Weekend Recap: Monterey

I decided that for my birthday I wanted to to go on a little trip--which I'm trying to make a tradition. Last year I went to Alaska, another year I went to Seattle, and I've been to San Francisco to see Wicked (AMAZING!) too.

So since Monica has been staying with her sister, Kiona, in Monterey (that is where Kiona's husband, Adam, is stationed right now), I thought I would go visit!!

My honest opinion about the trip?

P.E.R.F.E.C.T.I.O.N.!!

So Thursday I left early from work and finally left Rocklin at 3pm (my goal was 2pm). And then hit traffic almost immediately in Sacramento. I finally got to Kiona's house in Seaside about 7pm. The drive was beautiful and uneventful once I got out of traffic. (Note to self: Don't take I-99 South...Ever.) Once I got about an hour away, I kept expecting to the the ocean after I got to the top of every hill, but I was disappointed. Finally I came into Marina & Seaside and there were sand dunes everywhere, but no ocean. Then there it was. I caught a glimpse in between dunes. But normal weather down there consists of fog, clouds, and cold, so it wasn't super fabulous looking. But that is okay. I was expecting that, so it was fine with me. Which is a good thing, because, let's be honest, there is nothing I can do to change the weather. :)

Friday consisted of Monica and I hanging around Monterey. Monica had found someone that was willing to loan us passes to the Aquarium and so we got in for free. Yippie!!! Which turned out to be a very good thing because when we eventually got back to the car, I had a parking ticket that was the same cost as the aquarium ticket. (Apparently they don't like it for you to try to get around paying for parking. We parked in a shopping center and walked to Cannery Row to avoid paying for it. So now I have to pay 5 times as much as I would have paid if I had parked in the paid parking.)

Okay, so enough jibber-jabber. Here are some of my favorite pics of the aquarium. (As a side note, between Monica and I, we took about 300 pictures on my phone this weekend. I'll highlight my favorites.) We got to the aquarium a little before it opened so we walked around Cannery Row for about 45 minutes. The history was very interesting and I loved the feel of it.

 From the pier the Aquarium is on.

Cannery Row.

Fortunately we didn't have to pay for the aquarium (Monica got guest passes from a neighbor) and so we walked right in. It was amazing. There weren't too many people there, so we were able to walk through the entire aquarium in about three hours. And I didn't feel rushed at all. Here are some pics. Some of these have been retouched, but most haven't. The colors of the fish are accurate. Pretty amazing, eh?

 Feeding the fishies in the Kelp tank.

NEMO! As soon as I saw this tank with the Finding Nemo fish in it, I said, "Nemo!" a little too loud. I think I embarrassed Monica. Ha ha ha. It was cute then that night I was showing Monica's nieces the pictures and we came to this one and they said, "Nemo!!" in unison. Monica and both started laughing.

I have TONS of other pictures from the aquarium, but I'll spare you. :) After the aquarium, Monica REALLY, really wanted Clam Chowder from the Wharf, so we headed over there for lunch. There were lots of little restaurants offering samples and we picked our favorite (who was also giving out free calamari appetizers! yummy!) and ate. SO AMAZING! Even days later, I am still dreaming of that clam chowder and right now I am salivating thinking about it. I wish I knew which restaurant it was so I could give them a shout out, but I know they have a sister restaurants on Cannery Row.

Monica was talking, not reacting to the little octopus I was about to put in my mouth. I just really like this picture. :)

Our Clam Chowder. The stuff dreams literally are made of.

Since not much could top our late lunch, we headed back to Kiona's house to help with a dinner party Kiona was throwing for some friends of theirs that were moving.

I'll post some more pictures of our mini roadtrip through Carmel tomorrow.