With the 49ers earning a bye for the first round of the playoffs, that gave me a free day to take the kids somewhere. It had been awhile since we last visited Monterey, so we took a short day trip to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We’re members there, so I like to get down there as often as possible, but in recent months with swim lessons on Saturday and football on Sunday, it’s been difficult to find the time to visit. In fact, our last trip there was in August, which was before the start of the NFL season. The thing I remember about our last visit were the crowds. The aquarium, for good reason, is a popular tourist spot, and summer weekends can get quite busy. But yesterday was a different story, so I was reminded of what a wonderfully pleasant experience the aquarium can be when the crowds are relatively small. I was hoping for less visitors, given that this weekend was sandwiched between the Christmas holidays and the MLK long weekend, and I was not disappointed. With huge crowds, I have to lift Owen way up for him to see the tanks above the crowds. Yesterday, Owen could walk up to any tank he wanted and get an unobstructed view. Days like yesterday remind me of how awesome that huge Open Sea tank is. It felt like Owen and I could sit in front of that tank forever and not be bored, just watching the various fish, sharks, and turtles swim by. I think Owen is the perfect age for the aquarium, as he still has a great sense of wonder. Surprisingly, though, even Colin seemed to enjoy this trip more than on previous trips. He enjoyed hearing several talks by the staff, and he seemed much more at ease not having to fight with other kids for viewing space. The reason Colin decided to come with us, however, was not the aquarium itself. I offered him the option of staying home with Patti, since I don’t want to drag Colin on a 90-minute drive both ways if he’s not interested. But he loves eating Dippin’ Dots, and there’s a Dippin’ Dots place just a block away from the aquarium that he always visits after lunch. Since he discovered Dippin’ Dots floats at SeaWorld recently, he’s become an even bigger fan. Meanwhile, I think Owen would be more suited to regular ice cream, as he insisted on eating his dessert one dot at a time. Usually, we stay in Monterey for dinner to make a full day of it, but since it was Sunday with school the next day, we headed home in the afternoon, with Owen napping in the car instead of in his stroller. Though also, a part of me wanted to get home in time to see if there would be any Tebow magic. And yes, the Steelers indeed got Tebow’d!
The open sea tank is amazing. I can’t believe how large the tuna are.
m.
When you watch them in the tank, it’s also amazing how fast the tuna can swim.