Commentary: Catalina Island is still waiting for me

I’ve visited Catalina Island maybe a dozen times, once staying overnight with my parents when I was about 10.

After we moved here from Kansas in 1945, my mom made sure our family saw all the wondrous attractions of Greater Los Angeles.

Though I grew up near Wilshire and LaBrea, we’d lived for a while at B102 in Surfside, so when I say we saw everything from the orange groves to the Planetarium, and from Olvera Street to Ocean Park, you’d get the idea. Such fond memories.

I introduced our big family to our “big neighborhood,” including vacationing with all of us and our in-laws on Balboa Island, which is when I decided I wanted to live down here.

When I got the urge to take my girls on a getaway, I first considered Hawaii, but Britt (my “daughter-in-love”) wasn’t able to handle the four long flights from JFK and back.

So we locals decided to fly to New York, and we could all cruise to Canada. We could tour Manhattan! See shows! Shop on 5th Avenue! And on the way home, we could visit granddaughter Sally in Charleston!

The more elaborate the plans got, the less enthusiasm my local daughters had for the trip. Cheryl would have to board her menagerie longer, and Jan would miss work, and, and, and. Eventually, Britt felt up to traveling here.

But what fun is it to be where we’ve all lived?

Our friend Brian suggested Catalina.

“I’ve never been to Catalina!” said Jan.

“You’ve never been to Catalina?” I’d slipped up on that.

“I haven’t been to Catalina in years!” said Cheryl.

“Anything’s fine with me,” said Britt.

Brian assured me there was enough to do on Catalina to keep us busy for days, and the game was afoot.

Lee and I had connected with Renee [Ree-nee] 30 years ago when she helped us plan our first cruise. Since then she’s secured flights and accommodations for the whole family. Renee’s planned more trips that I’ve had to cancel than most travel agents plan for most families.

When I presented her with needing a place for the four of us on Catalina, she was up for the challenge.

“The girls all need their own rooms,” I told her. “Is that doable?”

“It’s postseason. Let me check out a few things and get back to you,” Renee said.

My favorite option was a four-bedroom apartment in Grisham House, directly across the bay from the Catalina Casino and steps from the sand (what little of it there is).

Our downstairs’ neighbors were a jet-ski rental, a T-shirt shop and a psychic. We got excited about the psychic, but she’d taken her crystal ball and gone home for the winter.

I’d packed books, a cribbage board, playing cards, rummy cubes, a jigsaw puzzle, and coloring books and colored pencils, brush markers, and felt-tips.

My luggage weighed a ton, and all I’d brought were two extra sweatshirts and another pair of jeans. Oh! And four matching sweatshirts I’d had made for us, which said “Catalina Island 2016” on the front beneath four seashells.

We loved our apartment! But we barely more than slept there. We were exhausted at the end of each day and just chatted and colored as we recovered from the fun activities between breakfast and dinner.

We shopped galore. I didn’t recall so many delightful shops! When my parents took me, Catalina was known for straw hats and hula skirts, the salt water taffy puller and T-shirts, but the souvenirs we found on this trip were beautiful and unique.

Wind chimes for Britt. A decorative tile for Jan. A fringed purse for Cheryl. Art glass for me. Oh, and for others, a toy stuffed squid, a velvet witch’s hat, and a Cubs cap.

Avalon was a-wave with Cubs flags during the World Series because Wrigley’s teams once trained there.

Speaking of Wrigley, we went to the mansion for lunch and a tour. It’s extraordinary, and the view of the harbor is spectacular.

We also went on a complete tour of the casino and a night-time ghost tour.

The best tour was the “Taste of Catalina,” tastings at six different restaurants, alternating savories and sweets, with alcoholic beverages for those who indulge.

Or maybe my favorite thing was renting the golf cart and toodling all over the island for three hours.

No. The best thing was making memories with my daughters that might someday turn out to be adventures for them and their daughters.

Author LIZ SWIERTZ NEWMAN lives in Corona del Mar.