Thursday, April 4, 2013

Monterey Bay Aquarium: Spring Break Fun

We took a little trip during Spring break to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. While Monterey is only a little over an hour away, I hadn’t been to the aquarium since the older kid was 4. That’s 17 years ago!

Since then, the aquarium has been remodeled, and it’s even more breathtaking than it was back then (or what I remember of it). The (little) kid is 5 now, and he was the perfect age to explore what the aquarium has to offer. He even enjoyed some of the short presentations.

We decided to stay overnight at a local hotel, which allowed us to buy a special ticket only available at participating hotels. For the price of a regular one-day ticket, hotel guests get entrance to the aquarium on two consecutive days. This worked out great, as we visited the aquarium on the first day without the pressure to get a good look at everything as we knew we would return the next day.

The first day, we decided to walk to the aquarium from our hotel. It was about a 3 mile walk round trip. With all the walking at the aquarium, we ended up walking almost 7 miles that day! Let’s just say we all were tired at the end of the day, especially the kid!

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Monterey Bay Aquarium Day 1

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I remembered that there was a Ghirardelli Store on Cannery Row, and I had planned to stop there on our way back to the hotel. 

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After some rest and a little ice cream, the kid had enough energy to continue to walk to the hotel… 

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Monterey Bay Aquarium Day 2

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We finished the day with a late lunch at Schooners before driving home. 

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It was a great, short trip. Hopefully, we’ll make it back to the aquarium sooner than 17 years from now!

Questions: What’s your favorite sea life to explore at an aquarium? 

Be well,
Andrea