This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Vacation Recap 2018, Part 3
Aug
22
2018
Continued from last week
We drove from Santa Cruz, CA to Monterey, CA. It was a little over an hour, if I remember correctly. Not much to see, other than farm fields and the occasional glimpse of the ocean. We made it to our hotel in Monterey without any incident.
It was a nice hotel, and the desk clerk guy was fantastic – friendly and helpful. We unpacked all our stuff, grateful that we got a ground-level room so that we wouldn’t get any calls about the noise. Then we set off on that day’s evening activities.
First up: returning the rental van. It cost about $100 extra for a one-way rental, but since we were going to be in Monterey for two nights, it was much cheaper than keeping the rental going the whole time.
We drove to the rental office downtown, about a mile or so from the hotel. We were worried that we missed the gas station by the hotel, but there was a gas station a block before the rental office (and on the same side of the street too!) so that was no problem. Dropped off the van, and the 6 of us walked out of the office, across the street, and onto the local beach. We sat on a beach towel while the kids played in the sand and marvelled at the odd seaweed.
Then we walked to the bus stop. Monterey is great in that they have a free trolley that goes throughout the tourist part of the city. So we took that back to our hotel. The stop was pretty much just across the street from the hotel, so that was easy. Then we walked to dinner.
Also across the street from the hotel is the bike and walking path that runs through Cannery Row, the shopping district. It was convenient being able to walk to a variety of places. We chose Dos Victorias for our dinner that night. Not the fanciest place, more like a take-out that happens to have a couple of tables. But they were accommodating and the food was good, so I’d recommend it.
Back to the hotel, where we did whatever. Probably watched a combination of baseball and HGTV. The ambiance was nice – the hotel has a large courtyard in the middle. It would have been perfect if it had a pool somewhere, but all-in-all it was one of our better hotels.
Then it was evening, and morning the next day.
Day 4
Woke up, had breakfast at the breakfast area. They had the usual suspects for a hot hotel breakfast, plus a 3D pancake printer.
Then we walked to the aquarium. We got there early because we were members, and members can get in early. We weren’t planning on becoming members, but in researching the cost of the trip, we discovered it would cost the same for us to become members as it would for us to buy tickets at the door. It was a wash, but being members got us 3 advantages.
1 – it is tax deductible,
2 – members can get in a half hour before everyone else, and
3 – we get a discount at the gift shop.
So I paid for our membership online before we left, and all I had to do was show that receipt at the members door. Our actual membership cards came about a week after we returned home.
Here is why you want to get in early. First photo: during the members-only time.
Second photo: during the general public time.
It was like that everywhere. If you are a member with kids, make sure you go to the kid-friendly areas first, so your kids can pet the starfish and stingrays without being squished.
No, they did not get to pet the jellyfish.
The aquarium also had some nice views from a balcony.
The younger kids spent more time than I expected just looking out from the 3rd-story balcony.
We had lunch there, which was not bad food-wise but the seating was scarce. I’m not sure if it was more crowded than usual, but all the tables and chairs were full and then the aisles and paths around the tables were full of people walking around and looking for a spot. Or people standing and waiting for people who looked like they were close to being done. That would be my main recommendation for the aquarium – more seating for the cafeteria.
There was a lot to see there, but it was apparent when everyone was done for the day. Although we had walked there and it was only a few blocks, the free trolley did have a stop there, so we rode the trolley from there back to our hotel. We rested for a while, then set out for Fisherman’s Wharf.
It is, of course, just a tourist trap, with souvenir shops and candy shops and overpriced restaurants.
So, of course, we bought candy and had dinner there. The standard operating procedure for restaurants on Fisherman’s Wharf is to have a bowl of clam chowder out front. A hostess then offers passers-by samples of the clam chowder in the hopes than they will like that restaurant’s the best and thus come inside for an actual meal.
We chose our restaurant for the evening by which kid’s menu had the best options. We settled on Crabby Jim’s. It was pricey, but not out of line for the area. I didn’t eat, not because of the price, but because I was still fullish from lunch and I knew the kids wouldn’t finish all their food and I didn’t want to bother with leftovers. So I just had a lemonade of my own and gathered food from what the kids left.
Then we rode the trolley back to the hotel again, and had another restful evening of relaxing in the room.
Then it was evening, and morning the next day.
Day 5
This was the adventurous part – getting from Monterey to Seattle. Due to circumstances beyond our control, our original plans were scrapped and we had to make alternate plans. So to get to Seattle, we had to walk a mile to the bus transit plaza, ride a bus 2 hours to San Jose, take a train to Santa Clara, take a shuttle bus to the airport, fly (or rather, ride on an airplane) to SeaTac airport, take the train to downtown Seattle, go up 3 flights of escalators to the monorail, take the monorail to the Space Needle, then walk 6 blocks to the hotel. The kids were kind of crabby, but the Seattle hotel was the one hotel on this trip with a pool, so that kind of make up for it.
That was a long paragraph, but it was a long day so I think it’s even.
Here’s a photo of the walk from our hotel in Monterey to the bus plaza downtown.
It was a pleasant walk, along the biking/hiking path, so not many cars to contend with.
Until the bike path intersected Fisherman’s Wharf. Then there were lots of cars. Cars all over the parking lots and sidewalks and everything. It was a classic car show. So we got to see some nice old cars for about two blocks of our walk.
The bus plaza had a public bathroom, so there were the 6 of us with all our luggage, 2 other travellers, and 3 homeless people. We had a wait of just under an hour, so we had put ourselves and our stuff on two of the benches. At one point, since the boys were antsy and were running around, half of one bench was unoccupied. Despite the abundance of other benches, one man mosied over and stood next to our bench with an eager/desperate look on his face. I offered the bench to him and he nodded his head and sat down and proceeded to do nothing. My best guess is that he was homeless and that was his usual spot.
Here’s the train in Santa Clara, or maybe San Jose.
The bus ride was interesting, the train station is Santa Clara was the hottest part of our trip, the food at the San Jose airport was good, the flight was unremarkable, and Seattle public transit was commendable.
I don’t remember what we did for dinner that day, other than snacks because no one wanted to go out again once we got to the hotel. But we had enough snacks that no one went too hungry. This hotel arrangement gave us two TVs, so some people watched baseball and others watched HGTV or Discovery or National Geographic, then we went to bed.
Then it was evening, and morning the next day.
To Be Continued…
And it will come about that fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to Eneglaim there will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be according to their kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea, very many.
Ezekiel 47:10
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 10:37 am and has been carefully placed in the Travel category.
