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Welcome to my weekly update for April 16, 2023!
We went up to Catalina Island and spent one night last weekend. It has a couple of tiny little towns but we only visited the bigger one, Avalon, named after King Arthur’s Avalon in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, Idylls of the King. It’s a beautiful island, especially after all the rain California has had this year. Everything was green and blooming. There was a lot of fog and mist while we were there so I kept thinking of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s book, The Mists of Avalon.
On our first day, we joined a driving tour of the town area. Then we walked and explored on our own. You might notice the large, white circular building on the far side of the bay in the first picture below. It’s the Catalina Casino but it’s not a gambling hall. Casino used to mean “gathering place” and that’s how the term is used here. It’s a beautiful building and we wish we’d made time to tour the inside.
The next morning we downloaded an audio tour and walked around a bit more before catching a shuttle up to the Airport in the Sky. It was a glorious, sunny day up there above the low clouds and it was legitimately hot! We were shocked! We connect elevation with cooler weather but I guess getting above the clouds and away from the cool air on the ocean makes things work differently on Catalina. We had lunch at the little airport restaurant then rode our rented bikes the ten miles back into town.
Catalina has a small herd of bison, if you can believe it. They were brought over in the 1920s to film a movie–either The Vanishing American or The Thundering Herd (both based on books by Zane Grey, who had a home on the island)–and left to go wild. We saw two of the descendants as we rode our shuttle up to the airport. One was just resting in the shade and the other had found a small pond that it had decided to treat as its personal hot tub. It was just standing there enjoying the sun and the water. That one was close to the road but luckily it had moved on by the time we rode by on our bikes.
We finished our bike ride, picked up our luggage, and went to wait for our ferry. While we were on the dock, we saw maybe two dozen dolphins feeding offshore! They were jumping clear out of the water! Neither of us remembers ever seeing such active dolphins before! Then we caught our ferry back through the mist to the mainland, wishing that we had more time to explore Catalina.
Slideshow:
All images © Jennifer G. at Introverted Reader 2023
- Looking down on the little town of Avalon on Catalina Island
- The entrance to the Catalina Casino. The mosaic and murals were gorgeous, as were all the Art Deco details
- The bison in its “hot tub”
- A Western Tanager
- Common dolphins
Posted:
From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Punching Bag by Rex Ogle: Book Review 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Read:
I didn’t finish anything this week.
Currently Reading:
Hollowpox: The Hunt for Morrigan Crow (Nevermoor #3) by Jessica Townsend
The Tyrant’s Tomb (The Trials of Apollo #4) by Rick Riordan, read by Robbie Daymond
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Ibram X. Kendi
Up Next:
I honestly don’t know at this point. I feel like I might be breaking out of the slump that’s left me reading fun series books though.
What did your week look like?
Hosts:
Deb Nance at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon and Kimberly at Caffeinated Book Reviewer hosts Sunday Post. Kathryn at Book Date hosts It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?
28 Comments
I haven’t been to Catalina in decades; I really should get myself there. I forgot they had bison!
Great pictures!
I loved the first Morrigan Crow. I need to catch up.
Jill
http://www.allthebooksihaventread.com/
I remember going to Catalina years ago, must have been in my teens and seem to remember getting there in a seaplane? Does that not happen now? Currently reading Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love.
Sounds like an awesome trip! I went to Catalina last year for the first time, and it was so neat seeing the bison. (We went on an official tour to the airport and back, complete with pause on the road while we waited for the bison to decide to move.)
I visited Catalina back when I was 5 so I do not remember a thing! I’d love to go back. Beautiful pics.
I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump as well. I hope you find some good reads soon!
That town looks absolutely enchanting!!! And is appropriately named.
And bison!!! How cool! I would not have expected that!
I copied you and put a slideshow in my blog post today, but my pictures are nowhere near as scenic. Catalina Island looks beautiful! I’m glad you feel as though you’re moving out of your sort of slump.
Catalina Island looks nice. You also some some interesting books on your stack. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
It was beautiful!
It looks like you had a lovely trip. I had no idea that there were bison on Catalina.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
It was crazy to see them there among all the “wrong” vegetation.
Sounds like a fabulous trip. I really should head out to Catalina again some time.
It was a fun trip but I thought the ferry was prohibitively expensive for random day trips. I wonder if that’s by design so the residents don’t feel overrun by day trippers?
Sounds like you had a fabulous time. Love the photos. Hope you have a nice week.
https://thebookconnectionccm.blogspot.com/2023/04/its-monday-what-are-you-reading-and_16.html
Thanks!
Love the slideshow, Catalina Island must be amazing to see in person!
The Yoo book sounds like an important but very hard read. I don’t know if I could handle reading it.
I was very surprised by how graphic the murder was, especially for a young adult book. But the author covered a lot of important issues and history.
Love the pictures, thanks for sharing!! I am playing catch up with my reading, I took on too many ARCs for this month, sigh.
That’s why I’ve basically stopped accepting review books at all. It just started feeling too much like work. I’m much happier reading the backlist and following my moods.
Catalina Island is so beautiful! Surprising to know they have a herd of bison. Glad you’re finally getting a chance to explore the area. Fingers crossed the reading slump is ending.
We are so excited to finally start having some clear days while my husband is off. Most of them seem were landing on days he was at work for a few weeks there.
What a lovely place! Thank you for all the links and the slideshow – I got a real feel for the place due to your care and hard work, Jen:)). How wonderful to see dolphins and bison on the same day! I hope the coming week is a good one – and I’m delighted you are finding more pleasure in reading.
As I mentioned on IG, we’ve been to Catalina several times. I remember it being super hot one day when we “hiked” up to the former Wrigley Mansion. Also walked thru a pet cemetery that creeped us both out! 🙂 I seem to remember that we saw a Bill Murray movie in the Casino. Fun to see the dolphins, isn’t it?!
oooh Catalina Island looks and sounds amazing – glad you had a fantastic time
How unexpected it must have been to see bison on this island. I’ve heard of Catalina Island, but I didn’t really know much about it until I read your post. I thank you for the photos and for sharing a little about this place.
I hope you are getting out of your slump. I’ve been in a bit of a slump, too.
What a delightful trip! That bison reminds me of the ones we saw at Yellowstone NP many years ago!
Sounds like a delightful trip. Glad the weather cooperated. Hope you find to pick up a book soon. 🙂
Terrie @ Bookshelf Journeys
https://www.bookshelfjourneys.com/post/sunday-post-45
Looks like a wonderful island to visit. I love it when books evoke certain places like that or vice versa. And that bison pic is awesome! He’s just chilling in the water. 🙂