Whale Watching And, You Guessed It, More Fish!

Mikey took the family to Monterey Bay during winter break. It was awesome to get away. On top of that, Mike’s co-worker shared two free VIP admission tickets into the Aquarium, which made the trip a bargain. Oh, and for the cherry on top, Mike drove. Yes, everyone, you heard right – Lee and I didn't have to drive for this road trip!! Sweeeeeet! As Lee and I stretched out, snuggling under blankets and pillows made out of coats, we blissfully fell asleep, leaving Mike to wonder how on earth we could sleep so much.  Yep, said the guy who is not a parent and obviously just didn't understand.

When we got to Monterey, the first thing we did was rush to the pier where Mike was going to take Abby whale watching. Mike confessed that he didn’t want to take her alone, which meant one parent had to go with her. I have to admit that I was not at all interested. The brief ferry ride between Pier 39 and Alcatraz was all the boat ride over salt water I need. Not to mention that when we got there, the whale watching boat was much, much smaller than the ferry boat. Egads! Now, it wasn’t small enough for me to think my family wouldn’t be safe on it, but I did think that I’m glad Lee decided to go with Abby. So Abby, Mike and Lee boarded the little boat for a 4 hour tour and I went back to the car to take a nap. I did some window shopping as well. What a delight to wander around and do whatever I wanted! Sigh. When my family returned to stable land, I heard all about the humps and spouts they saw. And how sea sick they felt. Poor guys.

Next morning, we were ready to tackle the Monterey Bay Aquarium.The only truly memorable bit from being there as a child was the giant whales suspended from the ceiling. It looked like they were swimming above me. They still have the whales and a whole lot more. I was really pleased and impressed with the whole place. Abby was fairly nonchalant about most things, but she would oooh and ahhhh too. It was great to see that. But all of that was balanced with the sheer size of the crowds. Yeah, people sure can ruin things.

Hands down, my favorite part was the reef tanks and jellyfish section. I could have sat there all day to photograph them. Okay, okay, I’m sure I took too many jellyfish pics, but they were just so cool!

 I think Abby’s favorite tanks were the deep ocean ones. She loved the touch pools too. 

They had a lot of child friendly tanks, little tunnels you could walk through as a simulated wave was coming in, bubbles in the giant tanks where kids could lay back and look up and inside, and a lot of interactive things like exploring the microorganisms with computers. We also went outside to the observation decks for a break from the crowds. Apparently no one wanted to actually observe nature while they learned about it in little cages inside. While outside, we saw several spouts and humps from whales passing by. I was very happy to have felt like I really didn’t miss anything the day before.

Okay, I took a lot of pictures. I admit it. Feel free to skim.

  

    But I do have to share my most proud moment with Abby during the trip. On a lot of the blank walls within the Aquarium were quotes. I recognized most. Some were from poets, naturalists, photographers, sea farers renowned, and artists. Almost all of the quotes had to do with nature. I would stop and read them out loud to Abby or ask her to read them to me. It was fun to ask her what she thought of them. At one point, before I had noticed the latest one in the new room we had entered, Abby grabbed my hand and said, “Mommy, I know that one!” I glanced at where she pointed and saw that it was an abbreviated version of an Emily Dickinson quote I have on display in our bedroom. It said “Hope is a thing with feathers.” But Abby said, “Hope is a thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.” Now, that’s not the whole poem, but I cried anyway as I gave her a high five. I am so damned proud of our little girl!

The next day, we made some pit stops around Monterey to take in the sights. We went to a lighthouse and the beach to actually touch the ocean we had been learning so much about. Mike took us to a Monarch butterfly preserve. 

And we explored Cannery Row as well as laughed our way through the wax museum we found there. Before heading out, we took Abby to the Dennis the Menace Park, which I highly recommend for any parent who needs to let their kid blow off some steam. 

All in all, it was an awesome trip. Ohhhh, and did I mention I slept the whole drive home?!?