Catalina Island Getaway

After skiing Tahoe in January 1980, we didn't take another vacation until July of 1982. Hubby spent the rest of 1980 going through the Academy. We bought our first home that year too. Then, in September of 1981, our daughter was born. She was 10 months old in July of 1982. We decided to treat ourselves to our first weekend away. We made it a long weekend and spent 3 nights on Catalina Island.

I can't seem to find a single picture of that weekend. Which is odd, because all of my pictures are in albums and I know we had to have taken a camera with us. I did find this picture of my daughter sitting in the suitcase, clearly wanting to join us.



We drove from San Diego to New Port Beach to catch the boat that takes you to the Island. Once we arrived at Catalina, it was a short walk to our hotel. I don't remember much about the hotel, especially with no pictures to jump-start my memory. I do remember that it didn't have a traditional hotel type door. It had a sliding glass door. That and the only window was a tiny little one in the bathroom making it hard to get any air into the room at night. We weren't about to sleep with a open sliding glass door. There wasn't an air conditioner, so I remember it being a little warm at night.

Part of our package included tours of the Opera House and the Wrigley mansion. Also a glass bottom boat trip and a trip to the interior of the Island. I remember seeing a lot of Garabaldi fish on the boat tour. That is the State Fish and they are a very pretty bright orange. I remember the trip to the interior of the Island being very warm, dirty and dusty. They have wild bison or buffalo or whatever. Some kind of a rather ugly, dirty animal.

We spent a lot of time relaxing on the beach. Most likely reintroducing ourselves to each other after 10 months of our lives being run by a pint-size cruise director. We ate way too much and I'm sure the weekend was over before we knew it. I also know, in my mother's heart, that we couldn't wait to get back home to our sweet little girl.

Total for the entire trip: $385.00

Coming up: March 1983, Mammoth Ski Vacation

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I'm going to be taking time off from introducing you to all of our travels. Tomorrow morning my daughter and grandson arrive for 11 days. My son-in-law gets here next Monday. We are going to be busy going to the beach, Disneyland, Sea World, The Wild Animal Park, the pool and celebrating a 2nd birthday. I'll try to post if I have time, but I'm going to be busy getting my family fix. Keep safe and I'll see you soon.