On Vacation, Day 1

We left on a mini vacation to Monterey, CA, this week. We left on Wednesday and will return tomorrow. (I'm actually writing this from my hotel room in Monterey! DH brought his computer for work purposes.)

It has been a nice trip so far! After dropping off the dog at his "pet resort" on Wednesday morning, we hit the road. We weren't out to make great time; we took a relaxed trip up. And, when you have two kids, the only way to BE is relaxed on a long car trip like this one. And this is only Monterey! I don't know what we were thinking when we traveled to New Orleans two years ago, when DS was only four and DD was two. Demented? Probably, but we made it, so that I'm here writing this vacation round up.

But I digress . . .

The first stop we made was Ventura, at a Der Wienerschnitzel for hot dogs. We had been traveling for nearly three hours, and it was nearing noon, so we stopped. I knew we'd be nearing Santa Barbara in a bit, and I wanted to stop at the mission there. It is supposed to be the most beautiful of all the missions. I knew it also had a grassy area in front of the main chapel, which the kids could run around on to run off some steam. I was hoping, too, that I could visit the gift shop and maybe pick up a new cross for my collection. (When I joined the church, my mom bought me a beautiful tile and pewter cross, which we have hanging above our front door. We bought it at Mission San Juan Capistrano, but I haven't been able to find another like it since.) I saw plenty of tile crosses, but nothing that floated my boat. So, after snapping a few more photos (some of which DD actually cooperated in and smiled), we got back on the road.

Heading north on the 101, the next major city is Santa Maria. That was nostalgic for me passing through, because my paternal grandparents lived there for years. We have no reason to visit Santa Maria anymore, since they moved to Ohio to be near my aunt, who could closely watch over them and take care of them in their later years. And now, of course, they've both passed, so there are no ties left to this city that I spent many days in as I was growing up. The thing I always liked about Santa Maria was how WELL I slept there. I could nap for the US on cool, Saturday afternoons. My favorite afghan I inherited from my grandparents. It must have been the clean air. I don't know, but I just remember how deeply I slept.

On we passed through Pismo Beach, another town with ties for me. My grandma took me there when I was a kid. She was the kind of grandma that actually put on a swim suit and sat in the sand with you, or took a dip in the pool while you were in there, too. I remember digging for clams there, and finding sand dollars, and I told these stories to DS and DD as we were driving through toward San Luis Obispo. In San Luis we stopped again. First, we had some soft serve at the local Tasty Freeze, and then we went on to take a look at their mission. Theirs is nowhere near as extensive as Santa Barbara's, but they have a gift shop, too! Alas, I was stymied again in my search for a cross to add to our collection.

After San Luis we continued on our trek up the 101. We were making great time, passing more missions as we drove! (We didn't stop, though. One, Mission Soledad, was visible from the freeway as we drove, and it wasn't worth stopping for, if I could say so without being struck down!) We stopped quickly for gas outside of King City, and then drove toward Salinas, where we would leave the 101 for our trip toward Monterey. We arrived at our hotel and, after a few frustrations like the key not working in the hotel room door and the TV remote control being out of batteries, we settled in. DH looked for a suitable restaurant to visit for dinner: good, casual, and suitable for kids. He found a place called Hula's, and we were off.

Hula's was good, but it was HOT. It was cooler outside with the sea air blowing in off the bay than it was inside. We were almost sweating. It was also appropriately kitschy with tiki-themed frames on their Hawaiian pictures. There wasn't much of a kids' menu, but we settled on some chicken kabobs for the kids and a basket of sweet potato fries. We weren't sure about the sweet potato fries--weren't sure if the kids would like them, much less like them ourselves--but DH and I ordered them anyway. The good news is that they were delicious and we almost killed the half basket we ordered before our meals arrived. I had tiger shrimp tacos, which were good, and W had . . . something (I don't remember). It was good; I'm not sure, however, I would be dying to come back again when I came to town, like I am with the Corvette Diner in San Diego. After that, we walked a bit down to Cannery Row (three short blocks away), and then back to the hotel for bed time.

Hijinks ensued, as I kinda knew they would. There was a lot of giggling and shuffling around in bed. Even I started laughing after DD or DS used the toilet and the toilet started making noises as it filled back up again. Then DS announced he had a bloody nose, and it turns out that was due to DD stuffing her fingers up his nose! In the pitch dark of the hotel room he ran to the bathroom where we stopped the blood and cleaned him up. More sternly this time we said, "GO TO SLEEP!" and after a few more wiggles, we all were asleep. We had a big day tomorrow: Monterey Bay Aquarium!