Thursday, July 8, 2010

Beach Day


Here are some shots from our day at the beach yesterday!

The William Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens

Yesterday, I went to the Wrigley Memorial and Botanical Gardens on Catalina. It honors William Wrigley, who did so much for Catalina Island. You can read more about it here. The memorial and garden was built in the early 1930's. It was the idea of Ada Wrigley (William's wife). It was beautiful! I am not a "dessert" style gardener, but the cactus and unusual trees were great. There are six endemic plants, which grow only on Catalina. It was a peaceful and picturesque visit!

It shook us...

Today we were enjoying a nice afternoon at the beach, when we felt the earth shake. Miriam said "we just had an earthquake!" I felt it move back and forth. Sure enough it was an earthquake. Such a strange feeling, but leave it up to us to have an earthquake during our visit. Earlier in the day we went on a submarine and saw all kinds of fish and kelp beds. It was really neat and everyone had a nice time.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

THE CATALINA WINE MIXER



Sorry it has been SOOOOOO long, but I have been so busy with my life...blogging has become so hard for me to do!

Right now, I am on vacation in California with my friends, Kathy and Miriam and their familes. Lisa is also here enjoying the ride on the west coast. We'll do some daily posts to show you what we have been up to.

We arrived on Saturday in Los Angeles and stayed with my friend Kathy and her husband, Chris and daughter, Naomi....but since they had such a full house we stayed at their friends, Steph and Dave's apartment around the corner.
Here is Steph and Dave's apartment building. I have met Steph once, I think...they were in Las Vegas so we stayed there and enjoyed it...thanks guys!

Here is Kathy & Chris' new home. It is a beautiful mission style home across the street from the Farmer's Market.

On our first day we had lunch at my favorite, the Fairfax Farmer's Market. Then, Lisa and I boarded a double decker bus and toured LA. We stopped on Hollywood Blvd. and saw the walk of stars and some odd characters along the way. Chinese Theatre, Rodeo Dr., and all the other "Hollywood" are sights. It was nice to hang out in the sun and get a tan on the bus.
Paramount Studios

Walk of Stars

Rodeo Drive

We had lunch at The Grove next to the fountain at the Farm at Beverly Hills

Sunday morning we were off to Santa Catalina Island. It was a like a scene from Home Alone where they overslept (which we didn't) but we ran around trying to get everyone and all the luggage in the cars to the ferry. There are 18 of us staying in two different homes.

Miriam and her family along with Lisa and I are stying in the "Dog House." We call it this, because it is the house where Miriam's 3 dogs are allowed to stay. We don't mind staying in the house, but it is a little quirky and it, well, MOVES.