Carmell by the Sea to San Francisco.
Breakfast at the inn (lewis liked the bagels) , really nice really clean and simple. Chatted to a dude at breakfast about Napa valley, packed up and headed to the Monterey aquarium. Got a little lost on the way there (just after Min states that “wow I know where we are and how good am I” we just spun around and then followed the signs, missed the parking lot then had issues with one way streets but finally sorted it out and got a car park. Walking out of the parking lot a lady asked if we were going to the aquarium as she had 2 tickets she could not use and could not get refunded, it appeared legitimate and she waited for Lewis to come back from the car (had forgotten to lock it) so we bought them off her (saved us $20 and she got $40 that she would not have got as could not get a refund so worked out all around).
In the Aquarium we went straight to the otters and only had to wait 10 minutes for feeding/training time, they are so cool they only had 3 on display the other 2 were out the back where they act as companion animals or surrogate parents to sick or injured wild otters. They were just rolling around and around in the water, washing faces, scratching bellies and just generally grooming until the gate opened and someone came in they were on high alert and trying to scam food. They got ice blocks to start (just like the ones in your freezer) and one little one snitched ¾ of the blocks and had a pile on its chest, they are so clever he was banging them on his chest but then would hold all the blocks on his chest and role in the water (to wash off the bits) and then bang it again. They are no longer allowed to have seafood with a shell in the display area as they were banging the food on the glass and scratched it so badly they had to replace it, they still get proper shelled food out the back.
They had a very cool giant kelp forest which was massive the tank must have been 25ft high 20 meters wide, sardines/anchovies were in a massive school and all the other fish were cruising very cool. We also saw really cool sea horses , weedy see horses. They also has some wave generator that went over a Perspex walkway cool. The rest was fairly normal with the highlights for us listed above, oh and in the ocean out the windows you could see wild otters hanging out.
Lunch at Bubba Gump shrimp (as in Forest Gump bubba gump shrimp), it was an experience, food was good great view of the wild otters. Made it out of Monterey safely and much easier than on the way in.
Stopped at Santa Cruise – lewis was hoping to see the bike shop but to no avail, ended up at the beach which was just weird… there were roller coasters all up and down the strip, cable cars and merry go rounds people on the beach but there was no one in the water. We did see some brown pelicans including one that was diving for fish.
Lew noticed a lighthouse on the drive so we stopped and had a good look it was Pelican point lighthouse, and unfortunately the mist rolled in again just as I was getting out of the car to take a photo, oh well at least we saw it :)
San Francisco – great driving by lew , we made it to the correct street on the first go, intersections were very funny Lewis basically would stop and then just hope and go it seemed to work quite well. Many more horns here. Our street is incredibly steep with a park in the middle of it then down the other side – through a chicane which we JUST fitted through the dodge charger is not the skinniest little beast out there. But managed to find a park about ½ a block away which was great. Room is not massive but has everything we need and is quite good $$ and has breakfast included (double bonus). We walked down to the fisherman’s wharf which was a nice walk but starting to get a little chilly, we had a bread bowl of clam chowder and ate it looking over the water, saw some crazy people swimming (with wetsuits) and 3 old long boats rowing – fairly cool then really started getting cold so walked back to the hotel, in the morning going to do a tour and hire some bikes.
Breakfast at the inn (lewis liked the bagels) , really nice really clean and simple. Chatted to a dude at breakfast about Napa valley, packed up and headed to the Monterey aquarium. Got a little lost on the way there (just after Min states that “wow I know where we are and how good am I” we just spun around and then followed the signs, missed the parking lot then had issues with one way streets but finally sorted it out and got a car park. Walking out of the parking lot a lady asked if we were going to the aquarium as she had 2 tickets she could not use and could not get refunded, it appeared legitimate and she waited for Lewis to come back from the car (had forgotten to lock it) so we bought them off her (saved us $20 and she got $40 that she would not have got as could not get a refund so worked out all around).
In the Aquarium we went straight to the otters and only had to wait 10 minutes for feeding/training time, they are so cool they only had 3 on display the other 2 were out the back where they act as companion animals or surrogate parents to sick or injured wild otters. They were just rolling around and around in the water, washing faces, scratching bellies and just generally grooming until the gate opened and someone came in they were on high alert and trying to scam food. They got ice blocks to start (just like the ones in your freezer) and one little one snitched ¾ of the blocks and had a pile on its chest, they are so clever he was banging them on his chest but then would hold all the blocks on his chest and role in the water (to wash off the bits) and then bang it again. They are no longer allowed to have seafood with a shell in the display area as they were banging the food on the glass and scratched it so badly they had to replace it, they still get proper shelled food out the back.
They had a very cool giant kelp forest which was massive the tank must have been 25ft high 20 meters wide, sardines/anchovies were in a massive school and all the other fish were cruising very cool. We also saw really cool sea horses , weedy see horses. They also has some wave generator that went over a Perspex walkway cool. The rest was fairly normal with the highlights for us listed above, oh and in the ocean out the windows you could see wild otters hanging out.
Lunch at Bubba Gump shrimp (as in Forest Gump bubba gump shrimp), it was an experience, food was good great view of the wild otters. Made it out of Monterey safely and much easier than on the way in.
Stopped at Santa Cruise – lewis was hoping to see the bike shop but to no avail, ended up at the beach which was just weird… there were roller coasters all up and down the strip, cable cars and merry go rounds people on the beach but there was no one in the water. We did see some brown pelicans including one that was diving for fish.
Lew noticed a lighthouse on the drive so we stopped and had a good look it was Pelican point lighthouse, and unfortunately the mist rolled in again just as I was getting out of the car to take a photo, oh well at least we saw it :)
San Francisco – great driving by lew , we made it to the correct street on the first go, intersections were very funny Lewis basically would stop and then just hope and go it seemed to work quite well. Many more horns here. Our street is incredibly steep with a park in the middle of it then down the other side – through a chicane which we JUST fitted through the dodge charger is not the skinniest little beast out there. But managed to find a park about ½ a block away which was great. Room is not massive but has everything we need and is quite good $$ and has breakfast included (double bonus). We walked down to the fisherman’s wharf which was a nice walk but starting to get a little chilly, we had a bread bowl of clam chowder and ate it looking over the water, saw some crazy people swimming (with wetsuits) and 3 old long boats rowing – fairly cool then really started getting cold so walked back to the hotel, in the morning going to do a tour and hire some bikes.
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