ANNIVERSARY {Catalina}

Well it's been a while since my first post, and much has happened since then! John and I went to Catalina to celebrate 1 year of marriage, we stayed with John's parents for 2 nights, and then shortly after returning to SD we went camping at twin lakes near Mammoth with my dad. It was busy and we have not been home all that often, but it has been really fun. For right now I will post about Catalina and later I will write about camping. . .

Catalina was awesome, we had a blast with each other and also were able to meet a few new people along the way. On the boat ride over we met three guys visiting from Britain, all of whom had just graduated high school. It was fun talking to them and hearing about what they were excited to do while in America. On the Island we stayed in this super neat hotel that had a built in full kitchen! It was awesome to be able to cook oatmeal in the morning and pizza one of the nights we were there. We don't have cable, so it was fun to be able to watch Law and Order SVU and NCIS marathons, such a treat!

The first full day there we went snorkeling in the reserve just off of the old casino. THE FISH CAME SO CLOSE TO US!! They must have know they were protected, they practically were attacking us. It was really really fun!

On our second (and last) night in Avalon we went to a wonderful dinner at Steve's Steakhouse. I got crab amazingness, which John has never tried before, and was quite yummy. John ordered teriyaki chicken and we shared chocolate cake for dessert.

After our dinner at Steve's we walked along the pier and soon got into a conversation with the sheriff of Catalina. He is a super nice guy named Fred who was on SWAT for 7 years and is spending his last few years of service in Avalon. He was kindof fed up with the locals and wanted to "spend some time with some decent people for once", so he offered to take us into the back country of Catalina the next day. We were super excited since tours can be up to $120 per person and you need government approval to go back there. We had an awesome time with Fred seeing the Buffalo, airport, and just generally hearing the dirt on Avalon. He even dropped us off at the Ferry with our bags for our 5:00 departure time.

We had a blast on our little getaway and were relieved that it didn't cost nearly as much as our homeymoon. It is a great little place to stay for a few nights, but after a while it might get a little old unless you have activities to do (like we did).


until next time,

-Ebey