El Rancho Escondito

I had a wonderful day hanging out with two of my boys, Scott and Miah. We flew over to Catalina to have lunch with Miah (who works there). We had arranged to leave about the same time. Scott and I would fly out of Fullerton across the channel and meet Miah at the airport about the same time since he was driving from the other side of the isthmus. It worked. They had a delicious lunch of buffalo burgers, and I had an even better BLT with avacado.

Airports are known for their lunches, and pilots in the LA basin know where the best lunches are and I think most would say hands-down it has to be Catalina. Flying across the channel and landing on a bluff is always a good challenge. The airport was created back in the 1940s by blowing off two mountain tops and filling it in between. Then they built a 3000' runway and its been a popular destiny ever since.

This building is where the Wrigley's started a horse ranch back in the 1930s. It is in the interior of the island, where Philip and Helen Wrigley wanted to breed the wild horses of Catalina Island. By the 1950s, the Wrigleys were known for breeding a great stock of Arabians. The parents have since passed away but their children still run the horse ranch. They have also started growing wine grapes. It will be interesting to see the progress of a wine grown on our own little island get away, Catalina.