Maria and Yasemin and Riley and John piled into the Jimmy on August 25, 2002, and drove down to Monterey, which is a great area.
The drive down was a bit annoying, of course, because the state of California has been so slow to figure out that a lot of people want to drive through that area between San Jose and Gilroy. The freeway is being widened, but the work is slow. So is the traffic.
But, you know, it's worth some effort in traffic to get to Monterey, with its beautiful parks, coastline and view of the ocean.
Cannery Row has lost much of whatever charm it used to have, but there are worse places to be on the walk to the Aquarium.
Strong glass, we're glad to say.
His banging attracted the attention of another little boy, a 12-month-old on the outside with his own family, and the two started playing through the glass.
Yasemin spent a lot of time at the rays tank, trying to touch a sting ray as it flew past, usually just under her outstretched hand.
Riley, Maria and Yasemin got to go into the estuary exhibit, while John stayed outside with the stroller and a camera (Sarah's FM2, actually!).
The estuary exhibit is great! Visitors can see shorelife in the air, on the sand and in the water. It's wonderful.
Behind us in the ocean was a pile of rocks on which were resting a bunch of cormorants and a sea lion. Another sea lion would make an occasional appearance, kind of flopping up from the waves.
She does look a little like a water-walker when she spreads out like that, doesn't she?
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Our visit to Click on the images to see larger, more complete and clearer photographs.
Some of the most fun we had at the aquarium is when Maria sat down with Riley by a window, and he started banging on the glass with his hand.
After a while, Yasemin joined the game.
We also spent a lot of time at the kelp-forest tank, where we saw that pretty fish that's at the top of this page. It's Maria's favorite exhibit, and one of John's favorites. John used to skin dive (and plans to again!) and loved diving in kelp forests. It's like flying through trees, he likes to say.
We spent some time on that great patio that overlooks the rocks and the ocean, and took pictures of each other.
Here, now we'll pose, and you take the picture, then we'll trade.
Yasemin climbed high enough to get a better view.
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| After that much wandering around, we decided to stop at the aquarium cafeteria and get something to eat. |
 It was an odd experience for John, who was still on dietary restrictions. It was his first hamburger since before he learned about his gall bladder trouble. He also snuck a few of Maria's garlic fries.
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Riley didn't think it was a great idea the whole time we were there. After he'd had something to eat, he wanted to play, not sit around and watch John rest his leg.
On the way home, Riley -- who hadn't slept on the trip to Monterey, or during our visit, just could not get to sleep! And he yelled and he yelled about it, from his car seat in back. So, we stopped in Gilroy and Maria picked him up, and comforted him for a bit, and changed his diaper, and finally won a smile from him. After a while we resumed our trip -- and Riley resumed his crying, for a few minutes, anyway. After a while he got to sleep, and a while after that we were home after a lovely trip. |
