Isle of Forgotten Fotos

I was organizing my camera cards the other day and found these shots from January 2007. They were from a fun cruise I took with my girls (wife, daughter & her BF) to Mexico via Santa Catalina. Since it turned out to be a not-so-fun cruise, I wasn't too motivated to do anything with the photos upon our return. I just filed 'em and forgot 'em.

Since then my memory of the cruise has improved considerably (time heals all wounds). And after a year of mellowing in the closet, maybe the photos are worth posting. OK, here goes...

Here's our ship's uber-active activity director: "When we get to the lovely island of Santa Catalina, we'll de-boat in the city of Avalon. Of course, you'll want to walk over to the famous Avalon Casino & Ballroom. The walk is only about 10 minutes and it is quite scenic - please pause along the waterfront to enjoy the spectacular scenery. You'll walk thru downtown, past the harbor, by the old yachting clubs, and end up at the casino."

That's just what we did. Just before we got to the casino, however, we stopped to admire some mural tiles that trace the history of Avalon. They're done in the old Malibu tile style, a type of ceramic tile popular in the 1930s in Southern California (or so I'm informed by my uber-informational Avalon brochure). Say what? They're pretty.

After taking pictures of my favorite tiles, I thought it would be fun to try to find "real life" shots of the Avalon scenes depicted on the tiles. That was my game and it was fun!

Twenty- six miles across the sea,
Santa Catalina is a-waitin' for me.
Santa Catalina, the island of romance, romance.