Monterey Bay Get-away

The kiddos had a Mon. off of school so we decided to have a "last hurrah" before Lloyd's surgery. So we headed off to the coast! A quick trip through San Fran helped ease my concerns about finding the hospital, and then we took Hwy 1 south, noshed on some "Pizza My Heart" pies, and found ourselves a hotel in Monterey. Day Two was a wonderful day at the aquarium, a ride in a surrey cycle (Drew refuses to let me call it a bicycle, since it has more than two wheels), a stop at Dennis the Menace park, and dinner at El Torito on the bay. AMAZING!

Just entering a hotel room is vacation for the kiddos! We always start an aquarium visit at the sea otters.

A highlight for me on this trip was the amount of wildlife we saw just standing on the deck of the aquarium. This sea lion was lounging around right below us, even though I'd just spent 20 min. squinting through a scope trying to catch sight of his brethen out in the bay.

Drew mans the binoculars while Dad scans the bay.

Hanging at the aquarium.

Our (Lloyd & my) absolute favorite exhibit is the "Open Sea" tank - Pacific Sunfish, hammerhead & white sharks, schools of sardines, Mahi Mahi (dolphinfish), bluefin tuna and more glide around in a soothing, dimly-lit display. We actually made it just in time for feeding, which was an educational and thrilling experience.

After a few hours at the aquarium, we were ready to enjoy the beautiful day outside. We rented this surrey and had a great time cruising by the bay.

Taking a break:

Dipping our toes in the bay:

Sandy toes:

At this point, Lloyd and I were so glad that the rental agent encouraged us to go with the smaller surrey - since the kids feet probably wouldn't have reach the pedals we would have had an additional 250 lbs. to carry with the bigger one. This one was enough:-)

We stopped to grab a shot of this sea otter frolicking in the bay. Not a great shot but we saw some amazing moments with this creatures out in the wild. Who needs an aquarium admission;-):

After our ride, we let the kids expend some energy at the Dennis the Menace park, while Lloyd napped in the shade.