California, California

Green Pleasure Pier

Last week we went to Southern California to attend our nephew’s wedding and refresh my memory about the settings for two of my works-in-progress. One takes place, in part, on Santa Catalina Island, so we spent a couple days on the island. We saw pelicans dive for fish right by the ferry, and dolphins breach in the Avalon Harbor. Sea lions fished twenty yards from the pier, and bright orange garibaldi swam in the kelp.

pelican

Real estate on Catalina Island is very expensive, and the houses cluster on the foothills above Avalon Harbor. Few of the houses have yards unless the land around them is too steep to build on. Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to take one of the inland tours to visit the buffalo.

Avalon

After Catalina, we went to Redlands. I’d forgotten how much concrete there is in Los Angeles, or how thick the smog can be below the San Bernadino Mountains. (I didn’t take photos of the smog or the freeways.)

I’ll be posting more pictures throughout the week.