Hangin' Out in the Kelp Forest at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Neither of us had ever been to the MBA before and so taking the plunge was on our "must do" list for this trip. ...and here's why:

This area is known as the Kelp Forest. The tank is teeming with fish and sealife, including schools of sardines, several kinds oof sharks, grouper, red snapper, sea stars...I could have just stayed here, gawking for hours. But then I would've missed out on these:

and my very favorite of all:

All in all, it was a pretty terrific experience. We saw a lot of beautiful and fascinating things. I was especially happy to have captured this:

Pacific Grove-in'

A few years back, my friend Joanna and I took a similar route through this part of the world. One of my favorite stops on that journey was a sweet little town called Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove is right next to Monterey, and when I say "right next to", I mean, it begins on the street behind the Monterey Bay Aquarium! So, super easy to find and very centrally located whether you want to hang out on Cannery Row or you want wander down to Carmel for the afternoon. Pacific Grove's claim to fame is the Monarch butterfly. Every winter, thousands of them stop in Pacific Grove at a sanctuary that's been set up there for them. We toured around it but because it's spring, we didn't see any flutterby's. We did see a doe and her two, very young fawns though, so that was nice.

If you ever consider coming down this way, consider staying in Pacific Grove. Then you'll be able to eat breakfast every day (like we did) at the Red House.

It was simply amazing.

Waitin' for Waves

The only thing more pathetic than a bored border collie is a surfer without a wave.

Gotta say though, there's probably no more scenic a place to be stuck waiting for a wave to ride than Steamer's Lane (just over the cliff beside the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum).

We made one last stop on our way out of Santa Cruz this morning. Marianne's serves over 70 flavors of ice cream including garlic, blueberry cheesecake, oatmeal cookie, mexican chocolate (chocolate with a hint of cinnamon) and the four we tried: baby coconut, oregon wild blackberry, black cherry, and my personal fave: 10-20; a blend of caramel, fudge and oreos. Ice cream for breakfast. mmmm!

Guy Fieri Ate Here - So Did We!

We tried to go to Aldo's but it wasn't open. Imagine that! Thankfully, Guy had another recommendation for us:

Not where you'd expect to find super dee-lishus, thai-inspired noodle soup and spring rolls! They were just as yummy as Guy said they'd be, too!

Santa Cruzin'

I realize this pic is probably not exactly the sort of thing you were expecting to find on our blog but I just had to share. I mean, how smart is that?! But seriously, back to Santa Cruz. What a cool place this is. Probably THE coolest place on Earth. And not just because it was the actual birthplace of surfin' back in the 1890-something's (seriously!) when two members of a Royal Hawaiian family studying in Santa Cruz decided to have a coupla boards built so they'd have something to do in their spare time (students...some things never change)!

Nope, Santa Cruz is downright hip and even a little chilly when you factor in the cool ocean breeze. But the bougainvillea is blooming and it is sunny and people besides us are walking around in shorts and t-shirts. And it's a really beautiful place. Here are a couple of shots from our post-wine tasting drive out to Natural Bridges State Park:

Our Mission: Zinfiltrate Central California

Our mission (which as founding members and field operatives of the Royal Victoria Swilling and Noshing Society [est. 2012], we chose to accept) is to seek out, evaluate and return with, examples of the best Zinfandels the Central Coast of California has to offer. We have 6 days. So far so good. I made it through the extra-special security screening in Victoria. An extremely estute TSA agent in Seattle warned me about the old guy that seemed to be following me. I assured him we were travelling together. He said it was sweet of me to travel with my Dad. I corrected his gaff. He noted we didn't have the same last name. Mark thanked him for opening that can of worms. Our journey will begin in San Jose. And yes, we do know the way: YVR,SEA,SJC. After the SJC part, we'll have to rely on maps and directions from courteous but not necessarily helpful staff at the rental car place to get to our first stop: Santa Cruz. (If I worked at a rental car place, I might, every once in a while, be inclined to have a bit of fun with the tourists, but I digress).

Our inaugural zin tasting is to occur at Bonnydoon's this evening. After that, Guy Fieri (of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives fame) suggests we check out Aldo's Harbour Restaurant for dinner. With any luck, we'll watch the sunset while strolling along Santa Cruz's famed boardwalk amusement park. Apparently, it opens for the season today!