Our Trip to Monterey

Okay, so I'm finally getting around to writing this, one week to the day that we left. I've been tired, busy, and now I think I'm sick, but I finally have some time to sit down and put some thought into writing about our trip.

Day 1

Where do I start...I guess on the day we left, which was Sunday the 25th. We got a late start. Jeff had been sick pretty much that whole week and wasn't feeling too great. I was feeling quite lazy myself. So we didn't pack until Sunday morning. That put us wayyy behind. But both of us were feeling pretty crappy on Saturday after having a "Thanksgiving Marathon,"...Thursday at Jeff's dad's house and Friday at Jeff's mom's house. Social gatherings aren't my thing and neither are big meals, so I felt very sluggish. Jeff was sick from a cold-like virus as I said, so he felt like crap. He didn't pack, so neither did I.

But I digress...we started packing fairly early on Sunday morning, but also had some chores to take care of that we had neglected during the long weekend. Needless to say, we didn't get out of here until almost 3pm. I was hoping we'd leave no later than 1pm or so, but things hardly ever go as planned, and we didn't want to rush things and cause stress.

The ride over went pretty well. There were two areas on the highway in which we had slow traffic, but overall, no problems. We arrived at the inn between 6-6:30pm I think. We were both VERY hungry because we didn't really eat breakfast and drove straight through instead of stopping. When we got there, it was like, WOW. The place was BEAUTIFUL from the outside in, and RIGHT across the street from the bay and Lovers' Lane...water for miles and miles and miles. We got a tour of the inn, which had some sitting rooms and a dining room, and only ONE television, which was in one of the sitting room. That's right folks...NO TVs in ANY of the rooms, except the ultra-expensive two-story cottage.

The whole downstairs area was really beautiful with lots of antique looking furniture. It looked very well taken care of and clean, almost like you didn't want to sit on anything. It was very quaint and cozy looking though.

Then we got to see our room. It had a 12-foot wide picture window with a gorgeous view of all of Monterey Bay and the rocks along Lovers' Point. The window stretched all the way across the wall directly across from the bed, so when we woke up, we'd be looking directly into the bay. But by that time it was dark outside, so we wouldn't get to see the "real" view until the morning. We were still able to see the moon shining out on the bay though, which was really pretty.

After we got a bit settled we set out to find someplace to eat. By that time it was relatively late, and it being a Sunday, not very many places were open so we had to settle for a Carrows. On our way though, we drove though some neighborhoods and they were really nice. The most interesting or exciting (I can't think of a good word) event of that drive was that we went by a house that looked like it had deer decorations on the lawn. Then Jeff did a double-take and said, "Are those real deer?" He pulled back in front of the house and lo and behold, they were REAL DEER. Five of them, standing in someone's front yard, just a regular residential house, eating grass! It was NUTS! Probably one of the coolest things of the trip (that makes it sound boring, but it wasn't...just...how cool is seeing five deer eating grass in someone's front yard)?

After we ate we went back to the hotel and got cozy. With no TV, there wasn't a whole lot to do but talk and some other stuff that I won't get into. With us being computer geeks, we wanted to see if we could get on to the network because they had just installed Wi-Fi. Jeff could not find a connection so he spent a great deal of time working on that and would not quit until he succeeded. Pretty romantic, eh? In a way it was...two computer geeks in love, celebrating ten years together, trying to get on the internet. We were both really tired though and turned in early. The bed was VERY cozy...very soft with plush pillows. We could hear the waves crashing on the shore as we went to sleep, which was really romantic and relaxing. I already didn't want to go home.

Day 2

When we woke up, our blinds were closed. I got up and opened them, jumped back into bed, and we were in awe of the beautiful view out into the bay. I think the room in which we stayed was considered the one with the best view of the bay. It was breathtaking! It was almost like we could jump from our window and into the sea. It was awesome to wake up for two days to that view. I loved the natural light. During the day, we didn't need to turn on lamps…the window was a perfect source of light. It was almost a surreal experience that someplace like this existed…both the ocean and a place where we could see it so clearly right from our window.

We got up at a pretty decent time, but being Jeff and Jess, we still ended up running late. On the itinerary for day 2: The Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row. The aquarium was pretty close to the inn, so we walked. It was a nice walk, kind of breezy, but a nice change from the valley air...very crisp and clean, though a little fishy smelling now and then. The air just felt so nice and pure though...it's hard to explain. Valley air just feels kinda, not as crisp and fresh.

It was a bit of a walk, some of it uphill, but it was nice to walk along the ocean area and to get some good exercise. We stopped a few times to get a look at the ocean and saw some seals or sea lions or something. Really though, the walk didn't seem very long.

I think we got to the aquarium around 1-1:30pm. The main attraction at this time is great white sharks and a jellyfish exhibit. The jellyfish were awesome...SO beautiful and each one so unique. We saw SO many different marine life that we didn't know existed, and some that we had only seen on television. We also got to see a diver feeding the marine life in their BIG fish tank, and I went to the touch pool which was really interesting. The marine life in the pool felt MUCH different than I expected. We also had lunch at the aquarium. We had a seat overlooking the ocean, and I had quail for the first time. Yes, quail! It was actually quite good, and was on a bed of butter lettuce with grapes, some little red seeds…not sure what those were…and a sweet yummy dressing. The day was going great so far!

The BEST part for me though was the Sea Otters. Oh my goodness they were SO CUTE! I spent a great deal of time (probably most of our time) watching them play and groom and just sit around looking cute. I took TONS of pictures...maybe 25% came out looking somewhat decent...partly because I'm not the greatest photographer, and partly because they moved around so much! But watching them play and swim and interact was just SO CUTE! I could have stayed there all day. I wanted to jump in there with them! We pretty much ended our day at the otter section. I think. The sea otters that are at the aquarium are ones that were no longer able to be returned to their habitat.

Needless to say, I am now in love with sea otters and they have been added to my short list of "Jessica's Animal Obsessions." The exhibit is called "Wild About Sea Otters," and there is even a LIVE WEB CAM where you can watch them play. This is where I spent most of my time. And you can go here to learn more about sea otters, including the ones who are at the aquarium, and how you can help keep them safe in their natural habitats. This ends my tutorial about my new love, the sea otter. I just HAD to share my experience with these adorable little creatures, and hoped that you would want to learn a little about them as well. Moving on...

We made a quick visit to the gift shop and barely made it out before closing time (when you gotta shop, you gotta shop). This isn't all we saw, but it would take forever to write about it here, so those were the highlights.

We then walked along Cannery Row where there were a lot of cute shops and we bought a few more souvenirs. Not much to talk about really…just the usual shops, little restaurants and bars, etc. We were pretty tired by then though and decided to head back to the inn. Yup, we had to make the trek back on foot. It wasn't bad at all. I actually enjoyed it. It felt SO good to be out walking next to the water, in the fresh air, something I hardly ever do.

Day 3

Our last day. On the itinerary: 17-Mile Drive and Carmel. After packing up and checking out (again, BARELY making checkout time even though we got up early enough). I didn't want to leave…or at least I wanted to take a bit of it back with me. But after saying goodbye to the beautiful inn and going across the street to the beach and the rocks along Lovers' Point, we headed out on our trip to 17-Mile Drive. It was very scenic and pretty. LOTS of water. Yes, once you've seen lots of water, it gets a bit old, but many of the stop points were completely different…the water was deeper or clearer or there were different backgrounds. It was a really amazing experience to see that the world is made up of SO MUCH water, and that SO MUCH of it could be seen from Monterey.

Then we headed into Carmel, parked, and walked the whole time again! Good exercise for us, but our legs were starting to hurt. And Carmel has a LOT of uphill walking! We went to the cute little Carmel Plaza shop and had lunch. We also went out into the more tourist-ey area. It was a bit warmer and sunnier in Carmel than it was in Monterey, which felt nice. We didn't do a whole lot more…just looked around and enjoyed the scenery, bought more souvenirs, and took some pictures. After trekking back to our car, we went back to the aquarium and Cannery Row for one short last visit, and then headed home.

The drive home was nice and we just went the whole way through with no stops. Traffic was sparse, so we made pretty good time. Being back here was kinda sad though. I already missed the sound of the ocean and the cool sea air, and the romantic atmosphere of the inn. But I will always have those great memories, LOTS of pictures, and hopefully we will get to live over the ocean for a few days again in the near future.

Thanks for reading this everyone. As usual, I know it was long, but it's been a while since I've written a blog anyway, right? There will be pictures to come soon. I already got rid of the bad ones, so now I just have to go through the best ones and will post them soon. Keep your eyes peeled! And if you ever have the chance, I HIGHLY recommend taking a trip to Monterey, California. It is an experience you will NEVER forget!