It's the ... Catalina Wine Mixer

Sorry it has been almost three months from my last post and only my first post of the year. Damon and I have been so busy and tired with work. We really haven't done anything other than that. I was talking to Damon about how we need to relax. We decided that every month we deserve a weekend getaway. So in March.... (which is also our five year anniversary of dating and two year anniversary of our engagement) that this month needed to be something special.

I surprised Damon with the location of Catalina Island.

Most people know about Catalina by a quote in the movie Step Brothers. Hints the name of the blog. Yes I edited the f-word out of my blog title. And yes Damon found a hat that had that quote.

We left our town after work on Friday and drove to Newport Beach. We stayed at the Hilton and got a bite to eat. I couldn't sleep at all I was so anxious to go to Catalina in the morning. We boarded the Catalina Flyer. It took about two hours to get to the island.

Once we arrived I was breath taken by the beauty of the island.

The water was so clear you could see the orange fish below.

  

We grabbed a taxi because walking half a mile up a hill to our hotel is very difficult with luggage. We stayed at Catalina Canyon Resort & Spa. Once we got our room keys and dropped off our luggage. We walked back down to the shops, pier, and all the attractions. As we were walking down the marathon runners were finishing. The fastest time was 3 hours 04 seconds. Holy cow..... 26.2 miles in 3 hours and 04 seconds on an up and down hill and mountain island. WAY TO GO MARATHON RUNNERS! The marathon started at the other end of the island which is called Two Harbors.

I had the best long island ice tea and fish and chips at Bluewater Avalon. The restaurant has it own pier and overlooked the water. I highly recommend it if you ever go. After we ate we walked around explored all the shops, and got ready for a semi-submarine tour called the Nautilus. It was a yellow submarine. Like The Beatles song.

We all live in a yellow submarine. Yellow Submarine. Yellow Submarine. We all live in a yellow submarine. Yellow Submarine. Yellow Submarine. 

The submarine was the coolest thing I have ever done. You could buy torpedo shots. And it shot out food to the fish. I felt like the fish knew that we were going to be feed because they would follow the submarine.

Here fishy fishy fishy

After a long day of walking around, enjoying the beautiful atmosphere, and relaxing. We ate dinner at Cantina Catalina a Mexican restaurant that looks out to the pier. Then headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we check out of the hotel and paid for a luggage service since our boat didn't leave  to Newport Beach until 4:30 P.M. and we didn't want to carry our luggage around all day.

We went on a tour that took you around the island and dropped you off at the casino. (It's not a gabbling casino just a building that is called the casino. It is a ballroom and an event center. It is now a museum and a theatre.)

Some of the views from our tour were so beautiful!

I was so fascinated by the tour and learning all of the history of Catalina. In 1919, William Wrigley (founder of Wrigley Bubble Gum) bought Catalina Island for 10 million. He also owned the Chicago Cubs which is why the Chicago Cubs used to hold there summer training in Catalina Island. The golf course is where the baseball field used to be.

During World War II Catalina Island was strictly a United State Military Base. The only people allow onto the island was military. The tour showed us a street of houses were the military base was. Some of the old world war II quanza huts were turned into houses.

I hope you enjoyed our trip as much as we did.