BALBOA ISLAND

Living in So. Cal, we have so many wonderful places near by.  Places that people dream about going to on vacation.  Many people spend a ton of money come enjoy the near by beaches, attractions, restaurants and other tourist spots.

Today, I thought I would go and enjoy the day at one of those locations.  Balboa Island. 

There is a lot to see and do there.  Today, I went to go check out the cute shops and to enjoy a nice lunch.

Come along with me and I'll share with you a tiny bit of what I saw.

As I drove onto the island I crossed over on the bridge which is near Coast Hwy.

The actual street name is Marine Ave.   It was really cute as it was decorated for their upcoming 4th of July celebration.

What you can't see in this photo is beyond the walls are tons of beautiful boats docked.  There was to much traffic and no where to park or I would have snapped a photo to show you.

It was a perfect day out.  Clear blue sky, warm but not hot.  I couldn't have asked for a nicer day, weather wise to go.

Along Marine Ave is where you will find all the cute shops and restaurants.  It can be hard to find parking here.  I was super lucky and found a space right away.

When I first got there, the streets were not that crowded.  It was a great time to go shopping since the shops are pretty small and if there are to many people there, it's hard to actually get around to see everything.

This frozen banana shop has been around since 1945.  After 68 years, I would say they must be pretty darn good.  However, I was saving my appetite for lunch later in the day, so I didn't try them out.

I really felt like I was on vacation as I strolled into the shops. 

You could find almost anything you were looking for and tons of things you never even knew you wanted.  Like these pretty colorful rugs. 

Or, beautiful silk scarfs.

Of course, being in a beach town, there were tons of beach themed items. 

I loved these!  They are napkin weights.  You know, if you are eating outside and have napkins for people to use.  Put one of these on the stack of napkins and they won't blow away. 

They had tons of themes to pick from.

You could even buy napkins to match and a napkin holder to put them in.  So cute!

I think this would also make a cute gift.  Darn!  I should have bought a few for Christmas gifts.  Oh well, thankfully, I live near by and can always go back.

I love this sign.  It would be pretty easy to make yourself for not much money at all.  Or you could spend big bucks and buy it there.

I loved all the colors everywhere.  I really wanted to buy the straw bag but I was good and held onto my money.

I've seen this type of Italian pottery plates before.  They always cost a lot of money so I was really surprised at the low cost of these. 

I picked one up to see if they were fake or something and that is when I noticed they were not pottery at all.  They were Melamine.  You know those plates that you can toss to the ground and they won't break.

Wow!  They sure have come a long way with Melamine.  I remember growing up and we had a set but they looked like plastic from a mile away.  Not these!

These would be great to use outside or even to take on a picnic.  Hmmm, I think they would be another great gift.  What do you think?

There was the expected shell shop.  Doesn't ever beach town have at least one of these?

A wonderful candy shop!  They had every type of candy you could think of.  They had retro candy, sour candy, taffy, chocolate...you name it. 

I think this shop was the most crowded of all the shops I went in.

I think my favorite shop of the day was the one that had this bright purple wall full of these cute, silly, crazy clocks.  I couldn't help but smile as I looked at all of them.

But, like most of the items in the shops, they were pretty expensive.  At least for my budget.

Though not everything was expensive in the shops.  I came across a few shops like this one that had all the clothes on sale for only $15.00 or less.  They had some pretty cute things too. 

Even though I didn't buy anything, all the shopping/walking made me pretty hungry. 

I read about this place called Wilma's Patio.  The review said the food there was wonderful.  When I came across this restaurant,  I knew right away where I was having lunch.

It was really good too!  I want to go back for breakfast one day soon though.  I ordered a taco salad and they had the best salsa I've ever had.  But, when I saw the breakfast that most people were ordering (even though it was around 2:30pm) I knew they must be famous for their breakfast.  Everything look so good!

After eating, I was walking back to my car so I could go home and I noticed the police on Balboa Island gets around on bikes.  I'm sure with all the traffic and one way streets it's much quicker for them to get around that way.  How cute!

I plan on going back and will be hitting up a whole different area of the island.  I'll post about those trips when I go.

If you ever get a chance to come to Orange County CA,  I hope you will take a few hours or even a few days and visit Balboa Island.  It's a charming place to go to.