Gilligan's...I mean Catalina Island
Juuuuussst sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a tiny ship.....that's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of the last time I went to Catalina Island. I swear, the last time me and my ex went to Catalina, the season was changing, as well as the weather.
When it was time for us to leave, we gathered all of our luggage, took the last shots we could take with our disposable Kodak, and headed towards the dock. When I saw the S.S.Minnow (our tiny ship) approaching, my heart started racing, and it seemed to be in rhythm with the Gilligan's Island theme song. When the song says that the 'tiny ship was tossed', they meant it! If they were going to film a 2001 version of Gilligan's Island, they could have used our ship for the intro.
That little ship was all over the place!!! I've NEVER seen a ship tossed from side-to-side so easily. Honestly, I never knew a ship could be tossed like that. I've seen it on t.v., but, that's tv. It's not supposed to be real...or so I thought.
When we finally got on the ship, and headed back towards Long Beach, we were rocking so badly that I thought we were going to flip over. My ex and I did our best to keep our heads down, and refuse the barf-bags the shipmates were handing out...cause if we would have taken them, we would have felt the urge to hurl....and that wasn't gonna happen. We did, however, try to test our sea-legs, and go to the rest room. We're young and strong, so we should be able to handle the rocking of the ship...so we thought. She gets up, and BOOM hits the floor like a sack of potatoes. She composes herself, and crawls to the restroom. Then comes my turn. I'm thinking, I'm a man. I'm strong. I can handle it. I get up to walk to the restroom, the boat rocks, and I tumble like a t-shirt in the dryer. Man, I rolled all over the boat! So much for my manlyness. That had to be the craziest experience I've ever had.
Fast forward to 11-05-06...Sun. Me and my lady decide to go to Catalina for a hike. It was her first time, so it was going to be an adventure for her. Me, once again, trying to be 'the man' took the role as our tour guide. Seeing as how the Island isn't that big, I felt no need to get a map. I figured I'd just wing-it, and get us to the top of the mountain to start our hike on the trail next to Wrigley Memorial.
Not remembering how long it takes to get to the top of the mountain without riding the trolley, we start walking. It had to be at least a 70 degree day on a 2+ mile walk uphill at about a continuous 45 degree angle....for an hour! Man that sucked!! I felt like a total man, but not in the good way. I felt like the typical man that THINKS he knows everything about everything, but soon realized that I sucked!
We had really been focused on going on the trail.....but not after hiking up the hill for 2+ miles. Now, I'm at the point where I can't be a quitter. The hill wasn't the 'trail', and we didn't pay our money to try to go hiking on the trail, and end up substituting it by walking up the hill due to my manly arrogance.
After our long trek, we make it to Wrigley Memorial to rest for a minute or two, then head up the trail. Happy to say, we did conquer the trail, but coming down was a bit of a nightmare. The hills were so steep at some points, which caused us to run down a little, which wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't wasted so much energy hiking up the hill in the first place...but anyway ;-).
We finally finish our hike, and make it down to the bottom of the trail to make our way towards the Trolley pick-up so we could ride back down to Island civilization. We stop at the top of Wrigley Memorial so I could take a few more pics, when we see a Trolley. We head down the hill to wait for the next one, but soon realize that the one we just saw (and missed) was the LAST TROLLEY FOR THE DAY!!!! Man, what a nightmare!!!
After sitting on the bench and resting for 20 minutes, and confirming that another Trolley wasn't coming (no thanks to the W.M. booth lady), we pull our boots up, and head BACK down the hill. By this time, we are hurting, and ready to just lay down and cry. We're walking slow (not by choice), but we're trying to find the energy to get down the hill cause our boat was leaving in an hour....and it didn't look like we were going to make it by walking. After a few feet, our Knights in a Shining White Golf Cart (the Island's mode of transportation) comes to our rescue!!! There was a couple that rode the same boat we were on when we came to the Island in the morning. They saw us, and could easily see that we were spent.....and offered us a ride. I have NEVER jumped into a car with strangers so fast in my life, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat to avoid walking down that hill again! Man I love the good nature of people ;-)
Needless to say, and to sum it all up, we made it to our boat in time, got some comfortable seats and floated peacefully back home. It was an adventure within an adventure, but I'd do it all over again if I had the chance.
See the photos HERE!
When it was time for us to leave, we gathered all of our luggage, took the last shots we could take with our disposable Kodak, and headed towards the dock. When I saw the S.S.Minnow (our tiny ship) approaching, my heart started racing, and it seemed to be in rhythm with the Gilligan's Island theme song. When the song says that the 'tiny ship was tossed', they meant it! If they were going to film a 2001 version of Gilligan's Island, they could have used our ship for the intro.
That little ship was all over the place!!! I've NEVER seen a ship tossed from side-to-side so easily. Honestly, I never knew a ship could be tossed like that. I've seen it on t.v., but, that's tv. It's not supposed to be real...or so I thought.
When we finally got on the ship, and headed back towards Long Beach, we were rocking so badly that I thought we were going to flip over. My ex and I did our best to keep our heads down, and refuse the barf-bags the shipmates were handing out...cause if we would have taken them, we would have felt the urge to hurl....and that wasn't gonna happen. We did, however, try to test our sea-legs, and go to the rest room. We're young and strong, so we should be able to handle the rocking of the ship...so we thought. She gets up, and BOOM hits the floor like a sack of potatoes. She composes herself, and crawls to the restroom. Then comes my turn. I'm thinking, I'm a man. I'm strong. I can handle it. I get up to walk to the restroom, the boat rocks, and I tumble like a t-shirt in the dryer. Man, I rolled all over the boat! So much for my manlyness. That had to be the craziest experience I've ever had.
Fast forward to 11-05-06...Sun. Me and my lady decide to go to Catalina for a hike. It was her first time, so it was going to be an adventure for her. Me, once again, trying to be 'the man' took the role as our tour guide. Seeing as how the Island isn't that big, I felt no need to get a map. I figured I'd just wing-it, and get us to the top of the mountain to start our hike on the trail next to Wrigley Memorial.
Not remembering how long it takes to get to the top of the mountain without riding the trolley, we start walking. It had to be at least a 70 degree day on a 2+ mile walk uphill at about a continuous 45 degree angle....for an hour! Man that sucked!! I felt like a total man, but not in the good way. I felt like the typical man that THINKS he knows everything about everything, but soon realized that I sucked!
We had really been focused on going on the trail.....but not after hiking up the hill for 2+ miles. Now, I'm at the point where I can't be a quitter. The hill wasn't the 'trail', and we didn't pay our money to try to go hiking on the trail, and end up substituting it by walking up the hill due to my manly arrogance.
After our long trek, we make it to Wrigley Memorial to rest for a minute or two, then head up the trail. Happy to say, we did conquer the trail, but coming down was a bit of a nightmare. The hills were so steep at some points, which caused us to run down a little, which wouldn't have been so bad if we hadn't wasted so much energy hiking up the hill in the first place...but anyway ;-).
We finally finish our hike, and make it down to the bottom of the trail to make our way towards the Trolley pick-up so we could ride back down to Island civilization. We stop at the top of Wrigley Memorial so I could take a few more pics, when we see a Trolley. We head down the hill to wait for the next one, but soon realize that the one we just saw (and missed) was the LAST TROLLEY FOR THE DAY!!!! Man, what a nightmare!!!
After sitting on the bench and resting for 20 minutes, and confirming that another Trolley wasn't coming (no thanks to the W.M. booth lady), we pull our boots up, and head BACK down the hill. By this time, we are hurting, and ready to just lay down and cry. We're walking slow (not by choice), but we're trying to find the energy to get down the hill cause our boat was leaving in an hour....and it didn't look like we were going to make it by walking. After a few feet, our Knights in a Shining White Golf Cart (the Island's mode of transportation) comes to our rescue!!! There was a couple that rode the same boat we were on when we came to the Island in the morning. They saw us, and could easily see that we were spent.....and offered us a ride. I have NEVER jumped into a car with strangers so fast in my life, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat to avoid walking down that hill again! Man I love the good nature of people ;-)
Needless to say, and to sum it all up, we made it to our boat in time, got some comfortable seats and floated peacefully back home. It was an adventure within an adventure, but I'd do it all over again if I had the chance.
See the photos HERE!
posted by Fashion-Never-Dies at 6:39 AM
7 Comments:
Great photos. I say, buy the camera. If you are doing what you love it will all work out in the end.
I do love taking pics, and I am now working a new photography project called the Cam-Ateur Project. This project is going to focus on total amateur photography, with an amateur camera...get it....Cam-Ateur. I will showcase pro-quality pics, with amateur equipment that costs under $400. I'm planning on publishing the project as well. You can see some of the photos at www.picsbyahmed.fotopic.net
Yo, man that story is too funny. It's a trip how when people go on vacation they try things that they ordinarily would not do. Things that they may not necessarily be capable of. I had a similiar experience with my wife, a couple of kayaks, and a beautiful beach in Hawaii. Funny stuff.
Man, you don't even have to explain. Kayaks....you said enough right there.
Wow, exciting times! I hope you tried to smile your way through it! I know that my boyfriend and I tend to have lots of little "adventures" (as I call them) and I have to work very hard to make him see the bright side!! HaHa!
Don't get me wrong. I TOTALLY enjoyed my experience. I would love to do it all over again ;-)
hahahah crazy adventure! how were your lady's feelings and attitude toward this trip? she sounds pretty awesome and hardcore lettin you do that to her. i went on a hike to there once too with my friend. it was real fun. haha the golf carts crack me up, did you notice that people there still care about brand name marterialistic things? for goodness sakes, they could not accept that everyone has a golf cart like theirs, they gotta pimp theirs out w/ imitation "BMW" and "Mercedes" emblems. i thought that was pretty ridiculous.
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