Golf In Catalina 2007
Three More Wild Animals Are in Catalina!
Arrival At The "Island Of Romance"
The
first owner to try to develop Avalon into a resort destination was
George Shatto, a real estate speculator from Grand Rapids, Michigan, who
purchased the Island for $200,000 at the height of the real estate boom
in Southern California in 1887.
Shatto created the settlement that would become Avalon, and can be credited with building the town's first hotel, the original Hotel Metropole, and pier.
His sister-in-law Etta Whitney came up with the name Avalon, which was pulled as a reference from Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem "Idylls of the King," which was about the legend of King Arthur. Despite Shatto's efforts, in a few years he had to default on his loan and the island went back to the Lick estate.
We Arrived In Style And Caught A Cab To The Golf Course
OK Jon, Let's NOT Embarrass Ourselves
So Jon hits it about 200 yards right down the fairway to the chagrin of the threesome behind us!
A deer is a ruminant mammal belonging to the family Cervidae. A number
of broadly similar animals from related families within the order
Artiodactyla are often also called deer.
“I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say
because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is
attractive, but I have photographs of her.” - Unknown
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes, genera Crotalus and Sistrurus. They belong to the class of venomous snakes known commonly as pit vipers. Most rattlesnakes mate in the spring, and all species give live birth, rather than laying eggs. Mothers abandon their young within hours after birth.
Lunchtime, Jon! Don't East Too Much!
Did You Know?
During World War II, the island was closed to tourists and used for military training facilities. Catalina's steamships were expropriated for use as troop transports, the U.S. Maritime Service set up a training facility in Avalon, the Coast Guard had training at Two Harbors, the Army Signal Corp maintained a radar station in the interior, and the Office of Strategic Services (a precursor to the CIA) did training at Toyon Bay.
High Flying
Catalina's airport, the "Airport in the Sky" (AVX), was completed in 1946. The 3,250-foot (990-meter) runway sits on a mountaintop, 1,602 feet (488 m) above sea level. Up until the time of the airport's construction, the only air service to the island was provided by seaplanes.
Bison
A herd of American Bison roam, supposedly first imported in 1924 for the silent film version of Zane Grey's Western tale "The Vanishing American." Over the decades, the bison herd grew to as many as 600 individual