Catalina Celebration

We are grateful to have had the chance to spend several days of Thanksgiving on Catalina. Mostly we were celebrating Hal's big birthday.

Thursday was spent getting to Avalon and eating a lovely Mexican Thanksgiving meal at Mi Casita and then walking that meal off with a stroll around the town. The weather was perfectly sunny and calm, and we even took a stroll up the canyon to the Botanical Gardens just as they were closing.

We stayed at a little inn called La Paloma / Las Flores in a quaint 50's style "apartment" with a partial view of the harbor from our shared balcony. The only uncomfortable part of that was that the room has no heater, and it was clear that we were going to be too cold to sleep. However, we requested extra blankets, and we also got a space heater which made the room much warmer, otherwise we might have had to get a different hotel.

Yesterday we took the 7:30 a.m. airport shuttle to Catalina's Airport-in-the-Sky where we had some hearty breakfast burritos before we started our 9-mile hike back down to Avalon. That is certainly the way to walk, although downhill does take it's toll on one's calves the next day. The sky was clear blue and we had lovely vistas of the mainland, including snow-capped mountains in the distance.

Soon I will add photos to my picasa site of our getway celebration.