Wings!

Sweetie and I attended the 25th annual Catalina Island Museum Silent Film Benefit on Saturday. This is a showing of a silent film (duh) to benefit the Catalina Island Museum (double duh) in the beautiful art-deco movie palace that is the Avalon Theatre. This theater, an original part of the Casino, completed in 1929, has been preserved in every way - it's size (seating for 1154), it's decorative murals (Greek mythology inspired art deco), and it's original Page pipe organ. The theater still shows first-run movies on a weekly basis.

But on this afternoon, the fare was Wings, a 1927 feature-length film by William Wellman and the first movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture. This was also the movie shown at the first ever Silent Film Benefit. The film, starring Buddy Rodgers, Richard Arlen and Clara Bow, follows small-town boys Jack and David as they volunteer to be pilots in World War I. They scuffle over women, become comrades-in-arms, fight the Heinies, and experience triumph and tragedy. Unbelievable by today's standards, the film showed in New York twice a day for two years. The live-filmed scenes of aerial combat wowed audiences that had never had the experience of flight.

The print we watched was a restoration of the 35mm film done by Paramount. An original score was provided live on the pipe organ by the composer, Bob Salisbury. In addition, some patrons enhanced the experience by wearing period clothing. The effect was magical. I completely lost myself in the film, forgetting entirely that the music was live and even that the film was silent. I cheered on the heroes, rooted for the girl-next-door to win the guy, and got teary-eyed when the mother of one fallen airman received the small teddy bear he carried as a token of good luck. It's a great film, and it was a great afternoon.

If you ever get a chance to come out to Avalon, I would highly recommend a tour of the Casino so you can see for yourself the fabulous Avalon Theatre, and if you're there for the Silent Film Benefit, so much the better.

Lost Post

Here is a post I found in my Drafts folder. Oops. It's from February, I think. Enjoy:

This weekend started off with Sweetie and I doing what parents do, worrying about our kids. In particular, we were worried about our kids not having anyone to play with in our small town, and whether they were feeling lonely. As is frequently the case, parents fears out-scale actual problems, and right now we are satisfied that our kids are pretty happy.

One thing that helped us (and maybe them, too) was plenty of quality family time this weekend. I was just coming back from a week-long trip to the mainland, so I had some chores to do around the house (fixing the fence, putting out the new hose, fixing my computer), but afterwards, Calvin and I went out to play with his new glow-in-the-dark soccer ball while Sweetie and Hobbes walked down to the beach to look at the very low tide.

After kicking the ball around for a while, we played at the playground (as an adult, I still enjoy swinging on a swing), and then decided to walk down to the beach. Guess who we ran into? Right! The rest of the family. So we strolled together on the beach. It was a beautiful day - sunny, warm, light winds. A very nice outside time.

Sunday we decided go for a boat ride. We went out on the dock dingy to fetch the boat from a mooring, and before we even got to the boat, we noticed some cetaceans swimming about out by the reef, so we just tooled on out there in the dingy. It was a pod of Risso's dolphins. We watched them for a few minutes, and then went to get the boat. Our expedition took us out around Bird Rock and past Ship Rock. I'm not sure what's going on with sea lions, but there were tons of them swimming about and basking (with their flippers sticking out of the water) all around and between Bird and Ship today.
On our way from Ship Rock down towards Emerald Bay, we encountered a pod of about 12 bottlenose dolphins. They were curious and swam right by us. We could see them under and next to the boat. We circled around a few times with them playing in our wake. This was turning out to be quite a day!

We motored around Arrow Point and down towards Starlight Beach (which is one terminus of the Trans-Catalina Trail). As we were turning around to go home, we spotted ANOTHER pod of Risso's. They were moving towards Land's End, so we just watched from a distance.

I let Hobbes drive the boat some on the way home and we talked about boating: radio channels to use, boating etiquette, what a dive flag looks like, and avoiding sea life (including kelp). As we got back around Howland's Landing, we ran into either another or the same pod of bottlenoses. And they played again, both in our bow and stern wakes. We got really nice views of them swimming and leaping. Eventually they went back to fishing, and we continued towards the Isthmus.

As we got back into Isthmus Cove, we saw that the pod of Risso's that we'd first seen were still hunting around the reef. I was hoping to get a little closer to them this time, but they are much shyer than their smaller cousins and dove when we got too close.

We felt very lucky to have been out on the water today!

Disneyland Report Card

It's Spring Break for the Long Beach School District (which the schools on Catalina are in), so we decided to have a little fun. This mostly will consist of dentist appointments and camp physicals (which will occur next week), but Sweetie and I decided that first we would do something purely fun with the boys.

We chose not to tell the boys until we were practically at the park, and they were initially shocked into silence (I think), but quite giddy once we parked and got out of the car.

My first comment is that Disneyland seems much smaller acreage-wise than Disney World, which makes sense, since Disneyland is shoe-horned into Anaheim, while Disney World has the run of central Florida. Besides that, they look very much the same (duh). Everyone was happy to see us. We talked with the boys some about how Disney's close attention to customer service was a big factor in their success. (That's the kind of parents we are: suck the wonder out of everything.)

We started the day in Tomorrowland at Space Mountain. When we went to Disney World in 2010, we didn't get a chance to ride this one, so we decided to make up for that oversight. Maybe an odd choice for 10am, but there we were. When I was a kid, age 8 I think, we went to Disney World and rode Space Mountain. I was scared, so I closed my eyes the whole time. My mom commented that I didn't miss much, and who's idea was a roller coaster in the dark? This time I was determined to keep my eyes open. An my mom was right. Pretty dark, I have to say - and faster than I thought it would be.

On that same trip in 2010, Thing 2 was a little too freaked out to really enjoy the park, however this time he was game for just about anything. Over the day we did some intense rides like the updated Star Tours ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and the Indiana Jones Adventure and tamer fare like the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, the Mark Twain Riverboat, the Jungle Cruise and the Enchanted Tiki Room. We stayed all the way through the (outstanding) fireworks display, and had a tremendous time. I would say thanks to Disney for a day of family fun, but I think I spoke with my wallet yesterday.

As before, here are attraction ratings. If you're curious about details as to the why for these ratings, leave a comment:

Attraction	Me	Sweetie	Hobbes	Calvin
Space Mountain	B	A	A+++	A
Star Tours	B+	C	A++	A+
Jungle Cruise	C	B	A	A
Enchanted Tiki Room	C	C+	B	A
Indiana Jones Adventure	A	A	C	A-
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad	A	A	A	A+++
Autopia	C	n/a	n/a	A
Mark Twain Riverboat	B	B	B	A
Big Thunder Ranch	D	n/a	n/a	A-
Pirates of the Carribean	n/a	B+	A-	n/a
The Mad Tea Party	A	n/a	n/a	A+
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage	B	B+	A-	A
Disneyland Railroad	B	C+	A	B+
King Arthur Carousel	A	n/a	B+	A+
Pinocchio's Daring Journey	n/a	B-	B-	n/a

Oh, and the fireworks show gets a big A+. Tinkerbell flying around the castle was pretty awesome.

Island Thanksgiving

Next in our series of holiday-related posts is Thanksgiving on the Island. (The blog is, after all, called Life in Two Harbors.)

I will start out by saying that the weather is frequently beautiful around Thanksgiving in southern California. You don't feel so much like cozying up in front of the fire as you do going for a quick swim in the ocean. (Quick because the water is starting to get cold.) So many people are out and about during the day. We saw people flying kites, hitting golf balls, biking, hiking, hanging out at the beach, etc. Thing 2 and I went down towards the school to kick a soccer ball around, and had trouble finding a space with all these people out and about.

Last year, as you read here, we went to visit relatives in Arizona (although. This year, the school system did not expand the Thanksgiving break, so we decided not to travel. Since we were also not hosting anyone (no one traveled to see us, either - sniff), we didn't need to clean the house before Thanksgiving. So we cleaned the house ON Thanksgiving. Yes, we dusted and scrubbed, mopped and vacuumed, picked up and put away until the house looked like it deserved company.

Then we all showered and got dressed up in nice clothes - Thing 2 even wore long pants AND combed his hair - and prepared for one of our rare formal dinners. Extra leaves were put in the table to hold all the food; the wedding china was broken out (bad choice of words); champagne and sparkling cider were chilled; the good silver was placed in all the proper locations (prompting questions from the Things about the little fork above the plate); napkins were laid out.

Who is this kid?

Well of course no shoes. It's still the island...

Sweetie began bringing out the feast: traditional turkey with stuffing, cranberry dressing, a nice squash dish, peas with little onions (one of my favorites). We toasted the good things in our life - family, security, freedom, sparkling cider - and dug in. We talked about the Pilgrims and reminisced about visiting Plymouth this summer. When the carnage was over, it was all I could do to stuff down a delicious piece of pecan pie.

Around town, some families were celebrating just with immediate family, like us, others had invited over friends; some were dining at the restaurant where you can order a plate of food or an entire Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, trimmings, etc - and take home the leftovers; some yachties had gathered their extended families at the Isthmus Yacht Club for a home-away-from-home Thanksgiving; and up the hill the Banning house was also hosting family get-togethers. 

It's a time of year that Two Harbors doesn't feel like a tourist destination. It feels like, I don't know, a big backyard, and that's nice. If you ever get the chance, I'd highly recommend it.

Island Halloween

When you have a town the size of Two Harbors, Halloween doesn't just happen, there has to be some planning. That may seem surprising given the small population here.

First of all, there aren't many kids here - less than 10 - who go trick-or-treating. Instead, town is dominated by young adults who like a good party. So the annual Halloween bash is the Haunted House held up at the Banning House. People in town spend a good month or more preparing the various rooms to spook-out their friends - it's quite elaborate, and put together by some very devious minds. (I wish I could tell you more about it, but I've never been.) On the night before Halloween, they have a 'kids night' at the Haunted House, where they test out the rooms and adjust the scariness to whatever the kids request.

Since it's such a big deal, trick-or-treating is planned around the Haunted House. A time that the children will go out is decided (this duty falls to the PTA), and publicized around town. We try to make it early so everyone can get ready to go to the party.

Secondly, it is an annual tradition to pair the school's Halloween party with a costume parade around town (read: the various offices in town - front office, visitor services, waterfront, dive shop, snack bar, boat shop, general store, accounting...that may be the whole list). This is really a sort of early trick-or-treat, since the people in the offices have candy for the kids. This, too, needs to be arranged beforehand so everyone knows which day and when the kids will be by.

On the whole, it's a good time. Can you imagine going trick-or-treating and know virtually everyone who answers the door? It's really quite friendly. Sometimes the parents get a (liquid) treat, too. Although town is small, and it doesn't take long to get around to EVERY house, as I said, there are only a few kids, so people are quite generous in doling out the candy, so the kid's hauls are pretty sweet (ha ha).

Boston Vacation days 8 and 9 - Family Time!

The next two days of our vacation were spent in New Hampshire at Aunt S and Uncle K's house. We had a bit of a family reunion since many family members live close by, and none of them had seen the Things (or Sweetie) for many years.

Highlights of the day included visiting with family, of course, including seeing all the children that have been born in the last few years, the unbelievable spread of delicious food and, of course, chopping wood. We all had a very nice time, and my family is no longer mad at me for never bringing my family east.

The Mario Bros ascending Mt. Monadnock

The next day, we spent the morning hiking Mt Monadnock. Rather surprisingly, it is one of the most hiked mountains in the world, with ~125k visitors a year. This is mostly surprising because it is not the easiest hike. Being novices, (and having two Things with us) we decided to take the White Dot Trail up. While the rise isn't that much, only about 1800 feet from the parking lot, it happens over a very short distance (1.66 miles), so the grade averages over 20%. It was a humid day, and Sweetie and I are old, so we hauled ourselves up the hill while Calvin and Hobbes ran up and down trail, scrambling up and down the rock faces like lizards. There was some complaining, but that was mostly on the flat bits (that weren't as much fun). Eventually we got to the top of the climb only to realize that we were mistaken - we still had a long way to hike. Uphill.

Oh #%@$. That's the summit up there.

Not atop Mt. Monadnock

Atop Mt. Monadnock

Gamely we pressed on and achieved the summit just in time for lunch (since we had planned to eat lunch at the top). After nourishing our worn-out bodies, we rested and looked at the scenery. There were quite a few people up there with us, naturally, but we didn't feel crowded. We hopped around on the boulders a bit to look in different directions, and then started back down. For the descent, we chose the White Cross Trail, which follows a very similar route to the White Dot Trail, except I think it's even steeper in places. I was glad we weren't hiking up it. Having successfully negotiated the mountain, we got some ice cream and headed back to the house.

Although they were tired, the Things enthusiastically agreed to help Aunt S make the evening's dessert: gluten-free strawberry shortcake. There was much measuring and pouring and mixing, all under the incredibly patient watchful eye of Aunt S, and the result was a thing of beauty. (And tasted good, too!) A delicious end to the day.

Next time: A Minuteman to win it, man.

Boston Vacation Day 7 - Not Martha's Vineyard

So this was the day that we had planned to take the ferry from Wood's Hole over to Martha's Vineyard to do some bicycling. But we had some second thoughts. First was some rumors we heard that there were sections of Vineyard Haven that were a bit dicey to bicycle through (with traffic and all), and with the boys we were a bit hesitant. Secondly, we weren't sure how much time we'd actually get on the island as to whether it would be worth the trip. Thirdly, it looked like it might rain, which would make the bicycling idea a bust anyway. So we punted and decided (Sweetie and I, that is) that we would just drive up to Cape Cod National Seashore and see what was there.

After a wonderful breakfast, care of our hosts (another dozen thank-yous to them) we hopped in the car and announced our new plan to the things. Oops. Calvin had a conniption.

"What? We're not going bicycling? That's the only thing I really wanted to do on this vacation and now we're not doing it!"

So being the good, patient, flexible, (guilt-ridden, quiet-coveting) parents that we are, we said we'd look for a place to a) rent bikes and b) ride them in the Nat'l Seashore. Fortuitously, it turned out that this was a) easy and b) a really fun time. We first stopped at the Salt Pond Visitor Center near Eastham and picked up a park newspaper that listed local bike rental places. Then we spoke with a Ranger about the best place to go with our crew. They suggested a paved three mile trail up at the tip of the Cape. A quick phone call reserved some bikes in Provincetown.

We had lunch of lobster salad at a nearby restaurant and then drove up to P-town. The bike shop was easy to find and even had one of those kid's trailer-bike attachments that we got for Calvin (to increase the chance that he would have fun by decreasing the amount of work he'd have to do). In no time we were off and the trail was fantastic! Not too flat, not too hilly. Good views of the ocean, but also nice wooded areas and ponds to see. The trail is a circle, and half way around, at the top of the dune hill, is the Province Lands Visitor Center, which we stopped at. It has an upper balcony with nice views of Race Point Beach. Out in the water, we could see a whale watching boat that was, that's right, watching whales. There were several playing around in the water that you could clearly see, and with binoculars, it was a pretty good show.

Whale watching.

We had a great time. It's so nice to have an unexpected (unplanned) thing turn into a highlight.

A satisfactory end to the day.

It was time to leave the Cape. From P-town, we drove all the way to New Hampshire to stay with an Aunt and Uncle - tomorrow was family reunion day.