December 28, 2008

It’s Sunday morning and a beautiful sunny day. We got up late considering the other times we have been getting up on this trip. Our whale watch trip began at 10 so we got up around 8 and ate breakfast taking out time and enjoying the morning. Scott and I took 1 pill each of Dramamine and gave the kids a half pill each around 9 to prevent any sea sickness. We hung out on the pier until it was time to board. Although the morning was sunny, there was a little breeze and we had our heavy jackets for the cold. Once the boat started and we were off to the deep sea, the kids were very excited and stood at the rails with the wind in their faces waiting to see something. We passed the coast guard jetty and saw the sea lions sunning themselves and listened to all of their barking. About 45 minutes from the dock, a whale had been spotted by another boat and we moved into position to follow it. The kids were beginning to get cold so Scott took them into the cabin and they watched out the windows. We watched as over and over again that same whale came up for air. We probably stayed with that one for about an hour. It was really cool to watch and it was really close to our boat. The captain decided to leave this spot and head to another spot to see if we could find anything else. Along the way, there was a pod of Risso’s dolphins that we watched jumping in the water. By this time, Luke had apparently been affected by the Dramamine and was fast asleep in the cabin of the boat. After watching the dolphins, a fishing boat had told our captain that they were catching a ton of jumbo squid so we went over to take a look. Lorelei and I watched as they brought 2 squid up onto their boat. We returned to port after about 3 hours. The company that we used was great and they had a marine biologist on board who would come around and answer any questions you had which was really cool.
It was about 1:30 when we got back and despite snacks on the boat, the kids were starving. We drove over to the Aquarium and ate lunch at their food court. I would definitely recommend doing the aquarium in the morning and the whale watching in the afternoon because the boat ride was cold and the aquarium was CROWDED. We made our way around the aquarium which was definitely one of the best ones we have been to. I would say that our favorite exhibit was the one where you get to touch the different sea creatures. On the east coast, these are always filled with horse shoe crabs, a few very small starfish and a few other things. This one had Abalone, which had just been on the Dirty Jobs episode we watched on the plane (we love that show!). It also had 2 types of starfish, a decorator crab, sea kelp and a few other things that I have never seen before. Luke had a great time touching those things. We left the aquarium about 4:30 which was too early for dinner but too late to do anything of significance. The guidebooks had all said that Pacific Grove which is right next to Monterey has a great park where lots of butterflies come. We went over to the park but didn’t see any. And they call it Butterfly Town, USA! We still had some time so we drove down to Asilomar State Beach. We parked on Sunset Rd. and went down to check out the rocks and sand. The cove where we parked had a lot of craggy rocks which Scott and Lorelei had a great time climbing. Luke looked along the beach for rocks and shells to take as souvenirs and I took the last of the pictures before my camera battery died. We watched the sun set over the ocean which was really beautiful and then headed back to the car for dinner.
We drove the short distance to the town of Carmel-By-the-Sea where Clint Eastwood has an Inn and Restaurant. Our goal was the Mission Ranch Restaurant. We arrived about 5:30 and were told there was a 30 minute wait for indoor tables but if we preferred to sit under the outdoor heaters we could be seated right away on the patio. We took the patio seating because we were hungry. It wasn’t too bad outside and there was a great view of the last of the fading light of the sun at the horizon. I had the best meal I have had since we have been here. Free range half a roast chicken, mashed potatoes and buttery steamed broccoli. The heaters were ok and if the kids had on their heavy coats instead of hoodies and the breeze had not picked up during dinner, they would have been very toasty. We had noticed as we entered the town that there were no streetlights. From the patio of the restaurant, we could understand why. Just looking up at the sky, there were so many stars. Orion’s belt was low in the sky and you could see it and all of the other stars around it so clearly. We left dinner and went back to the hotel for the night. It had been an exciting day and we were tired.