Catalina Island, CA

Twenty six miles across the sea,

Santa Catalina is a-waitin for me.

Water all around it everywhere,

Tropical trees and the salty air.

Jake's childhood summers were spent in Avalon, this tiny city here on Catalina Island.  I've heard so many memories and stories about his boyhood time here, I was really excited to experience it for myself.  And it lived up to the hype!

We did a lot of fun things and spent some quality time with the Bartletts.  Even though we live pretty close to them, life gets busy and we only see them an hour or two here or there.  This was the first time we all stayed in the same house for this amount of time.  And surprisingly all relationships are still intact :)

The girls were excited to ride the big ferry boat out to the island.  Amaryllis picked out "sailor" outfits for them.  Maybelle's dress was mine when I was little.

Oh, and Amaryllis was sure to tell Kit Kitredge that she couldn't come.

 

The island only has golf carts or other small cars:

We stayed 2 weeks so it was long enough that we really could relax and have down time, along with all the fun things.  I'm not a go-go-go-go vacationer. I like to sit on the cafe sidewalk, go for strolls,  find all the little hidden random shops, etc.

The house was big and cute and clean, and we all had a bedroom.

The newest addition to the family is Grandma K's new boat; we took it out every other day and explored different parts of the island.  So many hidden beaches, coves, a small town by the isthmus, etc.  

Aren't the views gorgeous?  This is from on top of the mountain.
We rented a golf cart and the girls thought it was pretty thrilling!

We went snorkeling, fishing, laid in the sun, collected magical crystals and everything in between.

All these picts are various beaches we found, hidden coves, and different places we docked around the island throughout the 2 weeks.

We went zip lining, paddle boarding, jogs, walks, strolls, foods, games, movies, etc. 

Family photo fail:

 

We saw a bunch of deer on our last day there, and noticed a man with boxes of produce.  He feeds them twice a day with leftover stuff from the grocery store.

When we got home, I noticed Amaryllis rearranged her book shelf and made a shrine to Catalina with all her souvineers.  I made her keep the magic crystals (aka seaglass) outside though!