The walk continues

Greg and Tristan continue on their walk, looking at, you guessed it, more tiles.


These for Gene, because of the parrots...


Not tiles, but strangely painted eagles.


On the way to the Casino, we passed the Tuna Club. Of course, not being members, we couldn't go in. Wonder what is in there?


The Casino (has nothing to do with gambling), major landmark of Avalon.


And we return to the hotel, in time for dinner (at the Mexican restaurant). The hotel is still very pink.

Greg and Tristan take a walk

That first afternoon, Greg and Tristan went for a walk. And looked at tiles. There are tiles everywhere.

This fountain is pretty much right in the center of things on the main drag by the water.



Even the water fountains have tile...

Obligatory scenic picture of Greg, just to break up the pictures of tiles....



More tiles... these are reminiscent of mediaeval tiles...


Lots of tiles with sea creatures.



More cool water fountains:

Happy Margarita Time

For dinner on the first night, we went to Mi Casita, a Mexican restaurant a few blocks from the hotel.Sadly, Tom was not feeling well, and stayed back at the hotel. So we took this picture so he would know what he was missing :-)

Mmmm. Nick is developing a taste for margaritas :-). Tom would be proud.


Alex, the manic hot-chocolate drinker...

Gene and her margarita.

Katherine, thinking of something else entirely.

Remember how when Nick was really little, and when you took his picture, he would bare his teeth like a little monkey? Looks like he hasn't changed much. Except for the little part.

Julia, being amused by her husband....

who says: "No really, it was *this* big!"

How can Greg be so happy when he doesn't even have a margarita in front of him?

Chuck, making sure Greg doesn't get his margarita...

Happy first dinner on Catalina !

At the Hotel

At the hotel, us "kids" had 3 nice rooms on the 4th floor, and down the hall, the happy anniversary couple were in the (pink) suite.


Very nice, actually, with its own little balcony overlooking the town.

On the 6th floor there was a patio, where the group spent a great deal of time hanging out.


The happy couple, stylishly attired in their Renda Resort shirts:
The view on the first day, complete with visiting cruise ship...

Arrival

Our very first encounter with decorative tiles, but not the last...


Our hotel, the St Lauren, was very pink. It was most of the way around the harbor from the ferry terminal ... it didn't look like such a long walk. But it was the 4th of July, lots of crowds on the waterfront, very hot, and we had our bags.


We all straggle in....

one by one....


and hang out in the hotel lobby until we are all assembled.


Once we get to our rooms, the real fun begins :-)

All Aboard the Catalina Express

To get to Catalina, we went to Long Beach, and took the Catalina Express ferry.

Since it was lunch time, and we had an hour or so, we ate in the little cafe at the terminal. This was pretty much the closest we got to seeing a bison...

What a surprise. Sitting in the cafe having lunch, and the geek boys pull out their geek toys.



The ferry was pretty nice, had a lot of inside seating, and some outside seating on the top deck.

Most of the group headed for the outside areas, for obligatory picture taking....


The Queen Mary is docked quite near the ferry terminal.


That is one big boat!


We all started out the trip wide awake and bushy tailed ....


but that didn't last long.
Napping in the sun...


The ferry went pretty fast, with a very noticeable motion, which made some of us feel rather sick.... or perhaps we are just joking ?






The port at Avalon, on Catalina....

and we are ready for our grand adventure...