up again -- and he did, but he was too fast for me to catch a photo...
?'s 2 ask ya:
I'm so glad you joined in.
We probably will do little walking but maybe a tour would work. I'm afraid that open hummer tour to the "inside" might be a little too rough on her tailbone.....we'll have to play it by ear. I do foresee our niece wanting to do the zip-line and I could actually be talked into it too (will depend on cash-flow at that point). I personally would love to do the pottery tour where you make a tile which they fire then mail to your home after it's done. I would probably be in the minority with that one, though.
I'm content with that choice......so now I can drop the vacation package and get a room only at PPH for 8 nights instead of 10 and for now I'll use our 
cheer2: I'll do this next paycheck since I'm still recovering from my son's $850 1st sem book fee 
In two days I will be back in Avalon!
, so I was surprised to see that Kathy had commented on many things!
