RJ in Monterey

This summer, we had some pretty lofty goals of seeing more of the California hotspots. In the three years we've been here, we've been to the Bay Area cities, up Mt. Diablo, Santa Cruz, LA twice (once exploring Hollywood and once exploring Santa Monica/Venice/Marina Del Rey/Downtown LA), Calaveras County (Gold Country), Sacramento, and Lake Tahoe (albeit briefly). This isn't bad for jumping right into new jobs our first year, having a newborn and a family wedding our first full summer here, and buying a house last summer. This summer was the first where we were sort of free to actually ENJOY living here. Of course this summer also involved a new position, pregnancy, and a trip across the country (because we can't travel at Christmas!), so really, it's always something!

Our trip to the Monterey Pennisula was the first of our summer travel destinations. We started our long weekend with a long car ride there. I think it was about 3.5 hours - although it should've been closer to 2.5 or 3 hours. But we had a potty training toddler who required us to pull over and let him use the potty on the side of the road several times. For those considering this - a potty that has the removable cup in it to dump the pee is desirable. I was able to pour all his pee into used spring water bottles and dump it into a toilet at our destination.

Anyway, by the time we arrived, it was lunch time. So, we stumbled upon the very yummy Paris Bakery Cafe, where we had some delectable sandwiches (for example, mine had melted brie in it!) and checked into the hotel to get RJ down for a nap. He slept in the big boy hotel bed for the first time!

After nap we left our room which RJ described as "open the door, see ocean", we rented a surrey and rode up and down the coastline bike path from Lover's Point, where we were staying, to Old Fisherman's Wharf and back. This was a great orientation to the area that we were going to explore more thoroughly over the next couple of days. RJ really enjoyed riding up front and telling mommy and daddy to "go faster". Also, these contraptions are not the easiest to maneuver or judge, but we managed not to get ourselves hit by a car while crossing streets or hit anyone else using the bike path.

After dinner in Pacific Grove, we were drawn to a jazz band playing outside of an art gallery and RJ couldn't resist dancing to the music, which everyone around enjoyed!

On our second day, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. RJ's favorites were the sharks (Galapagos and Hammerhead), Southern Sea Otters, and of course the African Blackfooted Penguins, who we got to watch during feeding time. Mostly he enjoyed the hands on exhibits that involved sticking his hands in the water. The tricky part was when he kept trying to put his hands in his mouth after touching the starfish in the petting tank or just after putting on the hand sanitizer. After the aquarium we strolled down Cannery Row and had some lunch.

After nap, we headed to the Dennis the Menace Playground, which is massive. There are slides built into hills, a suspension bridge, a train engine to climb on, a hedge maze, and several play structures. I think RJ would've been satisfied with only the train though, as we had to convince him that the playground was worth his attention. Once he saw it and went down a few slides, he was hooked though! It must be overwhelming for a toddler to have all that fun in one place!

Then on our last day, we decided that a whale watch would be really cool. Unfortunately, the Pacific Ocean is quite choppy and we were on a smaller boat than we had expected (a fishing tour boat really). RJ thought it was a blast, but I got seasick after walking to the bathroom to pee and Lance got seasick just from sitting on the boat. I probably would've been fine if I wouldn't have moved or gotten out of the breeze or been pregnant but the combination of morning sickness and being on a incessantly rocking and bobbing boat was (in retrospect) a recipe for disaster. Having NEVER gotten motion sickness of any kind in my life though, we really didn't expect me to have any problems. So, poor RJ had both his parents puking, but he was just happy to be on a boat. We did actually get a whale sighting, although this was limited to seeing the whale's dorsal fin occasionally.

After exploring Old Fisherman's Wharf and getting some food back in our bellies, we took the 17 mile drive tour through Pebble Beach on our way to the freeway. This was largely a tactic to get RJ to nap during his normal (1-3pm) time and still see a little more of Monterey, but instead we had a whining toddler in the car and the sights were not so spectacular. Lance and I both thought that the "Lone" Cypress was a joke. If you look at our pictures - you'll very clearly see that the tree immortalized as the symbol of Pebble Beach is not nearly as alone as you might expect. Yeah, it's out on that ledge, but its friends are just a few feet away on the same outcropping of rock. We were not impressed by its lone-ness!

Then about 5 minutes before getting on the freeway, and about an hour or so after his normal nap would've ended, THEN RJ fell asleep for the uneventful ride home.