Mark's Birthday Getaway

Mark's 28th birthday was last weekend so we went to the Channel Islands to celebrate. It was amazing!! The Channel Islands are called the Galopagos of North America and it definitely lived up to the reputation. The scenery was gorgeous and there was a huge array of wildlife that are not found anywhere else in the world.

The islands are about 13 miles off shore so we took the ferry. It took about an hour to get to Anacapa. But within about 45 minutes we began to see Anacapa's shear cliffs rising out of the ocean. The island itself is only about a 1 mile long and a quarter of a mile wide. The ferry pulled into a little cove, then we grabbed our camping gear and headed up the 157 steps to top of the island.

When we reached the top I was transported to a world I had never seen before. A land where sea gulls rule the earth from their nests in dwarfed trees and seal lions bellow from the sea, sounding their warning not to get too comfortable. Underfoot is a lush, dense, tangled carpet of red and green. The ice plant has taken over the entire island. Only the sea gulls can tame it enough to make nests.

We set up camp quickly so we could explore the island. As we began hiking around the island we realized it was full of incredible vistas.

That evening we watched the sun set over inspiration point (first photo). It was amazing, total grandeur with pelicans swirling over head and the ocean surging down below. It was truly a special evening. A perfect way to celebrate a great man.

The next day was super hot so we did a little jumping into the water. We just had to wait for the sea lions to get out of the way.