Catalina Island

Robert and I wanted to have a little romantic getaway on our Californian adventure. Halfway through our trip, we said goodbye goodbye to our gracious hosts and hello to Catalina Island, Hollywood's playground.

Catalina Island seemed like the perfect place. It was described as California's Capri, and you could walk to every attraction. Sadly, it also required a boat trip, and I am prone to super seasickness (and car sickness and plane sickness and... you get the picture). I braved it with a dosage of Dramamine, and I'm so glad I did!

It was really just so lovely. When we first got there, there were clouds on the hills (so gorgeous), and then it cleared, and we had sunny skies. Robert and I walked the streets (me in a drowsy haze at first), ate sushi, drank sake and beer, window shopped and took way too many pictures, none of which came out as pretty as I remember the place being. 

It was very old Hollywood. Marilyn Monroe used to live there, Natalie wood died there. Charlie Chaplin, Tony Curtis and others made it their getaway spot, and I don't blame them. There was a definite retro vibe that I didn't see anywhere else on my trip. I loved the bright blue changing rooms on the pier and the gorgeous '20s casino with its scandalous art-deco mermaids.

Below, I'm doing my best movie star pose. I was feeling quite fabulous and old Hollywood at the time.

Marilyn Monroe also did a few movie-star poses in Catalina, back when she was Norma Jean and married to a sailor. That cropped top/ high-waist look she's rocking is very on-trend today. Isn't she pretty?

I'm no Marilyn (Hell, even Marilyn wasn't really Marilyn), but it was fun to wear fantastic sunglasses and red lipstick while spending too much money on dinner as golf carts tooled by (people get around the island with golf carts, not cars).

Sadly, we were only there 30 hours. That's better than being there no hours at all!

The morning we left, a cruise ship docked, and the island became flooded with people. It's vibe changed immediately. It was less old Hollywood and more summertime fun. People were paddle boarding and going out in glass-bottomed boats and preparing to go scuba diving.

 I braved the boat again, and this time I saw dolphins! It was so exciting for me and so unexpected. All through my rough (yet wonderful) first year of teaching, I daydreamed about a summer vacation in California, and I tell you, it was the stuff that dreams are made of!