Monterey

Today, we saddled up the Subaru and headed south to Monterey to see the aquarium. For one reason and another, this is the first family adventure we've had in awhile, and it sure felt good to be out and about together.

I'm a little sleepy at the moment, but would like to report that we had a great time. Elise's favorite part is a glassed-in room that has artificial waves washing over it every few minutes. (For the Chicagoans out there, think the wave thing at Brookfield except bigger and with no chance of getting so much as a drop of water on you.) We spent a lot of time with the waves.

My favorite critters to see were the octopi. They are so neat to watch move. Unfortunately, they were not Elise's favorite at all, so I'm going to have to get my cephalopod fix elsewhere.

Our favorite part of the aquarium as a family was looking at the "deep reef" exhibit. Elise got so into the fish and the sharks that we spent a nice long time there. She managed to name "Spotty" and "Whiskery", and was also the first among us to see a flounder hanging out down in the sand. It was fun to have the rays swim above us because it looked like they were flying. Those minutes of perfection were worth all of the other hazards that attend a long day out with an almost four year old.

The new otter exhibit was a lot of fun, and we got to watch the otters eat right up close. The "outer bay" exhibit has a great white shark right now, and that was fun to see.

Because the place is kind of spendy ($25/head), we figured a membership was in our best interest. One more visit this year and we'll more than break even on the deal. Realizing that the drive isn't that long, we'll no doubt be spending more time there.