Catalina Island

Tuesday morning we woke up in the port of Catalina Island.  We grabbed some breakfast, and Emily, Ben and I got in line to taxi to the island.  

It really was a beautiful island, a cute touristy place.  It was great weather so I ended up taking my sweater off and wrapped it around the strap of my purse.  At some point of our walk around the island, I realized I had lost my sweater!  So we retraced our steps and low and behold...

... we found it!

Because Spencer wasn't feeling well enough to come to the island, I tried to take as many pictures as I could so he would feel like he still got to experience it.  I took a picture of this little remote control boat someone was driving because let's face it - he's a total boy and loves this kind of stuff.

A lot of people on the island drive golf carts - so many people do that they even have specific parking for them.

At the end of the day Spencer and I were at the end of the boat and saw these seals swimming away from island.  When I took the picture I thought they were dolphins, but when I blew up the picture on our computer after the cruise, I realized they were seals.  Emily said she woke up to some seals that morning outside of their window.  I'm thinking they were the same ones we got a glimpse of that evening.

This building is an auditorium of some sort (and is/was a casino) but also has a museum about Marilyn Monroe.  Apparently she lived there on the island before she became famous.  In fact, they say that is where she realized she may have a career in the entertainment industry.  During World War II they closed the island to tourists and used it as a military base.  They say that Marilyn noticed the attention that she got from the military men just walking down the streets of Catalina Island.  That attention made her believe that she could also be famous outside of the island.

We spent a few hours walking around the island, bought a few snacks, and then headed back to the ship.