i have lots to update from my recent trips to georgia and portland.  just thought i’d throw in a few photos from the trips.

the tsai family does portland.

my family at one of the columbia river gorge waterfalls, multnomah falls

mitchell graduates lewis and clark law school!

marisa and i visit georgia.

at the georgia aquarium.

at the world of coca-cola.

Look what Kelvin found on a random blog post about The Karate Kid!  Unbeknownst to Kelvin and I, we were Karate Kid models.

i think i’m in love with this pennants duvet cover from urban outfitters.  i’ve been thinking about finally switching out of my twin sized bed at home to a full.  this would be the perfect duvet.  the colors are so dreamy and happy!

how true.

marisa, my little sister, had her prom last weekend, and i helped take a few photos for her.  she looked so beautiful :)  my little is all grown up!

putting on the boutonniere is a lot harder than it looks.

the girls.

the boys.

marisa and pauline.

marisa and her prom date.

my mom and marisa

more to come :)

for our second day on catalina, we went on a tour into the interior.  the interior consists of approx. 88% of the island.  the interior is owned by the catalina island conservancy, a non-profit created to preserve the island.

a shot of the adorable homes in avalon, catalina. love the colors and how they are seemingly stacked up on this mountain.

a cute fish and chips stand that wasn’t open.

this sea gull was bathing and drinking water in the drinking fountain.

our first bison sighting on the bus tour!  i wanted to pet the bison so badly! soo cute.  we also saw a bald eagle and a few other bison along the tour.

our one and only stop, the catalina airport.  they had to flatten a few mountain tops to clear space for the airport.

our flxible tour bus.

kelvin and a bison statue.

kelvin the bison.

the airport in the sky gift shop.

the gauges on the flxible bus.

a sign on the pier.

kelvin graduated from georgia tech on may 8th and flew out here to california the following day.  as a graduation gift, i organized a trip catalina island for us.  neither of us had ever been to catalina, so i thought it would be fun to check out the island.  catalina is the 3rd largest and only permanently inhabited channel island off the coast of california.

on our way over, my GPS lead me to what seemed like death.

but in reality it was an auto ferry to balboa island!  we were so excited about it!  my car has never ridden a boat before.

here’s another auto ferry crossing the waters. so cool, right?

balboa island has a lot of cute looking shops and signs.  i wish we had a chance to walk around and check out the town.  maybe next time.

here’s the view from our boat, the newport flyer before we headed out into the open sea.  the 75 minute ride was actually pretty rough.  thank goodness for dramamine.

we stayed at aurora hotel, a self-proclaimed bed and breakfast.  i liked aurora because it was clean and modern.  all the other hotels in catalina seemed like they were in great need of a renovation.

our hotel had a roof deck, which kelvin and i later made great use of by taking a two hour nap under the cabana.

since there is a full-size car limit in catalina, most people drive golf carts or mini cars.

kelvin and i hiked to the nature center to get our hiking permit for our hike up the hermit gulch trail.

at the top of the hermit gulch trail, we could see both sides of the island!  the trail was a nice climb straight up the mountains.

here’s kelvin resting at the top of the mountain.

he’s a cutie!

the trail led us through the back of the wrigley memorial and botanical gardens.  the memorial had beautiful tiling.  when wrigley owned the island, he established a tile factory.  unfortunately the factory no longer exists on the island.

here’s the view from the top of the memorial.

the botanical garden was sort of disappointing, but once we started looking more carefully, there were some interesting plants.  while taking a picture of some flowers, i nearly walked into this cactus.  look at the spikes on this plant!

after the hike, kelvin and i took a walk to scout out some good sunset spots.  i love the harbor.  avalon is such an adorable city.  it’s tucked into a valley.  the entire island only covers 1 sq. mile and all the homes look like classic victorian homes.  i never expected catalina to be this mountainous island.  for some reason when i think of islands, i think of sandy beaches.  catalina doesn’t really have any natural beaches.  they recently built some sandy spots for people to layout near the coastline.  ironically, all the sand has to be imported to the island.  i guess their harbors are what makes catalina an ideal place for people to arrive by boat.

kelvin and i heard the descanso beach was the place to go if we were interested in any beach/water activities.  the whole area was closed by the time we got there, but it definitely looked like it would be a good place to snorkel.

the beaches are rocky.

we saw a guy who had been snorkeling, and when he came out of the water, we noticed he had speared a fish for dinner.  how resourceful.

near descanso beach, there were some rocks that had been painted with various icons that represented the island.

kelvin and me.

sunset and the “casino” (there is no gambling that actually occurs in the building).

kelvin walked all the way out on this surf break at sunset to catch some shots of avalon.

kelvin with a mini truck.

check out this new york times article about catalina.