Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Wednesday dawned foggy. Most days start foggy in that part of California. What’s funny is that it wasn’t until about Thursday that I realized that our hotel balcony included a pretty good view of Morro Rock.

Anyway, this was our day to head up to Monterey. You’ve seen a photo from PCH on our way up (and the gas receipt from Big Sur). There are more photos to share - I’ll add them here tonight when I get home.

[place holder for lovely scenic photos]

We got to the waterfront in Monterey and I didn’t recognize anything. I have a pretty good memory for places, but there was no way I could figure out where anything was because so much had changed in 25 years. The Cannery Row I knew resembled nothing that I remembered. It is much more built up and super touristy, including a Bubba Gump, which I rejected as a lunch option. We ended up eating at a local diner across the street from the Aquarium that provided pretty good fish and chips.

After lunch we toured the Aquarium, which was very crowded. Jesse enjoyed the fish tanks more than anything. I think we could have stood in front of them for hours and he would have been happy. We did manage to get to the sea otter feeding, but it was so crowded on the platform that I started to get claustrophobic, so we left. Sadly, once we got outside we both sighed in relief to be away from the crowds and agreed that we would try the Baltimore Aquarium some weekend when it won’t be as crowded in the fall or winter.

We got back to the car, after deciding to drive up to my old neighborhood to give Jesse some quiet/nap time before we met Ith for dinner downtown. Once in the car we realized the parking ticket was missing. I finally got so aggravated, that I got out of the car and instantly found the ticket on the ground. The wind must have blown it out of the car when we opened the doors. Beau laughed that it was a good thing I got so mad to get out of the car on that day.

Anyway, we drove up to Marina, the small town that we lived in back in the early 1980s while Dad was at the Naval Post-Graduate School. Marina is still the same, but built up more. The neighborhood is now surrounded by much newer houses. Our old neighborhood looks really run down and old.

So we managed to find the restaurant to meet Ith, who is lovely and charming in person. We enjoyed a delicious Japanese dinner and Jesse was cute to the waitress and Ith. Then Beau drove home so that Jesse and I could sleep.

It was a good day.