Catalina Express installed a new webcam on Avalon’s landing dock. The new camera shows the dock, any vessels that might be there and the Casino in the background. You can view the image here. This is an image I captured this morning:
Leisure
Pink Beavertail Cactus Flower
This lovely pink beavertail cactus flower was on the roadside in Joshua Tree National Park. Click on the image to enlarge.
Catalina’s Casino Gets a Facelift
One of our favorite landmarks on Santa Catalina is currently undergoing a ‘face-lift’ to restore the exterior. A large drape has been installed around the building to protect the renovation from the elements and to suppress construction dust while the work is being done.
The same company that restored the landmark Villa Riviera Hotel to it’s early 20th century magnificence will be doing the work. The cost of the update is estimated to be around three-quarters of a million dollars. The Santa Catalina Island Company decided to upgrade and restore the historic Casino’s exterior to its original 1920s splendor.
We hope that the work will be done in time for our annual pilgrimage to the island where we got married. Our vacation to Avalon usually occurs in the middle of September.
The image above (click to enlarge) is courtesy of the Catalina Webcam.
You can read the complete story at California’s Boating and Fishing site, The Log.
Island Panorama
When we were at Terranea a few days ago, Verna took this photo of Santa Catalina Island from the “Discovery Trail” pathway along the cliffs overlooking the Catalina Channel. I cropped it down into this panoramic image. Click on the image to see full-sized in the image viewer.
Shoreline Discovery Trail
Today was an extraordinarily clear, cool day along the shoreline of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. We visited the recently opened Discovery Trail at the Terranea Resort.
The path is open to the public so we took a walk out to the first viewing area, called “Lady of the Light,” which comes from the legend about a ghostess said to be seen walking or standing in the lighthouse.
I took an image of Point Vicente from the vantage point of the viewing area. The image seen here was cropped from the larger image showing more of the point. Click on the image to see the larger one.
Keys View Panorama
Click on the image to enjoy this panorama showing the view down the draw facing southwest from Keys View lookout point in Joshua Tree National Park. In the distance, you can see the two dominant snow-capped peaks overlooking the Banning Pass; Mount San Jacinto and Mount San Gorgonio. In the valley below, you can see the darker group of hills that mark the boundary of the Pacific and North American tectonic plates, also known as the San Andreas Fault.
