Monterey

  We finally made it to Monterey and while there was still daylight, my dad took the kids to the very fun Dennis the Menace Park.  I guess the creator of Dennis the Menace designed this park.  It was a pretty nice park.  Mike, Ava, and I met up with them a short time later.  As we were walking toward the park I could see Hannah running across the suspension bridge in sheer delight!

 

  Calvin on the bumpy slide.  It looked fun so I had a try at it.  It was not fun.  So bumpy it hurt my bum!

 

 

As we walked back to the hotel, Calvin did a little performance for us!

  

  Monday morning we went for a run on the waterfront while Hannah and Calvin biked alongside us.  We saw a bunch of sea lions sunning themselves.

We ran out onto a pier and there were tons of jellyfish right there in the marina.

  As we walked a bit further, we realized the sea lions were sunbathing right on the rocks alongside the pier.  They were like 5 feet away from us!  The lady in the picture is part of the Coast Guard and taught us a few things about these large creatures.  This one above is a male.  The males begin to develop those crowns on their heads when they are young.  You can guesstimate how old they are by the size of their crown.

On the other side of the pier opposite the marina, the sea lions were even closer.  Hello!!

Who needs the aquarium when you can see them in the wild? :)  (We are saving the Monterey Aquarium for another trip.)

 

  We even got to see a man catch a fish.  There were a number of people fishing off of the pier.  They were trying to catch rock cod and ling cod, as well as another variety I can't remember.  This fisherman stepped over the gate to reel in this fish and a nearby sea lion apparently didn't like him getting so close.  The sea lion looked over at the man, barked at him, and then turned around to jump into the water.  It landed belly first onto a rock (ouch!) and then jumped in and swam under all of that kelp to get away.  It was quite a funny exchange.

 Looking out from the tip of the pier were more sea lions sunbathing.  It was an adventurous morning run!

 

After a swim in the pool and lunch, we hit the beach.

 

  Selfies on the beach.  We have selfies of us two from many places we've visited.  That would be a fun post in the future!

Husky pride!

  For dinner, my dad took us out to a local pizza joint.  Here are the boys fighting for the next bite of gelato.  It was quite the sight watching Joel shovel it into his mouth.

 

  There was a Hawaiian family sitting next to us with 7 kids.  I would guess ages 2-17.  We thought we had a lot of kids.  Wow.  They put us to shame.  :)  I was looking in the parking lot for the commuter van that they must drive, but they must have come in multiple cars.  That is going to be us when we visit Seattle for Christmas!

 

  The next morning after breakfast in downtown Monterey, we went to Fisherman's wharf.  In the hotel brochure, it mentioned they sold fish so I assumed a fish market similar to that of Pike Place.  I was wrong.  They sold fish, but there were also lots of candy shops, dinky souvenir shops, etc.  Tourism to the max.  Not my favorite place, however, there were lots of sightseeing cruises that spoke of spotting humpback whales.  Yeah, you know I love whales and I'm already planning a trip back to go on a whale watching tour.  I've only seen a humpback once (on our honeymoon) and it was pretty far off from where we were.

 

  Out on fisherman's wharf we were greeted yet again by, you guessed it, another sea lion.  Mike was so over them.  I clearly was not.  Hey there, little guy!

 

  After this we packed up, but before we headed home, we visited one more place.  To be showcased...tomorrow!!

 

Until next time, Monterey!!