My wonderful girlfriend surprised me with a planned weekend to Catalina Island for my 40th birthday! How awesome is that? I had never been there, I love taking trips, and I also heard there is nothing to do on the island except fuck, drink, and sleep. Sign me up!
The first part of our journey began in Long Beach at the pier. I thought we were taking the ferry to the Island, which takes about an hour. But no sir! Lexi purchased a helicopter ride for us! I have never been on a helicopter either! Sweet!
The helicopter was about as roomy as a car, and we had an older woman that obviously lived on Catalina Island on the flight with us.
It was slightly scary getting into the helicopter, but once we were inside, it was relatively smooth.
The flight only took 15 minutes and it was really cool watching land disappear, to just be flying into the open ocean, and then see the island slowly appear until the harbor came into focus.
I highly recommend the helicopter ride, its expensive but worth it.
We walked less than a mile from the landing pad to our hotel on the main stretch of road facing the harbor itself. Lexi had booked our room....and of course it had 2 beds in case I got into trouble. hahaha
We just relaxed for the rest of the day before heading out for a nice meal.
Steve's Steakhouse had excellent food and the eclectic waitstaff was humorous as well.
Do you like the triangle plates? I loved them.
Afterward we walked along the water and just talked, and laughed, and reflected, and enjoyed each other's company. It was pure bliss.
The next morning we woke up bright and early and stopped into the Pancake Cottage which has been around for a long, long time. The owner is a very old lady now, that still works every day even though her employees tell her to rest. I like her spirit.
After breakfast, we rented a golf cart for 6 bucks and took it on the tour of the island. It was a blast to be honest. Lexi tried to drive, but she was not very good at it so she got fired.
Avalon is the city in Catalina. Some of the houses are old airplane hangar looking places.
On the plus side I could still shoot some hoops!
As we traveled up the hill to the top of the island, the views were AMAZING.
We passed a creepy Pet Cemetary. yikes!
There were some places that were off limits...
We passed some zipliners
Drove by the casino (not a gambling one, but the old center of the city with a theater and cool art deco all over it.
This is the house Lexi would live in. lol
We finished our tour and grabbed some lunch. Then it was out to the pier and a trip on the glass bottom boat.
Once again, it was sparsely attended and so we had almost the entire boat to ourselves.
It was a cool tour, we saw lots of fish that the boat captain fed like crazy.
Then we played some video games which Lexi beat me soundly at repeatedly.
We stopped into Big Olaf's for a shit-ton of ice cream.
Our hotel had a wine & cheese happy hour and I cleaned the damn thing out all by myself.
After dinner that night, Lexi demanded we buy some saltwater taffy, which we ate while wandering around the harbor again just enjoying each other's company (we do this alot).
The next morning we headed back to civilization, this time on the ferry.
What a magical weekend with a magical woman. I love Lexi Sindel with all my heart and I am lucky to have her in my life.
