Our Monterey Beach Vacation

With all the snow, Jason's lasik surgery and all of us having the flu recently, we decided before Jason starts his new job, we'd better get out of a ground-floor room with a town for a little bit while we still could. I had a 4-day weekend due to President's Day and the weather was forecast to be awesome, so we decided to hit the beach for a few days! Since we got there early to check in, we got a ground-floor room that opened directly to the ocean. It was sunny, clear and around 65 wiht no wind, perfect! After settling into our room, we headed to the beach for a few hours of fun. Owen loved running wild in the and after all those hours in the car. James got knocked over by the surf right away and was scared to death that he & Owen was going to be "taken out to the sea." For the rest of the trip he stayed way up on the beach, far from the waves.

We bought tickets from our hotel that were 2-days-for-1 for the Aquarium, which was awesome! We got to the Aquarium as soon as it opened both days and left right when it started getting packed. No lines for us and we had the whole place to ourselves for a few hours both days. My favorite exhibit was the Jellies, James and Jason loved the big tank with the 400-lb. tuna, hammerheads, and dolphin fish. Owen liked the touch pools where he could get his hands on the starfish and splash around.

After leaving the aquarium both days we took our bikes and bike trailer, which we'd packed for the trip, and had a wonderful ride along the coast up to Lover's Point. The weather was unbelieveable and we stopped several times along the bike path to watch the seals sunning on the beach and feed the geese on the sidewalks. At Lover's Point there is a great grassy picnic area where we bar-b-qued hot dogs and James and I sat on the rocks and looked for whales. We didn't see any, but watching the brave surfers sure was fun!

We did the 17 mile drive while the boys napped and spent a lot of time on the beach at our hotel. It was such a wonderful and much needed getaway for us! Monterey is a place we both love, it was a great place to take our kids, and I'm sure we'll go again. We love that place!

Can't beat that view... Looking from Lover's Point toward Cannery Row.
Here's where we ate breakfast- on a little patio right in front of our room. We had a mini-fridge, so we were able to bring simple breakfast & lunch stuff.
Playing on the beach in front of our hotel was the best! So closer to our room, and prefect weather!

Splashing around at the touch pools at the aquarium was a favorite for both boys, although James didn't want to touch the starfish...



On our bike ride, we ended up at Lover's point.

Jellies, jellies, jellies! These displays were so awesome!