Monterey Bay Aquarium

In my continuing write up of our trip to California in December, here is what I wrote about the day we drove to the coast and the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

The day we went to the aquarium, I wasn't feeling super great, so I didn't sleep very much the night before.  I think I got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep since we had to wake up early to head out.  Part of me didn't want to go, but I'm glad we went even though it wasn't as enjoyable as it would have been at optimal health.  It's about a 3 hour drive, and we got on the road about 7 AM which put us at the aquarium at about 10.  I'm glad we left early, because there were only 2 or 3 parking spots left and we nabbed one of them.

The aquarium was super cool.  I think my favorite was probably the octopus.  Usually, octopus just seemed to sit there huddled up in a ball.  This one was moving around.  The coolest part was that the octopus was orange and then it went and sat on a rock and turned grey.  Sooo cool!

Here are some of our pictures from the day.

I had to get some shots in front of the ocean.

There was a section about tentacles.  They even had a copy of Call of Cthulhu on display.  I thought this picture was funny.

This is the octopus that changed to grey.  I didn't get a picture of that, though.

Robyn taking a selfie underneath the tide pool.

I took a picture of Robyn taking a selfie underneath the tide pool.  That's how we roll.

 We ate lunch at the aquarium.  I had a delicious clam chowder in a bread bowl.  After we were done, we went walking around downtown Monterrey.  I saw this pirate, and needed a picture with it.  Robyn was super embarrassed to be taking my picture.

 We didn't spend a ton of time in the downtown area.  We quickly decided it was time to drive home.  But I wanted to dip my feet in the ocean, so I made Robyn stop at the first beach that was on the way.

I thought it was cool to see all these birds at the beach.  That was unusual for me.  Apparently it's not abnormal in the norther part of California.

I had to dip my feet in the water, even though it was 45 degrees.

Looking out at the ocean.  (Not really, I think I was taking pictures of my feet.)

Standing in front of the ocean.

Selfies are essential.

I had to take a selfie to send to Mellen to let her know I made it to the beach.

She sent me one back.  So it was like we were at the beach together even though we were several hundred miles apart.

We only spent maybe 10 minutes at the beach.  We got back in the car and headed home.  I was so tired that I just went to sleep in the passenger seat.  I told Robyn I might need a milk shake before we get home.  In my head, I was thinking that Los Banos would be a good place to stop since it's about half way.

I went to sleep and woke up in Los Banos.  I asked Robyn where we were and when she said Los Banos I yelled, "That's where we're supposed to get a milk shake!".  I hadn't told her that was my plan, so apparently I sounded a little crazy waking up and yelling about milk shakes.  But she loves me, so she bought me a milk shake despite my craziness.

We made it home just in time for dinner.  (They had ordered pizza.)  It was a good end to a good day.