(12 Photos) When Kat and I arrived at Catalina Island this past Friday, our first order of business was breakfast. Directly thereafter, we caught the city bus for a ride up the hill to the Wrigley Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum. We were pleasantly surprised to discover a birthday freebie, my admission was comped. We wandered around the grounds a bit, and then decided, in spite of the warming temperature, to attempt the Garden to Sky Trail. I seriously wanted to see the ocean on the other side of the island… don’t ask me why, it’s the same exact ocean. We started up the trail (a fire road), and when I say up, I mean up. The trail is steep, hot, dusty. We made some amount of progress, going about three switchbacks, then paused under a bit of shade. To our surprise, a ranger truck came along the road and stopped to see how we were doing. Perhaps we already looked the worse for wear, because he offered us a ride to the top. No shame for me, we hopped in his truck and waved merrily as we passed others sweating up the road. Best birthday gift ever! The view at the top was spectacular, and we were so glad to have seen it. The hike back down the trail was steep, hot, dusty and we had to take care not to slip on the loose, dry dirt. In spite of the lift partway to the top, we felt a great sense of accomplishment having been on the ridge trail at the top and seen the ocean on the other side of the island. ~SueBee
SueBee and Kat 
I would like to live in an area that hands out birthday freebies. You are getting full value from the ageing process!
I believe we deserve some free things after a certain age!