Monday Jan 21 - Friday Jan 25
Yes the span between updates is getting longer, but this past week has been a fairly full one!
Monday was a low-key chill day to rest and do some laundry, and get ready for our trip to Santa Catalina Island. Our ferry was boarding at Long Beach at 10 am, which meant we needed to be pulling into Long Beach at 9 am, which meant we needed to leave Valencia at 5:15 am. Ugh. The funny thing about LA traffic is that you have to leave at 5 am in order to arrive at 7 am , but if you left at 6 am you won't arrive until 10 am. Gotta love it. But at least we were on time for the Catalina Express.
Catalina is only 22 miles off the coast of California, but it seems like another world. The island is about 32 miles long, and 8 miles wide at its widest point. There are only 4,000 permanent residents on the island, and 90% of them live in Avalon, the main city. The ride over is nice, as you get a great view of the mainland, as well as the island. Once we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to be met at the landing by Seth Holt and Andrew Quintana. Seth is the oldest son of one of our ministry partners, Dennis and Korine Holt, who operate a YWAM DTS base in the Republic of Georgia (the country located near the Black Sea, not the state). Andrew and his wife Catalin served at the DTS when my daughter Carmen and I visited several years ago.
Our first order of business after checking into our room was to walk around and see the town. That takes about 30 minutes because the entire town is only 5-6 city blocks long, all situated along Avalon Bay! It's a beautiful, yet quaint town, filled with shops, hotels, and restaurants. It also has quite a history, it was first developed in the late 1887 by George Shatto, who built the first hotel, and set up camping spots for people to come and camp along the beach. Mr Shatto fell on hard times in 1891, and sold the island to the Banning brothers. The Banning brothers fulfilled Shatto's dream of making Avalon a resort community. They built a dance pavilion in the center of town, made additions to the Hotel Metropole and steamer-wharf, built an aquarium, created the Pilgrim Club (a gambling club for men only), improved the standard of Avalon's beach by erecting a sea-wall and adding covered benches or "spoonholders", building a bath house, adding new steamships to the run, and setting up close to one hundred tents throughout Avalon's canyon (often called "tent cities"). As the Bannings anticipated construction of the new Hotel Saint Catherine, their efforts were set back on November 29, 1915, when a fire burned half of Avalon's buildings, including six hotels and several clubs.
The Banning brother intended to rebuild from the fire, but financially were not able to recover, and they subsequently sold the Catalina Resort Company off in shares, the majority stakeholder being William Wrigley Jr (yes the gum magnate), who loved Catalina so much he purchased the entire island! After Wrigley died, his son founded a conservatory and donated 80% of the Island to the conservatory so that Catalina could remain in its natural state.
On Wednesday Seth and Andrew took us on a tour of the island. Most of the island is off limits unless you live there, but as Andrew is a resident he possesses one of the "golden cards" that gets you into the interior. So, we were able so see places that tourists normally cannot access. I truly felt as if we were back in Georgia, as the roads are pretty rough, most of them dirt, and they wind up and around the mountains like a goat path! Your prayer life is greatly enhanced when driving around Catalina.
You can see from the pictures that we were pretty high up, and the natural beauty of the island is breathtaking. We visited the grand vista, the Airport in the sky, and Sharks Cove. I even got to take a picture of an American Bison, which were brought to the island in the 1920's. Perhaps the most exhilarating part was the ride back down the mountain back to Avalon. Picture this: An big, old, heavy Dodge 15 passenger van, going down a steep and twisty mountain road (a trail really), no guard rails... one wrong turn and you're going off a 500 foot cliff! Sweet. That night we celebrated our survival at the El Galleon restaurant, where you can sit outside with a view of the bay, and you can see the lights of LA in the distance. It was a great finish to a great few days at Catalina Island.
Thursday morning we packed up again, and caught the ferry back to Long Beach, jumped into the Kia, and headed east to our next destination: The Grand Canyon. Seven hours later we checked into the Days Inn at Williams AZ, which thankfully had a lot tub to relax our stiff muscles, and called it a night.
Friday morning, we grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel, and clicked off the one hour drive to the Grand Canyon. We made good use of that hour by praying for the many people in our lives, and the ministries that God has called us to.
When we first arrived at the canyon, it was very cloudy, and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to see well. This was not good, as the Grand Canyon was one of the "have to see" things on Tammy's trip bucket list. So, we prayed! Tammy has a saying, "if it matters to you, it matters to God." I know some might think that God has more important things to do than burn off the haze so Tammy and I could see the canyon, but after all, He IS God, He can handle it, and He did! Within an hour the haze burned off and we were treated to some majestic views of the canyon. It's hard to describe the feeling you have when looking out over the vastness and beauty of this place. Is truly humbling. Tammy was thinking of the words to the song "Indescribable." To stand at the edge of the canyon, taking in the vastness and beauty, and to think that our God hand-crafted this to declare His glory. It made me think of a verse from Amos:
For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth- the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name! Amos 4:13
We burned up most of the day at the Grand Canyon, but it was well worth the time spent there. So as of now we are back on road, continuing our slow trek eastward back to the place we love: Wilmington! I know it's time to start heading back, because Tammy is getting "mommy pangs" and missing her boys.
We love you all, we miss you, we are praying for you, and we look forward to eyeing you soon!
Pastor Clay & Tammy
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