Birthday Supreme!!

My 26th birthday was on Tuesday and it began at 3:50am when I got up to get ready for our trip to Catalina Island. I had my delicious two packets of strawberry and peach oatmeal for breakfast (in the car) and Michael drove us to Long Beach as the sun came up.

I was excited to get a "Happy Birthday" ribbon with our tickets before we boarded the ferry at 6:15am, arriving at the island around 7:30. We walked around and shared breakfast at Joe's. Michael got eggs, bacon and hash browns and I enjoyed his toast with butter and jelly. For real it was the best toast I've ever had. Maybe it had something to do with the grains?

 We followed the shore down past the grand casino and theater building to where the kayak and snorkel booth was. We signed all of our papers and tried on our "shorty" wetsuits that went to our elbows and above the knees, zipping in the front.

 I have to give Michael credit for doing 85% of the paddling, thanks to all the push ups he had been doing the few weeks before. He was very nice and would let me have breaks when my wimpy arms got tired, and that happened quite often. We stopped at Frog Rock and pulled over in the rocks, where I got some cool shells and marble looking pebbles. Michael tried snorkeling (I got back out after the 65 degree water filled my wetsuit- I wasn't expecting that!), but when he didn't see any fish, we continued to another area. During that time Michael pointed out that he saw a sea lion, so we waited for a minute as it came up for another breath. It was so cute and its whiskers were so defined. I just stared in aw for a moment, then Michael commented, "Well, take a picture!" But I'm not sure if it turned out since it went back underwater at that point. We had to kayak past two piers and camp areas to get to the next snorkeling spot. I just watched Michael for a bit, but when he told me there were lots of fish. He held my hand as I got into the water, holding onto the bigger rocks since the floor was slippery and the waves were strong. The cold water rushed into my suit again and I was almost hyperventalating through my snorkel, but eventually my body got used to it enough and my breathing became consistant. There were mostly orange fish, little dark blue fish and brown fish. Michael said he saw a lobster and a shark fish! I didn't see those, but it was funny to see him freak out every time he would turn and swim into a clump of blub plants. We made it back to the starting point within our 4-hour time limit and Michael estimated our travels to be a total of 2.5 miles.

It wasn't until we got back to shore and changed into our regular clothes that we realized that we had been fried to a crisp! Shame on us for not wearing sun tan lotion, even though it was cool and overcast. I got a birthday deal paper with all the free and discounted stuff I could get from certain stores. There was a mexican place with a free meal, but we couldn't find the building, so we went to Steve's Steakhouse for burgers instead. At the end of the meal, the waiter brought me a free birthday ice cream bowl with whipped cream and a pink candle. After lunch Michael and I went to the conservery shop to get some hiking maps. They are normally $6.50, but I got one for free- thanks to the ribbon I proudly displayed on my chest all day. I felt like I was at Disney! Unfortunately the map only had lines, not road names, but after walking around and seeing the different houses all lined up so close and laughing at the different versions of vehicles they made out of golf carts (including a tiny van and a golf cart with a towing hook on the back), we finally found the right road and followed it West. We passed a school, two fire stations, police office, a golf course and baseball field, but stopped to take a left when we saw a side trail. We mosied around that area for about 10 minutes before going back to the road towards the Botanical Gardens and main hiking area.

We got to the gardens, but it wasn't free (not sure why I assumed it would be; it was $7/person). We were tired of walking at that point since it had taken us about 1.5 miles to get there and knew we would have to walk back, plus Michael felt it was better for us to stay out of the sun. We kept putting suntan lotion on our skin every 20 minutes after lunch to ensure we didn't crisp any further. Our legs got it the worst. So we walked back, stopping for a Coke on the way. At 4:30pm, we looked around some gift shops and each found cute do-dads, but didn't buy anything. Maybe a magnet would have been a good idea. But I kept some of the rocks and shells from kayaing as my only souveiners, along with the pictures we took. We shared one last Catalina treat: a funnel cake, before agreeing to switch our tickets to an earlier departure time (to 6pm instead of the reserved 7:30pm). There was a $5 fee per ticket, but we didn't mind. We were ready to get home, see Sasha and go to sleep!

(I took my underwater camera to Walgreens yesterday, so I will get the 27 printed pictures back on Sunday, as well as a free CD of the pictures, making it much easier to blog them. I also picked up my latest books from the library,  My Point.. And I Do Have One by Ellen Degeneres & Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo. I'm still looking forward to reading Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan. I'm currently #8 in line, since they got more copies!)