Spring Break in Monterey

Last week during Spring break, we took a short roadtrip with my sisters and Mom to the beautiful coastal ranges of Monterey. The first time Katie visited Monterey was when she was 6 months old inside of me. This time, she was able to take it all in herself.

Powdering up for the outing with Auntie Annie.

We headed out on Wednesday stopping by in San Jose for lunch and eventually arriving under cloudy skies in Monterey. We checked into our hotel rooms and darted off to Pacific Grove to begin the 17 mile drive, a stretch of highway unlike any other along the chilly California coast with breathtaking views of relentless waves crashing onto the well manicured rocky shores lined with million dollar estates and renowned golf courses such as The Pebble Beach. One day, I will watch a PGA tournament here…one day :o)

The girls in the family minus Linda.

Towards the end of the drive is a turnoff to a charming neighboring community called Carmel by the Sea. For the most part, tourists enjoy walks along the main street, Ocean Avenue for a majority of their shopping needs. The town boasts cute little specialty shops housed in fairytale looking cottages whereas more popular high end shops took over larger structures that were just as enchanting. The best part is after a meal or a snack, the soft and white sandy beach of Carmel is only a short a walk away. Unfortunately for us, the cloudy skies soon turned into sprinkles and a storm was upon us.  After our Italian dinner, it was time to tuck Katie into bed with Grandma and for us to catch a few games of pool at a nearby billards.

Jellyfishes and Auntie Tina.

The next day, we spent most of it exploring all that there was to see in the Monterey Aquarium. The place was filled with Spring breakers eager to have a good time learning away from school. We caught sight of a tank filled with different species of under water creatures, big, small, skinny, fat, fast and slow ones too. Visitors of all ages crowded around the tank to watch a narrated feeding demonstration. It was jaw dropping to witness how all the fishes can co-exist in their own forms. The small fishes have to keep sight of their food and not be food themselves.

Did not like sand in between her toes so Auntie Annie had to warm her up to it.

Apart from how much we enjoyed a rare sight of some of the animals, Katie gave her 2 seconds of 'ooohs and awwws' to jellyfishes, seashorses, hot pink flamingos, turtles, penguins, etc and eventually settled into the area that fits her most...the kid section. In it, she was able to drown herself in the water streams demonstrating where and how fishes exist then played her little heart out in the indoor play structures hugging every little kid in sight.

Finally lunchtime came around and off we went to grub at Bubba Gump down the street. The best place for deep fried coconut shrimp! For the remainder of the afternoon, we hung out at the Carmel beach and flew a kite, snacked on sweets, chased waves, looked for seashells and took pictures.

No, it is not a tradition to visit Monterey when I'm 6 months pregnant.

Katie loved the trip just as much as we did being able to hangout with her Aunties and Grandma all at the same time. We of course, could not have been more appreciative for the extra help especially being able to go out at night :o) Lets see, where should we go next?!