10th Wedding Anniversary in Monterey

(taken after dinner on our anniversary)

10 years....

time flies, huh?

Tim and I had been talking about wanting to go somewhere this year (like we have in the past to Ft. Bragg or other places) for our anniversary. Its nice, if we have the money, to get away for one night (or more if we can afford it) and just focus on us.

This year we had a hard time figuring out what we were gonna do. We didn't know if we were gonna have the money to do anything at all, but Tim insisted that we do something since it was our 10th, and that was special.

So, Ft. Bragg again?! I WISH! San Diego? Nope, we didn't have that much money to spend...hmmm. A bed and breakfast in the mountains or along the coast somewhere? Ehh...sounds nice, but I'd rather just go to some "cheap" hotel that serves a nice continental breakfast and have a little more money in our pockets to spend than just that...but where?!

Then it came to me. I had never been to Monterey and Tim hadn't been since he was a kid.

So Tim booked the hotel and we set out on our way (after dropping the kids off with Tim's WONDERFUL sister for the night). On the way we chatted a little about nothing in particular, listened to and sang along to some music and then the conversation picked up to history, dinosaurs and animals that we just don't understand why Heavenly Father created them at all. Doesn't sound very fun or exciting, but I LOVED it!

I worried on the drive there that I was going to fall in love with Monterey...and love it more than Ft. Bragg. My fears were washed away as soon as we exited the freeway. SO MUCH COMMERCIALISM there. Ft. Bragg doesn't have McDonalds on the main strip. Or Chevron, or Round Table. That is one of the things I love most about Ft. Bragg. The small town feel.

Don't get me wrong, Monterey is nice. But Ft. Bragg is still my most favorite place in the world. Even if it takes forever to get there. :)

So we found our hotel and figured out where to eat for dinner. This is where we went you think they wanted us to know that the restaurant was called the Fish Hopper and where it was?! Hands down the BEST clam chowder Tim and I had EVER had. EVER! Mmmmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

After dinner we wandered the pier for a little while (along Cannery Row) and decided to find a grocery store, stock up on junk food and go veg out in our hotel room and save our energy for walking around the next day.

We had decided on Monterey mainly for the Aquarium. So that was our activity the next day. I wasn't incredibly impressed, but I am not much of a fan of the ocean. I think its beautiful and all, but a lot of it grossed me out. I did enjoy the sea turtles a lot! :) (isn't he cute?!) and the jelly fish in all of their varieties were interesting. Here's one I thought was especially cool I also thought it was interesting how they were swimming upside down compared to other examples of jelly fish I've seen. (which is mainly disney movies, but hey...if they normally swim with their tentacle things up, why not portray that accurately?!)

Anyway.

All in all it was a nice couple days away. We drove back to Sacramento and picked up the kids from my sil's house (where Alana had pulled out her tooth the night before-you know, that molar I mentioned in the previous post) and came home and crashed.

I am sure that even though I wasn't overly impressed with the Aquarium I will go back someday. The kids were VERY interested when Tim showed them some of the pictures we took and was able to live stream some of the aquariums on the web site. So we will probably take them someday too.

For now, though...I will enjoy my dry land and still dream of my next trip to Ft. Bragg. :)