Another year has passed and it was time to reunite with my favorite buddies! This year, it was kind of my turn, so we decided on a weekend on Catalina Island.
Thursday, March 12th, I picked up Shauna from the San Diego airport. Our first stop was an In n Out and then a little shopping trip in Huntington Beach. Then we checked into our (ghetto) hotel in Long Beach. We relaxed a bit and then headed to the Long Beach airport to pick up Tash and Jenn. The band was back together!!!
Shauna wanted to introduce us to one of her favorite restaurants in Huntington Beach for dinner-
The Harbor House!
Friday-
After a good night's rest and a quick breakfast at the hotel, we caught our shuttle to the Ferry Landing. It was a hot and beautiful day! We got our seats on the Catalina Express and we were on our way-
So long Long Beach!
Catalina Baby!!!
This weekend was seriously the hottest weekend on record for this time of year. It could not be more perfect for my friends visiting from cold places.
Isn't it beautiful???
We grabbed our bags and walked the short distance to our beach front hotel-
This place was fabulous! I highly recommend it!
We checked in and stowed our bags and set out to find lunch. We ate a delicious mexican meal...can't remember the name...but... The fresh lemonade was yummy! I loved my shrimp tacos too!
Then it was time for our first adventure...ZIP LINE!!! OMGosh! We had the best time! The runs were fun and the views were incredible. Plus, our guides, Jake and Nick were hilarious! Do this when you visit Catalina. You will NOT be disappointed.
To cool ourselves off after our Zip Line Tour, we visited the Big Olaf for some ice cream...
Next on the list, massages and facials for these 3...and laying out by the pool for me. Don't they look relaxed?
Unfortunately, my head started to hurt while laying by the pool. Luckily, I brought my meds and halfway through our dinner at El Gallejon, I started to feel better. But we were BEAT from our day. We went back to our lovely room and just relaxed and watched tv and played on our electronic devices. It was a good day!
Saturday-
We slept in! For Reals! Like until 9:00 AM! It was divine! We started our morning with a yummy breakfast at Jack's. Then we headed to the Casino for a tour. This place is amazing. I wish I had been able to visit it back in the day. So much history here!
The view from the top balcony-
The Grand Ballroom (World's Largest Circular Ballroom)-
The original movie cameras from black & white to talky to movies they show today-
The Wrigley Family's Private Screening Room-
Sitting in the fancy section of the theater-
The theater...
The Lobby-
The Front Entrance...
We loved our Casino tour! We did some shopping on the way back to the hotel and got some snacks too. We had some time to kill before our next adventure so we took naps! Yay!
At 3:45 we met our driver for a East End/Back Country Hummer tour of the island!
Here we go-
We were on top of the world (Island)!
This is also an awesome tour. You see so many places and learn so much about the whole island on this tour. And our driver was so fun!
That night, our last night, we decided to have a fancy dinner at Steve's. The food was amazing and our server was great! We shopped a little more that night and walk around and watched all the drunk people. Then we got all comfy in our room again and rested up from our busy day.
Sunday-
Our hotel offered a free continental breakfast, so we took advantage of it on our last morning. It was great! Our hotel was the best! We packed up and had our hotel hold our bags until our 1:00 ferry departure.
We had a couple of hours to kill, and had pretty much seen, done and shopped all we wanted. So we decided on one last adventure....RENT A GOLF CART!
We hadn't really seen Avalon up close and we loved seeing the Wrigley House up close...
more views of the harbor...
We drove up and down all the streets and saw all the cute houses and even caught a glimpse of the Wrigley Memorial at the Botanical Gardens. Shauna and I were a little scared, because we were in the back of the cart. But Jenn and Tash were excellent co-pilots and got us safely back.
12:30 came and it was time to head to the Ferry Landing. This is how we felt about it...
It was such a fun weekend! I have so much fun with these girls and get so sad when we have to leave each other every year. When we landed in Long Beach, we shuttled back to the hotel to get my car. We grabbed a quick lunch at Cafe Rio and then dropped Jenn off at the airport. 1 down...
Then we took Tash to a movie theater and dropped her off (she was meeting a friend and flying home the next day). 2 down...
I brought Shauna home with me. I got to have a bonus (1/2) day with her on Monday, before dropping her off at the airport.
We had the best time, but it was so great to be home with my family again. We really missed each other!
I love my friends and the memories we make every year. Can't wait for 2016!
