You may ask what the Monterey Bay Aquarium has to do with California Homesteading...absolutely nothing, except that we are on vacation from homesteading, and soaking up all the urban experiences we can while here in Santa Cruz and surrounds. Nothing preserves our sanity, nor enables our endless list of toiling for future comfort at home, nor cements our appreciation for our amazing Mattole Valley, than going on a trip to somewhere else.
On Sunday, we left recently arrived-in Santa Cruz for Monterey to visit Drew's family and take Ella to the LONG AWAITED aquarium. We have been visiting their website in preparation for weeks. She has asked about it daily during the entire 10 days before. After securing our guest passes, courtesy of Drew's dad and step-mom (THANK YOU!!), we drove on down and spent about an hour and a half relaxedly wandering through the exhibits, following Ella's lead and interest. We explored the life-size hanging whales, the jellyfish, the tunafish and pacific sunfish in the outer bay tank, spent a lot of time feeling starfish and such at the touchtanks, experienced what it might be like to be under a wave in the "Splash Zone", and peered into tiny tanks to search for itty-bitty fish. Ella thought all of it was great. And the one item she chose over all others in the gift shop: toy binoculars. Ah, a girl after her own mother's heart!
Afterwards, we visited a local chowder house with Dad, Ann, Katy, and Drew's uncle and aunt Mikey and Jane, and all enjoyed fried seafood delectables before exploring Wii Fitness back at the house (perhaps to negate the effects of beer batter and tartar sauce!) A great first day of vacation! Looking forward to more days...
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