travel log: much love from Catalina Island

this weekend we experienced the magic of catalina island.

literally, right in our backyard, you would feel as though you are in another country. 

and that may not be far off, as during hollywood's golden age, catalina became the backdrops for landscapes across the world (ie: greece, north africa, the wild west). 

kevin and i decided when we were dating, that we didn't need any more stuff for our birthdays. 

we traded in our gift wrap for weekend get-a-ways, quality time over objects to be stashed. 

in january i found a groupon for a quaint historic hotel in downtwon Avalon (the main city on the island) and a groupon for parasailing. 

you can see i'm really into buying groupons, haha! 

so for his 28th birthday, i surprised kevin with a little jaunt across the pacific. 

with a mystic fog, we sailed in. 

we ate ice cream. 

we frequented Lloyds candy shop for fresh salt water taffy more than we frequented our hotel room. 

we read. 

we ran into some friend (like literally walked through their wedding reception without even knowing it!) that was a laugh.

we drove a golf cart around the island like the locals. 

we sang karaoke. 

we ate a picnic lunch.

and laughed till our bellies hurt.  

notice the ice cream trend? at one point kev told me he didn't want to be the "fat kid" and get a second ice cream of the day. i told him it was his birthday weekend and he was the king. he didn't need anymore convincing. (and like seriously, that boy doesn't gain anything but muscle so Big Olaf's got nothin' on him! i kind of just wanted to use big olaf's in a sentence, cause that is the MOST hilarious name for an ice creams shop. ) 

aaaannnndddd....

we also went parasailing. 

highlight. yes. it. was. 

soaring with my baby in the air. 

just doing my civic duty as an old IC roadie...cover the night catalina island!! 

goodbye island life. 

sooo moral of this weekend is....

 if you are craving the greek isles or italian coast, and don't have the bucks to get there, I would wonderfully recommend this sweet lovely place. very romantic and idyllic indeed. just...watch for groupons baby!!! 

hope you all had a wonderful weekend! 

love Katie