. In addition to spending time inside, we also were out and about near or on the water:
In the swimming pool and hot tub:
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Five out of six of the kids wanted to be in the pool constantly (which was not heated)
I enjoyed the hot tub!
This seems to be the only photo I have of the great house we stayed at! |
In Monterey:
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| Cannery Row |
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| Our family in Monterey |
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Kieran decided to spend his $ on a caricature of himself,
a good choice for a souvenir! |
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| My sister Nadine and her husband David |
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| With Mike |
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| Then Nicholas decided to join in on the fun |
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John Steinbeck looks like he has hair growing out of his ears!
As English majors, we enjoyed being in Cannery Row and in this part of the world,
which inspired so much of Steinbeck's writing |
We had dinner that evening (one of the few times we went to a sit-down dinner with 10 people!) at a great Hawaiian place in Monterey,
Hula's Island Grill. Mike and Ryan were happy because they had a gluten-free menu! (Our nephew Ryan is newly gluten and dairy free, like Mike, but he's vegetarian too, so it makes it even more complicated.)
After dinner, the boys decided to dance on the sidewalk--supposedly, for money, but no one passed by! I was really surprised to see my very shy (with strangers) nephew Garrett dancing so freely! So cute.
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| Dance party in Monterey |
Santa Cruz:
We hadn't intended to go to Santa Cruz (it didn't fit into our busy schedule with the CityPASS stuff), but we ended up there anyway, on a day that started out to be very disappointing. We had purchased tickets to go to California's Great America, a theme park near San Jose. I bought them online and got a good deal, but they were still $35 per person. Our kids, in addition to our nephew Daniel, were really excited to go to the theme park and had been talking about it all week.
So imagine our disappointment when we drove up to the gates to discover that it was CLOSED! Oh, it was not a happy sight at all! (California schools were back in session, so they were closed on week days. And no, we haven't been able to get our money back. Not happy.)
Our family regrouped and we decided to head to Santa Cruz for the day. My friend Shelia had been suggesting we go there, and now we had the opportunity. Nadine and family decided to do their own thing, so off we went.
We enjoyed the laid-back vibe of Santa Cruz and ate our picnic lunch on the beach. My favorite part of the day: seeing dolphins frolic in the ocean, in addition to sea lions! I tried to take photos, but it was hard to catch them at the right time. SO COOL. I loved it! I was also happy to put my feet in the water in the California Pacific, which was just slightly warmer than in Oregon.
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You can just barely see them in this photo!
You'll just have to trust me in how amazing it was... |
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| My wonderful boys on the beach in Santa Cruz |
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| View of the lighthouse from the beach |
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| Washing off the sand |
Then we headed for the
Santa Fe boardwalk, where we went on some great thrill rides.
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| On the Double Shot |
Nicholas went on a few tamer rides, but he did go on the log flume with all of us...unfortunately, he was in the front and got SOAKED. He was not too happy about that! But the log flume had an amazing view of the ocean.
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| Logger's Revenge (log flume) |
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| With his vanilla milkshake |
He also loved the Haunted Castle.
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| With my ride buddy--hang gliding over the ocean, sort of! |
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| Kieran and I on the pirate boat, which went really high! |
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| Chris on the bumper cars |
And they had a version of my favorite,
the Screaming Eagle (called the Fireball), but it was even more exciting than the one at Oaks Park--it seemed to go on longer, and it was thrilling being able to see the ocean UPSIDE DOWN! We went on it twice, and both times I was by far the oldest one on the ride. The second time they had to reject two men, because they were too big for the seats. I felt bad for them!
Kieran and Mike enjoyed the wooden roller coaster, the Giant Dipper, but it gave me a massive headache--it was far too jerky for me! Kieran even went on it once by himself.
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| Giant Dipper |
Nicholas enjoyed driving a truck, which had a place for parents to ride on the top:
We could have stayed even longer at Santa Cruz--so much fun!
San Francisco Bay Cruise:
On our last day in the Bay Area, we went into San Francisco to visit Fishermen's Wharf/Pier 39, take a bay cruise, and celebrate Chris' birthday. It was the first time I'd been out on the bay since I was a kid, when family friends we were staying with took us out on an incredibly tiny, rickety sailboat (it was terrifying!!). The dad didn't really know how to sail, or maybe you're
meant to be feeling like you're going to capsize constantly?? It was kind of like this:
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Terrifying for a child, much less several of them!
(I think we had 3 adults and 5 kids on the boat, way too much weight) |
This sailing voyage was way more fun and gave us some great views of the bay and the city.
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| My handsome oldest nephew, Ryan |
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| The birthday boy |
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This seagull flew right overhead in the boat's tailwinds--
apparently they always do this to the tour boats, and only the tourists take photos! |
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| Beautiful bridge! |
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| Sailing under the bridge |
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| Gorgeous views! |
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| With my miracle boy! |
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| Daniel and Kieran at the front of the boat |
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| With Mike |
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| Goodbye, bridge! |
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| With Chris and Nick |
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| Nadine and Chris in front of Alcatraz |
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| That sailboat is way more upright than ours was! |
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| Nadine with Garrett, who was initially anxious about the boat, but he got more used to it |
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| Sailing back to the city |
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| And the docks |
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| Great view of Pier 39's loud sea lions! |
I think I have one more post in me about our road trip, with all the miscellaneous stuff left--most important, spending time with family!
Kieran and Mike enjoyed the wooden roller coaster, the Giant Dipper, but it gave me a massive headache--it was far too jerky for me! Kieran even went on it once by himself.
He also loved the Haunted Castle.
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