Emily and Mitchell in the USA

We stayed local this weekend and managed to get out and see things even with Mitchell's leg still being a bit swollen. On Friday night we went to the Orange County improv festival in Santa Ana. Mitchell would have been performing, but he's taking a break right now. We were able to see his group perform without him though, and catch some other people we knew perform during the night. There were lots and lots of groups, some local to Orange County and some from LA and beyond. Each only got about 20 minutes and it ran until after midnight. The theatre itself was pretty cool, it was called the Frida and was an indie cinema which during the week had been running a Godzilla marathon, with all the old films from the 60s and 70s, both the Japanese and American films.  On Saturday it was a friend's birthday, so we met Rene etc at a brewery for some drinks and games. It was an odd place, with a beer garden out the back of the brewery itself which was just in the middle of a business ...

We went for another big adventure this weekend! On Friday evening, we packed up two cars and headed out to Newport Beach dock to catch the Catalina Island Ferry. We all got some tacos while we waited, and then were soon loading onto the boat. It was very empty on board, and even though there were seven of us, we got to spread out over two booths and enjoy the ride. However, it wasn't long before we decided to go up to the top deck to watch the waves.  The water was pretty rough and we had to hold on tight to the rail to avoid being thrown about. It was the same route out of Newport that we took on the whale watching tour, but this time we were going much faster.  We were watching the water for a while, and about halfway we passed a huge pod of common dolphins! That was exciting and broke up the hour and a half journey.  We arrived in Avalon just after the sun set and there were fairy lights all along the dock and into the town. Our first stop was the grocery store to pick...