On Vacation, Day 2

Due to hijinks the night before, because of which the kids didn’t get to sleep until after ten p.m., which is way past their normal summertime bedtime of about 8 p.m., and because hotel rooms have such good block-out drapes keeping the room dark, we slept in until nearly 8:30 on the second day of our vacation. We reflexively turned on the cartoons -- aside: they had NO Nickelodeon and, hence, no SpongeBob(!!!) at this hotel . . . can you believe that?!? -- and I got ready to take a shower so that we could all go eat breakfast. (Because you know you cannot go eat breakfast looking like a hag when you are on vacation.)

Breakfast was surprisingly good. We ate at the hotel restaurant, which we don’t normally do, but this was nice. They set up a deluxe-ish buffet thing. I was able to make the kids a waffle on a self-serve waffle maker, get them some milk to drink and cereal to snack on (they like it dry; the milk and cereal don’t necessarily go together in my kids’ minds), and yet have an omelet made for myself. (I know! I ate eggs! But I had the guy put so much “stuff” in them like onions, mushrooms, bacon, bell pepper, etc., etc., etc., that I cannot taste the eggs themselves.) After eating, we got in the car, had GPS guide us the two and a half miles to the aquarium, and got ready to see some fish!

We spent a lot of time there, about four hours, which is probably good enough for families with young kids. If I had been by myself, I probably would have closed the place down because I like to read the captions for everything but my kids, obviously, don’t. Actually, DS is beginning to read lots of things now, like signs and billboards when we’re out, but the captions on the exhibits were too difficult for him and academic and, well, it is summer, and who wants to read academic stuff in the summer except for teachers-on-vacation like Mom? Duh.

We saw lots of very high-interest fish like sharks, as well as other fish that were interesting like tuna. I found them interesting because, frankly, I didn’t know they could grow to be so large. The otters and penguins were their usual crowd-pleasing selves. The jellyfish were beautiful -- an assortment of both large and medium-sized and tiny -- and the school-swimming sardines were fascinating because I’ve never seen fish swim so uniformly like that. I’m used to seeing the odd one or two in a private aquarium in our doctor’s office, rather than a whole school.

It was around two p.m. when we exited the aquarium and found ourselves on Cannery Row. We were hungry, but it was too late to eat a big lunch, because then we wouldn’t be hungry for dinner, and too early to eat dinner, so, DARN, I guess we were locked in to going up the row a bit to get some ice cream sundaes at the Ghiradelli store. It was heartbreaking, but we had to do it. Dad had the regular ice cream sundae with vanilla ice cream, the kids each had a scoop of mint ice cream with rainbow sprinkles (can’t go without rainbow sprinkles!), and Mom had the mint sundae, which was mint ice cream with a hot fudge-y mint sauce . . . altogether, very mint. All was delicious, and the store opened right onto the bay. Down below were kelp beds where free otters (not the ones in the aquarium) were frolicking in the water. It was beautiful.

This is getting long, but oh well.

We went back to the hotel, ostensibly to take naps, but more hijinks ensued. Mom got huffy and threatened no swimming in the hotel pool until kids took naps, and that seemed to do the trick. (But then, of course, I was wide awake and could not sleep myself, so I visited my HC support site and made some postings.) After cursory naps, Mom took the kids down to the pool while Dad made a scheduled Army phone call. DS practiced his swimming and DD practiced her dunks and blowing bubbles, and when the fog started rolling in, Mom decided it was time to go in. After a quick clean-up for dinner, we made our way back to Cannery Row to a restaurant called Willy’s Smokehouse for dinner. We were lured in the by appeal of a kids’ menu and comfort food, and we weren’t disappointed. The meal was delicious. I had a brisket (which is not normally my favorite cut of beef; strictly a filet mignon girl here) that was AMAZING, and Dad got marinated, grilled pork chops topped off with a bleu cheese sauce and a potato salad that was tops. Mom’s meal came with BBQ beans that were merely okay . . . I think I do better . . . but the cole slaw was yummy and not too “wet” with mayo, and had the addition of some sunflower seeds for crunch. DS and DD devoured the quesadilla we got them (which doesn’t happen at Don Jose’s, mind you!) and ate about half of the macaroni we ordered, too. The macaroni was not just the gold Kraft stuff, but really good stuff -- almost like the made-from-scratch kind Mom makes. We opted to get desserts of the kids’ menu, but I have to say they were as good as any I’ve gotten of the adults’ menu at another restaurant.

Michael was with us (me, in my thoughts) all day long. I hope he enjoyed Monterey with us.

Back to the hotel for bed time . . . there was less hijinks to deal with tonight . . . to get ready for another day -- Day Three!

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!