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Catalina Islands’ Botanic Garden & Wrigley Memorial
The Botanic Garden and Wrigley Memorial are easily accessible by “The Garibaldi” bus. I believe it’s the highest point on the island that “The Garibaldi” bus will take you and it truly is worth the visit.Admission isn’t free but reasonably priced as it covers one’s visit to both the Botanic Garden and the Wrigley Memorial. If you’re a student, you can get a nice discount; all you need to do is show your student ID card. If you want an even better discount, visit the grounds on your birthday and you’ll get in for free.There are so many different plants and flowers in the Botanical Gardens and they were all placed in an organized manner. One thing I noticed and liked right away about the garden is how a clear, wide pathway exists so that one can choose to enjoy nature at a distance or simply have enough personal space when there are just too many visitors around. The other thing about this pathway is that it leads you to the Wrigley Memorial if you just keep walking north. (I took the less obvious route to the Wrigley Memorial, thinking that it was a hiking trail… lol If you’re interested in this route, simply get “lost” with the trees towards the left side of the gardens, where there is I believe a bridge entrance. It’s kind of nice if you want some shade/alone time.)
The cactus collection was nice and to be honest, a bit creepy. I say creepy because a lot of what-if case scenarios crossed my mind. Some of these cacti were very spiky/hairy and I had to be extra cautious when touring them or taking selfies with them. Despite this, they were probably my most favorite plants at the Botanic Garden.As you tour the plants in the Botanical Gardens, you will eventually reach the Wrigley Memorial. The Wrigley Memorial is quite iconic and if you have a thing or two for architecture, you’ll probably like the Wrigley Memorial. Getting to the top of the Wrigley Memorial requires climbing a decent amount of stairs. Nothing too complex. Plus, you get rewarded with a pretty good view of the gardens once you’ve reached the top of the Wrigley Memorial.According to some handout I retrieved from the admissions employee, the entrance to a hiking trail is suppose to be near the Wrigley Memorial. I had considered the idea of going on this hiking trail but decided not to since I was already quite tired by the time I got to the Wrigley Memorial. This may be too much info, but I was already sweating like a pig, “thanks” to the sun. I will be honest and say that I couldn’t figure out where the entrance to this hiking trail was. When I was on top of the Wrigley Memorial, I couldn’t see this “entrance” either. Perhaps, I wasn’t looking for it hard enough… Anyway, I just wanted to mention it in case anyone was interested in doing a hiking trail. I know there is a fee to the entrance of the trail, though. How much it is, that I am unaware of. -
California’s Island: Catalina Islands
Catalina Islands just never gets old, regardless of how many times I visit it. It’s a place where I and other mainland “locals” can temporarily say goodbye to everyday stresses of work/life and pretend to have a vacation, even if it’s just a one day getaway thing.
Getting to the islands can easily be done by air or sea. I have always utilized Catalina Express’ service to get to/from Avalon, CA (Catalina Islands). While there are other companies that provide water service to/from the islands, I’ve always chosen Catalina Express for two reasons:
- The company offers free rides to/from the islands on one’s birthday.
(Update: As of 2017, the company offers a different type of birthday promotion.)(Update: It seems they no longer offer birthday promotions.) - It’s more convenient since you can choose from 3 ports (Long Beach, San Pedro or Dana Point) to depart from.
The Long Beach Port that Catalina Express departs from happens to also be the same port that Carnival (cruise ship) departs from as well, or so I believe. Parking at the Long Beach Port is plentiful albeit pricey. But I suppose parking cost shouldn’t be an issue should you decide to go on-board the Catalina Express on your birthday. ;]
While I assume that many mainland “locals” are aware of Catalina Islands, I realize that there are still many “locals” who’ve never set foot on the islands before, let alone know that such an island exists an hour away from the California coast (if departing from Long Beach Port).
I was quite surprised to learn that many of my coworkers had never been there before and were wondering whether one had to stay overnight in order to enjoy Catalina Islands. In the beginning of this post, I mentioned how some “locals” visit Catalina Islands as a one day getaway type of thing and it certainly is possible to enjoy the islands in one day.
However, I recommend first time visitors to stay for more than a day. If lodging expense(s) will be a burden to your wallet, I recommend visiting the islands for a day but to make it a very long day. (Translation: Depart from your port of choice on the 1st or 2nd earliest trip and leave the islands on the 2nd to last or last departing trip. If you get bored, you can always attempt to leave on an earlier trip, however you’ll be charged $5 for a trip change.)With Catalina Islands now offering public transportation via “The Garibaldi”, an electric bus, you really have no excuse to not explore what the island has to offer you as a visitor.
With rides costing $1 per trip, I managed to visit Catalina Islands’ Botanic Gardens and Wrigley Memorial for $2. It was great!
For those that are unsure of utilizing public transportation or simply just prefer to get around with more privacy, Catalina Islands offers a variety of other alternatives. They just may be a lot more pricey…
Similar to lodging, food on the islands is quite pricey regardless of where you choose to dine from. (There isn’t a fast food joint on the islands, so don’t think you can save money on food by visiting a Mc Donald’s or something.)
On my most recent trip to the islands, I had a bad craving for Mexican food and chose to order from Mi Casita. It was expensive, obviously. However, to make matters worse, service from Mi Casita wasn’t good whatsoever. It’s one thing when I receive good customer service from an establishment that charges a lot of money but it’s another thing when I receive poor customer service. I’m not sure where to begin with my experience with Mi Casita. Let’s just say that I had to wait a ridiculously long time before I was able to even order my food. And when the time came for me to order, the employee (female) just stared at me. (I kid you not!) It was almost as though her starring was a cue/signal that I should now be ordering. (I should mention that before the starring crap began, she had told me she would take my order in a moment. Apparently, she wanted to do something with the cash register prior to taking my order. Okay, whatever…) The service was cold, off-putting and rude. Perhaps I am looking in to it too much, but I wonder if this attitude/poor service came about simply from the possible fact that they (or she, I should say) thought I was Mexican/Spanish speaker as well? I question this because the female had initially spoken to me in Spanish. Uh, first of all, I’m not Mexican. Second of all, mi espanol es no bueno so I’m not going to try to speak in Spanish. (2 semesters of Spanish does not equate to me being able to converse well.) Third, it is so rude to just talk to someone in Spanish just because you think someone is Mexican or some other Spanish-speaking ethnicity.
Despite the crapola service I received from Mi Casita, I can at least say the food was good. (Oh, but no matter how good the food was, I’ll definitely make sure to never give my hard earned money to Mi Casita or any of their affiliated restaurants again.)
Despite my bitter customer service experience at Mi Casita, my trip to the islands was overall good. While on the topic of customer service, I’d like to give a so-called shout out to US Bank as their teller gave me superb customer service on the island. <3In my next entry, I plan on writing about my visit to Catalina Islands’ Botanic Garden & Wrigley Memorial. Do be on the look out for that. 🙂 - The company offers free rides to/from the islands on one’s birthday.