To Carmel with Oma and Opa

Loralynn loved building the castle and moat and watching the waves wash it away.

After our busy weekend with Oma and Opa Gosnell, we packed up and drove to Carmel/Monterery for a quick get-away Tuesday through Thursday. Tuesday was spent traveling. In the afternoon Dan, myself and the girls went to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. We hiked along the coast and saw seals, otters, and perhaps 6 or 8 humpback whales! The whales were off in the distance, but when two of them started slapping the water repeatedly with their tails it was quite a show! We took a hike with a volunteer guide, Tana touched poison oak, and we managed to not drive our guide away with kid antics.

Tana wanted to touch the squishy jellies.

We brought fried chicken and macaroni to the beach for a picnic in the evening. Tana spent most of her time sitting with Oma and Opa on a towel. She didn't want to have anything to do with the sand or the water. Loralynn and I built and rebuilt a castle with a moat that went down to the ocean. When big waves came in, they filled up the moat and our castle sometimes stayed erect.

Wednesday morning we went to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was chock full of fish and critters. The kids really enjoyed the rooms with the jellies bouncing about. We tried the penguin show but gave up when the girls couldn't see well enough for their attention to be captured. Later we sat outside on bleachers and watched a very different sort of live musical about repurposed materials shaped as sea life. I am always so excited about touching sea life so when I found that the touch pools were up too high for my girls to access, I was rather disappointed. They didn't totally miss out-- we held them awkwardly and bent ourselves over uncomfortably for a while so they could at least stick their hands in. The aquarium kept the girls' attention for a large portion of the day. We watched the otters playfully swim under water and saw how crashing waves affect the sea life under the water.

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve was beautiful!

In the late afternoon, we found our cars and drove to Fisherman's Wharf. We ate some inexpensive clam chowder in a bread bowl while Loralynn and Montana ate battered fish and fries. Ice cream was a special treat afterwards.

Thursday morning we ate a grocery store breakfast on the hotel's patio with a warm fire. We decided to break up our drive with a stop at San Juan Bautista State Park and Mission. It was a hot day, but the museum was fascinating. We found out that cowboys would often ride their horse right into the bar and drink and play billiards while still in the saddle. The preserved buildings interesting to tour to see how life was when the town was vibrant in the mid-1800s. We ate lunch at a small burger joint in town that served excellent hamburgers and hotdogs.

That concluded our last day with Oma and Opa Gosnell. The next morning we said our goodbyes and drove way down south.

This was as close as Tana got to the ocean in Monterey.

Almost every photo we took of Loralynn at the beach captured a big grin.

Tana loved pulling the stuffed eels out of their holes.

This is a full and happy tummy of ice cream.

Where's the toilet at this 1800s hotel? The chamber pot will take care of your needs.

There were a lot of rules for stagecoach travelers. Read them below.

Another bedroom at the San Juan Bautista State Historical Park.

Large signs at the mission said the building was not safe in the event of an earthquake.

Saying goodbye to Oma with a last story.

Tana packed a purse with Opa. It was time for us to say goodbye.