Back Country, Fish, and Culture

Today was our first full day on Catalina Island and it was a busy one. We ate breakfast at Jack's Country Kitchen and then walked over to the Catalina Island Conservancy to catch our 9:30 jeep ride into the interior of the island.

Bison

We waited around after we checked in, and when the 9:45 tour was loading up, we realized that something was wrong. Apparently, because I reserved our ride online the night before, the driver wasn't aware that he had passengers. This made no real sense to me since there were three people in the building and we checked in with one of them while the other was sitting at the desk too. Our driver, Ron was in the back office and neither one seemed to think it might be a good idea to tell him we were there. Good grief. Ron was apologetic and once we strapped ourselves into the 5-point harness, we were headed out of Avalon and toward the backcountry.

Catalina Fox

With the crazy seat belt, we expected to do some off-roading or have an experience like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland, but the ride was just a little bumpy and the harness seemed like an overly cautious precaution. Regardless, we learned about the history of the island, and got to see some wildlife, but not as much as expected. We saw one of the 150 bison on the island, which are descendants of 45 bison originally brought to the island for a movie and then left behind. We saw a Catalina Fox, the animal at the top of the food chain and only found on this Island. We also saw a bald eagle's nest in the top of a tree and a bald eagle and a golden eagle in captivity. It was a two-hour ride through scrub brush along dirt roads and I thought Joe summed it up best when he said, we could have been driving around the hill country outside of Julian except for the occasional view of the ocean. All in all, it was interesting, but a bit pricey for what we experienced.

Lover's Cove

After the jeep ride, we walked around town looking in shops. Then it was on to the Seaview and a glass bottom boat ride. We were the only ones on the boat so we basically got a private ride to Lover's Cove where we fed the fish and watched them swarm and jump out of the water. Most of the fish we saw were bass, but we did get to see some Garibaldi which is the California state fish. Captain Hunter told us that if you catch/kill a Garibaldi it is a $1000 fine.

Our final tourist attraction of the day was a Behind the Scenes tour of The Casino which is a striking circular building built by Mr. Wrigley. It is the height of 11-stories with a theater on the main floor and a ballroom above. In its heyday, it was the destination of the Hollywood crowd and many others looking for a night out of dinner and dancing. The building is beautiful with impressive architecture and art throughout. There is a promenade that runs completely around the outside of the ballroom providing wonderful views of the ocean and harbor. Part of our tour took us backstage to see all of the old equipment which was pretty cool, but one of the best parts was getting to go into the projection room and seeing the different projectors still in place that were used over the years. Another interesting room was the private viewing room of the Wrigley family which also hosted famous filmmakers, Cecil B. DeMille, Louis B. Mayer, and Samuel Goldwyn as they previewed their movies.

We ended the day with dinner at Antonio's Pizzeria where we shared two small pizzas, spaghetti and meatballs, and Caesar salad. Tomorrow will be our last day and although we are still deciding on what exactly we will do, one thing of which I am certain is we'll visit the Catalina Island Museum. I just can't go on a vacation without visiting at least one museum.

For another perspective, read my son David's blog: http://favoritesonsspiels.blogspot.pe/