Tuesday, August 14, 2012

California 2012: Part Two

On Monday morning of our vacation, we took the boys down to Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey.  We found a little boat for them to play in


and Gene found a capstan to sit on.


Our main reason for heading down to the wharf was to take the boys out on a glass-bottomed boat into the bay!  It was a beautiful, sunny day but it was freezing out on the boat.


We saw otters, sea stars, cormorants, pelicans and lots and lots of sea lions.  The boys and I even tasted kelp straight from the bay!


It was so fun to see the sea lions everywhere, but they were stinky.






 Reading a new pirate book and walking on the wharf.  


Lunch at Rappa's!  We ate lots of local seafood on our trip.  Sardines, salmon, sand dabs, and squid right from Monterey Bay were all hits with us.  


On Tuesday morning, the boys and I walked up the street to the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History.  PG is home to lots and lots of monarchs as they migrate to Mexico in the fall,


but these were the only two monarchs I found on our trip!


Sandy the grey whale is out in front of the museum.


I remember when she first came to town!


After our museum adventure, we packed up a picnic lunch and headed out to Jack's Peak for a hike.


Lunch first, of course!


We chose the Skyline Nature Trail for our hike because it was just under a mile and we saw amazing views of Monterey Bay and Carmel Valley.



The boys loved their first real hike!


Nature lesson along the way!


All that hiking meant a snack was necessary when we got back to the picnic area.


After the hike and a rest at home, we headed to the beach for a third time.  Henry requested a picture of their sand castle!


Tuesday ended with a date night dinner for Gene and me.  We used our great sitter from York, ate at Domenico's on the wharf (where Gene had the very messy but very delicious cioppino),


and then walked along the paths at Asilomar


to watch the sun set!



It was a beautiful end to a beautiful day.

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