Spending the Day in Monterey

Yesterday, as we walked through the massive Monterey Bay Aquarium, I kept thinking to myself, "I wish we had come here when my sons were younger." We've been to several aquariums and this one is definitely the most expensive and the most designed for kids. In some ways it was a hybrid of a children's museum and an aquarium. Every exhibit had a ton of hands on activities for young ones to learn about the ocean and it's inhabitants. There were many touch pools and an assortment of crawling, climbing, and exploring equipment everywhere you walked. It was a child's sensory paradise.

My favorite exhibit was the Seahorse Exhibit. It was fascinating. I already knew some of the unusual facts about seahorses like how the males are the ones who get pregnant and carry the eggs around in a little pouch. But I was totally impressed with the beauty and mystery of these intriguing animals. There were so many types and sizes, and I loved watching them swim around almost like they were floating on air. They would wrap their tails around coral just like a monkey uses his tail to hold onto a tree. I think the most amazing thing was watching a video of the mating dance of a female and male seahorse. They were so graceful as they danced in unison, twirling around each other and nodding their heads to each other. Everyone who walked through would stop and just stare at this video. It was really enchanting.

We also saw many other things...translucent jellyfish, a kelp forest, sharks, sea turtles, sea birds, and more! One thing the aquarium did that was very effective was the choice of music in each exhibit. It really set the mood and enriched the experience overall.


After our visit to the aquarium, we decided to eat dinner in Cannery Row. David is a big fan of the movie Forrest Gump, so we decided to try Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company. Of course no one (except Zach) in our family even likes seafood, but it was a fun experience and I'm sure the waiter wondered what was wrong with us when three of the four of us ordered something other than shrimp. The food was very good (even the non-fish stuff). Zach really like his crab stuffed shrimp and even got Joe to try some of it. The waiter quizzed David on trivia facts about the movie and the atmosphere overall was a lot of fun.

We still had about two hours of driving until we reached our hotel, so we said farewell to Monterey and headed north. We ended the night watching Forrest Gump. It just happened to be on T.V.


Our one unexpected event so far is that my little red car is having some trouble on this trip. So this morning we are dropping it off at the mechanic and exploring the city. As Forrest's mama would say, "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."


Hopefully, all will be well with the car and we'll be able to flex with our change of plans. It's time to hit the streets of San Francisco!