Catalina Vacation

Gary and I just got back about an hour-2 hours ago from our summer vacation. It was sooo nice!! I am extremely and badly sunburned, but I'll talk about that later :) About every other year, my family goes on a vacation to Catalina Island. I've been doing that since birth, my mom since she was a baby, and Grannie since she was young. Definitely a family tradition. Gary and I were unable to make it 2 years ago, but we were definitely able to make it this time around! I opened early Monday morning, but I have the rest of the week off. Yay! So does Gary.

Anyway, Gary and I got up early Tuesday morning, and got ready to leave. We had already packed most of our things the night before, that way we'd be more prepared in the morning. We traveled down to San Pedro, where we waited to get on our boat. Gary and I picked some nice seats next to a window, until we both decided we wanted to go upstairs on the top and sit outside to feel the nice breeze. The trip was about an hour long.

Gary and I on the boat feelin' the breeze

My hunky husband on the boat

View of the island from the boat trip (the above and 2 following)

When we arrived on the island, Gary and I walked to our hotel to check in. They had it available right away, and ready to go. Here's the story of our hotel:

Weeks ago, when I was planning out our hotel, I found the Seacrest Inn. It was a "couples only" hotel, with fairly cheap prices. I decided I was going to buy the cheapest economy room. I didn't really care about the room itself. We just needed a place to sleep. However, I booked the wrong date. When the inn people notified me to confirm the dates, I told them I had the dates wrong. The owner of the little inn sadly informed me the economy room would not be available on the dates we wanted. However, he said the next room up, $20 extra per night, was available. I thought about it for a moment, then confirmed it would be okay. He sent me a confirmation e-mail shortly after. As I opened the e-mail, I then realized he was kind enough to charge us the economy price for the nicer room. Fantastic!

It just gets better. When we arrived to our inn and checked in, not only did they have the room available, but he led us past our assigned room, into another room labeled "The Retreat". Inside, was a small little room, big bed and television, and a table for two. We then headed over to the bathroom...inside was a big double whirlpool jacuzzi tub, with a built-in shower attached. It was beautiful! We had to double check, but sure enough, the owner of the inn decided to give us one of the mini honeymoon suites. It was perfect. Because of this, he saved us close to $100 each night! Wow! So, if you ever go to Catalina, make sure you call Roger at the Seacrest Inn!

What I also loved about our inn, was it was a block from the beach, and had a rooftop patio we had a key to. 2 level rooftop patio, with a beautiful ocean view.

These two are the first level of the patio. This is where breakfast is served in the mornings, since it's also a bed and breakfast.  The next two are the top of the roof patio.

That night, we both lounged on the chairs to watch the sunset from the roof. This was our view from our inn.

Gorgeous, huh? See, I likey our inn.

Anyway, back to day 1. After we checked into our hotel and got settled, we met my parents at Coney Island Burgers, where we enjoyed our lunch. After lunch, we decided it was time to take a nice nap :)

After plenty of rest and a few places to stroll around, it was time to meet my parents for dinner. First, I had to write in the little journal the inn provided. The journal consisted of stories of love from other guests who had stayed in our room. Some were sweet and romantic, and some said things like, "Got drunk, had great sex.". Nice, huh? I decided to add a little sweet something about our love. Anyway, we met the family for dinner at Antonio's Pizzeria, where we had delicious pizza.

 After dinner, Gary and I strolled around the beaches and went for some nice romantic walks.

Some random pictures of our walk:

(We don't look tired or anything, right? Lol)

 Finally we headed back to our inn, where we watched the sunset (as mentioned above), then crashed!

 We got up early the second day since we fell asleep so early, and had a full day ahead of us! We strolled in and out of the shops, then decided we wanted to rent a peddle boat to take out on the ocean. We didn't have sunblock with us, but said, "eh, we'll probably burn a little." A little? Hah! Not quite. We are currently tomatoes.

But here are some photos of our peddle-boat adventures on the ocean.

After we spent our hour on the peddle boats, we strolled a little more, had some yummy lunch at Vons (bought some sammiches and chips, and ate in our room), then met my family at Lover's Cove, where we spent a good chunk of the afternoon snorkeling. Yes, and sunblock was used this time!

Gary applying sunblock this time!

Gary and my dad chatting about guy stuff

Brother Quinn (or Quinny-Pooh). He's very knowledgeable in marine biology since he's currently pursuing a degree in the field. So he had fun telling us about the fish and ocean. He also interned at the Aquarium of the Pacific.

The fish get VERY up close and personal. Especially when you feed them.

 After Lover's Cove, Gary and I spent another evening strolling around. But first, we had a BBQ at my parents cottage where they stayed. It was a nice little 1 bedroom cottage where a bulk of the family slept. The BBQ was nice and definitely filling!

 Gary and I then spent another evening strolling around and enjoying our alone time. We walked behind the casino where it's much more private, and sat upon some rocks to watch the ocean. Most of our time was more of a nice silence, while watching the waves and the sunset.  Ah, nice, peaceful, and more private.

  We headed back to the hotel, soaked it up in the jacuzzi, then went to bed.

  We awoke this morning, our 3rd day, checked out of the inn early, dropped our stuff off, and spent today walking around the island, relaxing in the park, having lunch at Antonio's, and hanging with the family at the corner park. Finally around 3pm, we boarded the boat and headed home. Until next time, Catalina!

It was definitely a perfect, perfect getaway and vacation. Sooo relaxing, fun, and well worth the red tomato and sad looking skin we currently have. Aloe vera is a friend right now.

Now to call back the person who left a message on our answering machine about giving a talk this month in church... (oh the joys).  Eh, I'll call him back later :)

Bye!