Almost all Friday nights spent in poker and all Saturdays spent in sleep, it is the Sunday that always needs some attention from us. We got this idea of inviting families for Sunday lunch. Aye, once in a while Raz needs better food. Me & Raz has one thing in common for sure, we both like being with people. We enjoy almost all our Sundays with any one of our friends’ family here.
After coming to US, there was only one long weekend that we spent all alone at home instead of roaming around. I feared, this year’s Labor Day weekend might also end up like that. Then our gang decided to have a pot luck combining a long term girl’s only outing. That Friday I was sitting in the office with Raz left early because of early closure, thinking about the menu for the next day potluck, Raz called me and said that he was booking tickets for Catalina Island. Though we were talking about this trip, it never came alive. But Raz managed to search out and booked a package for travel & stay.
This Catalina Island sits in the Pacific Ocean aprox 22 miles from Los Angeles. It is a very small rocky island with three cities across 20 miles.
Sunday we packed & left the house around 12.30 after noon. Reached the shore very early so that we can get the boarding pass for the ferry we would be taking for island. No much procedures, no crowd at all. Then we boarded the ferry around 1.45 pm. We chose to sit inside – covered area. The ferry started around 2.00pm. Then we left our place and came upstairs to the open area, where we see the vast bluish green ocean and our ferry leaving a white trail on it. The air, the sky & the sea it was a fantastic view to start the journey with. I enjoyed the chillness of the air and people around. Then with few snaps we returned to our seat. Inside it was warm & calm…when you look through the window, all u can see is the vast blue ocean & nothing that you could hear –itz laughter or roar. Most of the times, in lives we are like that, we live in a comfortable cocoon and look the world thru that layer.
It was an hour journey where we both slept in last 20 minutes. I liked the island immediately. It was crowded but still I felt like we have our own space there. A van came to pick us up to the hotel. The travel was not more than 10 minutes. In the short gap, we could notice there are very few streets out there & the beach is very small. The houses are built over the hills & the hotel we were about to stay has the same structure with its different floors built at different levels of the hill. We reached the room & Raj wanted to sleep for a while. I was watching TV the whole time & finally managed to sleep for 20 minutes. Then Raj woke me up, we got ready and went out.
We realized that we can roam this part of city by walk & no need to look for car or taxi. I learnt later that cars are restricted here & need special permission to ‘import’ the cars & there is a 10 year waiting list. Instead, here the people use Golf carts or bicycle to commute and which I found amusing… seeing people in that small cart roaming around.
We had some snacks & coffee for the evening & started walking down the street. There were lots of boutiques, bakeries, fine arts stores & of course restaurants. While we walked, we decided what to do for the next day.
Generally I love walking and which we hardly do in LA. So I felt so good & refreshed by walking with Raz. And we were chatting the whole time about various things which was another wonderful thing that happened that day.
Slowly the evening passed by & the night came into duty. We noticed that the streets were so silent that early. Suddenly we saw the yellow moon glowing in darkness & I was very excited to see the moon. Raj started asking too many scientific questions, just to pull my legs. OMG…what happened to this guy J
We continued along the pathway towards a circular building which was called as Via Casino. Raj was all bright & happy as we were nearing his favorite spot. Only when we reached there, to Raj’s big disappointment, it was named as casino but not actually a gambling place. Should I say about my excitement now & his disappointment? Well I have captured that moment in our cameras: D. It had a theater, ballroom & some museum. As it was too late, it was closed for visitors. Then we had some one hour of time before we go for our dinner [as planned]. We were sitting on the bench, watching people, boats & the ocean. I saw so many stars after a long time which reminded me of my native place. It has been really a long time since I saw so many stars J
How much polluted gas that it would take to hide the entire sky view?
After some 30 minutes passed in observing the stars, moon & itz reflection on the ocean…slowly we became restless. Is it that we got bored of sitting there doing nothing but looking around? Suddenly I remembered one of my hostel mate…she always said that she loved to be left alone. She would stay away from people and content with her books or drawings. Now suddenly I don’t know why I remembered her… would she survive if left alone but with no books or canvas? Well back to track, we got used to be entertained with tv, net or with get to gathers, and this time of being calm without any other entertainment but nature was making us restless. But then I would say, it was a great experience. Spending time with Raz…without any other external occupant in his mind… J , jus sitting by the shore, gentle breeze, we discussed a lot…from amoeba to Arnold . Raz normally doesn’t like going for walking but this time he actually enjoyed it and of course no need to ask me. Then slowly we started to walk again to get dinner. We went to a Chinese restaurant got it packed & started back to our room. We were supposed to climb few stairs [!] to reach our room. We were jus talking and climbing and the steps were like as if they reach heaven… finally we realized that we had not come in the correct way. After climbing all the way up and then changing the route…well that made us very tired. May be it was a good exercise for us. Finally we reached our room, had dinner, watched TV for a while and then slept off.
Morning we were supposed to check out the room, so we got ready, had breakfast there & checked out the hotel. Then we started roaming again. We booked for parasailing for which we had some 4.5 hours of time. So we thought we should try some other activity in the mean while. So we decided to go for kayaking. It was the first time for both of us. The requirement is that we should know swimming. Well, mm. yeah I said that I knew swimming, very confidently. If I could swim in 8 feet might be I could manage few more extra feet J . Then they took us to the small boat gave us the row and I sat in the front with raz behind me. The guy gave us the basic information like how to move the boat forward, backward or turn sides. Then we started our short voyage. We jus went forward backward within the small area. We enjoyed a lot with Raz being the navigator; he would say “Let us go forward a bit fast”. I would sincerely row to the front, still the boat won’t even move an inch…I requested Raz to put in some more effort and he said that he was. Finally I gave up & turned back, I did see him rowing in the opposite direction & the boat neither went forward nor backward. Was he playing with me all the time? Arrrrrrr.
After this exhausting activity, we then decided to rent a bike to roam around the city. We took the one with two seats and this time I took the back seat. We again rode through the streets and to other places which we had not covered by walking. After that we again had 2 hours for parasailing. We sat under a tree shade, watching the birds, the people and the activities happening in the ocean. Then we went to parasailing. I had no idea about the experience i would get out of that. There were some other families too in the boat. Though it was not thrilling but it was wonderful to view the ocean & the city from 600 feet. We stayed there for may be 5-8 minutes and then they brought us down. And that was our last activity in Catalina Island. We went back to shore and grabbed something to eat…and we had some 1 hour or so for return ferry. We leisurely walked towards the boarding area, talking and laughing a lot. Finally it was time to leave the place and go back to home. We reached home in next 2 hours and were damn tired.
The best outing I had with Raz so far. People say that there is nothing much to see or do in the place. But every time when we go out, there might be too much of areas we would require to cover and we always do them in hurry. And I think about those trips later, apart from the fun we had with the people, there was nothing much to remember. But this time, it was entirely different. We had time to enjoy each and everything at our own pace. No need to rush up for anything and had ample time to enjoy being with each other. I am trying to freeze those moments in my memory stack. It was fun...leisure & romantic too. :) I would not know when we will be having such a time again. Well no body can take bath in the same river twice [Osho].
After coming to US, there was only one long weekend that we spent all alone at home instead of roaming around. I feared, this year’s Labor Day weekend might also end up like that. Then our gang decided to have a pot luck combining a long term girl’s only outing. That Friday I was sitting in the office with Raz left early because of early closure, thinking about the menu for the next day potluck, Raz called me and said that he was booking tickets for Catalina Island. Though we were talking about this trip, it never came alive. But Raz managed to search out and booked a package for travel & stay.
This Catalina Island sits in the Pacific Ocean aprox 22 miles from Los Angeles. It is a very small rocky island with three cities across 20 miles.
Sunday we packed & left the house around 12.30 after noon. Reached the shore very early so that we can get the boarding pass for the ferry we would be taking for island. No much procedures, no crowd at all. Then we boarded the ferry around 1.45 pm. We chose to sit inside – covered area. The ferry started around 2.00pm. Then we left our place and came upstairs to the open area, where we see the vast bluish green ocean and our ferry leaving a white trail on it. The air, the sky & the sea it was a fantastic view to start the journey with. I enjoyed the chillness of the air and people around. Then with few snaps we returned to our seat. Inside it was warm & calm…when you look through the window, all u can see is the vast blue ocean & nothing that you could hear –itz laughter or roar. Most of the times, in lives we are like that, we live in a comfortable cocoon and look the world thru that layer.
It was an hour journey where we both slept in last 20 minutes. I liked the island immediately. It was crowded but still I felt like we have our own space there. A van came to pick us up to the hotel. The travel was not more than 10 minutes. In the short gap, we could notice there are very few streets out there & the beach is very small. The houses are built over the hills & the hotel we were about to stay has the same structure with its different floors built at different levels of the hill. We reached the room & Raj wanted to sleep for a while. I was watching TV the whole time & finally managed to sleep for 20 minutes. Then Raj woke me up, we got ready and went out.
We realized that we can roam this part of city by walk & no need to look for car or taxi. I learnt later that cars are restricted here & need special permission to ‘import’ the cars & there is a 10 year waiting list. Instead, here the people use Golf carts or bicycle to commute and which I found amusing… seeing people in that small cart roaming around.
We had some snacks & coffee for the evening & started walking down the street. There were lots of boutiques, bakeries, fine arts stores & of course restaurants. While we walked, we decided what to do for the next day.
Generally I love walking and which we hardly do in LA. So I felt so good & refreshed by walking with Raz. And we were chatting the whole time about various things which was another wonderful thing that happened that day.
Slowly the evening passed by & the night came into duty. We noticed that the streets were so silent that early. Suddenly we saw the yellow moon glowing in darkness & I was very excited to see the moon. Raj started asking too many scientific questions, just to pull my legs. OMG…what happened to this guy J
We continued along the pathway towards a circular building which was called as Via Casino. Raj was all bright & happy as we were nearing his favorite spot. Only when we reached there, to Raj’s big disappointment, it was named as casino but not actually a gambling place. Should I say about my excitement now & his disappointment? Well I have captured that moment in our cameras: D. It had a theater, ballroom & some museum. As it was too late, it was closed for visitors. Then we had some one hour of time before we go for our dinner [as planned]. We were sitting on the bench, watching people, boats & the ocean. I saw so many stars after a long time which reminded me of my native place. It has been really a long time since I saw so many stars J
How much polluted gas that it would take to hide the entire sky view?
After some 30 minutes passed in observing the stars, moon & itz reflection on the ocean…slowly we became restless. Is it that we got bored of sitting there doing nothing but looking around? Suddenly I remembered one of my hostel mate…she always said that she loved to be left alone. She would stay away from people and content with her books or drawings. Now suddenly I don’t know why I remembered her… would she survive if left alone but with no books or canvas? Well back to track, we got used to be entertained with tv, net or with get to gathers, and this time of being calm without any other entertainment but nature was making us restless. But then I would say, it was a great experience. Spending time with Raz…without any other external occupant in his mind… J , jus sitting by the shore, gentle breeze, we discussed a lot…from amoeba to Arnold . Raz normally doesn’t like going for walking but this time he actually enjoyed it and of course no need to ask me. Then slowly we started to walk again to get dinner. We went to a Chinese restaurant got it packed & started back to our room. We were supposed to climb few stairs [!] to reach our room. We were jus talking and climbing and the steps were like as if they reach heaven… finally we realized that we had not come in the correct way. After climbing all the way up and then changing the route…well that made us very tired. May be it was a good exercise for us. Finally we reached our room, had dinner, watched TV for a while and then slept off.
Morning we were supposed to check out the room, so we got ready, had breakfast there & checked out the hotel. Then we started roaming again. We booked for parasailing for which we had some 4.5 hours of time. So we thought we should try some other activity in the mean while. So we decided to go for kayaking. It was the first time for both of us. The requirement is that we should know swimming. Well, mm. yeah I said that I knew swimming, very confidently. If I could swim in 8 feet might be I could manage few more extra feet J . Then they took us to the small boat gave us the row and I sat in the front with raz behind me. The guy gave us the basic information like how to move the boat forward, backward or turn sides. Then we started our short voyage. We jus went forward backward within the small area. We enjoyed a lot with Raz being the navigator; he would say “Let us go forward a bit fast”. I would sincerely row to the front, still the boat won’t even move an inch…I requested Raz to put in some more effort and he said that he was. Finally I gave up & turned back, I did see him rowing in the opposite direction & the boat neither went forward nor backward. Was he playing with me all the time? Arrrrrrr.
After this exhausting activity, we then decided to rent a bike to roam around the city. We took the one with two seats and this time I took the back seat. We again rode through the streets and to other places which we had not covered by walking. After that we again had 2 hours for parasailing. We sat under a tree shade, watching the birds, the people and the activities happening in the ocean. Then we went to parasailing. I had no idea about the experience i would get out of that. There were some other families too in the boat. Though it was not thrilling but it was wonderful to view the ocean & the city from 600 feet. We stayed there for may be 5-8 minutes and then they brought us down. And that was our last activity in Catalina Island. We went back to shore and grabbed something to eat…and we had some 1 hour or so for return ferry. We leisurely walked towards the boarding area, talking and laughing a lot. Finally it was time to leave the place and go back to home. We reached home in next 2 hours and were damn tired.
The best outing I had with Raz so far. People say that there is nothing much to see or do in the place. But every time when we go out, there might be too much of areas we would require to cover and we always do them in hurry. And I think about those trips later, apart from the fun we had with the people, there was nothing much to remember. But this time, it was entirely different. We had time to enjoy each and everything at our own pace. No need to rush up for anything and had ample time to enjoy being with each other. I am trying to freeze those moments in my memory stack. It was fun...leisure & romantic too. :) I would not know when we will be having such a time again. Well no body can take bath in the same river twice [Osho].
3 comments:
yeah! nice to hear that. had good workouts. hope u enjoyed throughly
Enjoy pannu...
Nice write up of ur vacation :-)
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