Birthday Weekend in Monterey
Jonathan took me to Monterey this weekend for my birthday.
Have I told you all how much I love this man?
We drove down on Friday after work and arrived around 9pm to Lovers Point Inn. This was a delightful, quaint, little hotel just off of Ocean View Blvd. The room was small but clean with a heater that worked really well. It was inexpensive and close to where we wanted to be. If you're looking for a place in Monterey that's not too pricy and you know you're just going to be sleeping there for a night, go for it. Save your money for the Aquarium and other things to enjoy!
On Saturday morning we woke up early so we could catch the low tide down at Asilomar beach. The tide wasn't THAT low, but low enough that we found a few tide pools to look at. While we couldn't really get our hands wet in the pools, this was probably a good thing considering they were CHOCKED FULL of baby sea anenomies! Seriously! I've never seen the rock walls covered like this before.
So as the tide started coming back we, we made our way back to the car and to the aquarium. We got there early before it opened so we walked down Cannery Row and found a place to rent bikes. THey said we could come back whenever and be able to get what we needed. This was great because we could keep our car parked but be able to visit other places (seriously - rent or bring your bikes to Monterey. The bike trail is really fantastic).
Onto the aquarium!
Sea Horses, mother fuckers! SEEEEEEA HORSES!!!
And let's not forget the jellies....
Or the sea otters, who do cute little human things with their paws!
We found out that the octopus is rather reserved in nature, and would prefer if you kept yourself decent
So after we finished, we left to get our bikes and went to the Maritime Museum. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS THE 1ST ANNUAL SQUID DAY! YEAH BABY! We got there just in time to watch them dissect a male and a female Humboldt squid. It made my little biologist heart swell with joy!
We were lucky to have caught it and then spent a few minutes in the rest of the museum, enjoying all the old timey maritime artifacts.
And last but not least, after biking for a few miles and returning said bikes, we went to go see "Spirit of Monterey," a wax museum tour narrated by none other than JOHN STEINBECK HIMSELF!!
As you can see, he has gone completely insane and must be kept behind fishnets in order to protect the visitors.
The aquarium has always been a wonderful, magical, special place for me. My family would go down to Monterey to visit the aquarium every new years. We'd walk along the beach, poke at the tide pools and spend hours at the aquarium. Probably my happiest memories of my family all revolved around Monterey, and for Jonathan to think of it as a birthday present was the best thing in the world. You can see the rest of my photos over on my flickr page.
Have I told you all how much I love this man?
We drove down on Friday after work and arrived around 9pm to Lovers Point Inn. This was a delightful, quaint, little hotel just off of Ocean View Blvd. The room was small but clean with a heater that worked really well. It was inexpensive and close to where we wanted to be. If you're looking for a place in Monterey that's not too pricy and you know you're just going to be sleeping there for a night, go for it. Save your money for the Aquarium and other things to enjoy!
On Saturday morning we woke up early so we could catch the low tide down at Asilomar beach. The tide wasn't THAT low, but low enough that we found a few tide pools to look at. While we couldn't really get our hands wet in the pools, this was probably a good thing considering they were CHOCKED FULL of baby sea anenomies! Seriously! I've never seen the rock walls covered like this before.
So as the tide started coming back we, we made our way back to the car and to the aquarium. We got there early before it opened so we walked down Cannery Row and found a place to rent bikes. THey said we could come back whenever and be able to get what we needed. This was great because we could keep our car parked but be able to visit other places (seriously - rent or bring your bikes to Monterey. The bike trail is really fantastic).
Onto the aquarium!
Sea Horses, mother fuckers! SEEEEEEA HORSES!!!
And let's not forget the jellies....
Or the sea otters, who do cute little human things with their paws!
We found out that the octopus is rather reserved in nature, and would prefer if you kept yourself decent
So after we finished, we left to get our bikes and went to the Maritime Museum. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS THE 1ST ANNUAL SQUID DAY! YEAH BABY! We got there just in time to watch them dissect a male and a female Humboldt squid. It made my little biologist heart swell with joy!
We were lucky to have caught it and then spent a few minutes in the rest of the museum, enjoying all the old timey maritime artifacts.
And last but not least, after biking for a few miles and returning said bikes, we went to go see "Spirit of Monterey," a wax museum tour narrated by none other than JOHN STEINBECK HIMSELF!!
As you can see, he has gone completely insane and must be kept behind fishnets in order to protect the visitors.
The aquarium has always been a wonderful, magical, special place for me. My family would go down to Monterey to visit the aquarium every new years. We'd walk along the beach, poke at the tide pools and spend hours at the aquarium. Probably my happiest memories of my family all revolved around Monterey, and for Jonathan to think of it as a birthday present was the best thing in the world. You can see the rest of my photos over on my flickr page.