Monterey Aquarium

On our last day of our trip we went to the Monterey Aquarium! This was mostly for Faye, but Clark and I had both never been, so we enjoyed it too. :) It was pretty cool checking out all the fish, sharks, turtles, sea otters, etc. Faye liked touching the star fish and the kelp and looking at all the fish swimming around. Clark and I both liked the open sea exhibit the best, but the jelly fish and the sea horses were also pretty cool. I liked the sea otter exhibit too, but it was even better when we went outside and could see them swimming around in the wild. Monterey was such a beautiful city, I could totally see myself living there... This concluded our trip. After the aquarium, we drove down the 1 all the way home. We made a quick stop and saw some elephant seals and the Hearst Castle visitors center... we didn't feel like paying the high price to tour it, maybe another time. I'm so glad that we were able to go on this vacation especially since we are leaving CA for the next 3 years, it was nice to enjoy the beautiful coast and cities of this state, I am going to miss it! Here are the rest of the pictures... in backwards order, oops!

Hearst Castle

elephant seal

Outside at the aquarium

look closely, the small leafy things are actually sea horses

puffins

addicted to cheezits

And that's it! I know I dragged it out, but you know, I like to go on and on about my birthday! :)

Turning 25

In the midst of all the vacationing, I turned 25! (the reason we went on vacation in the first place)

I am happy to say that I am not upset that I am a quarter of a century old, in fact, it's all been good! ;) My birthday was on a Sunday, so we went to church is San Francisco and then headed over to Golden Gate Park. Faye fell asleep while we were driving through the park, but it was so cool. I would love to go back and explore it more, but it wasn't meant to be for that trip. We did see the bison at the bison paddock and the Dutch mills among other things. The coolest part about the park was that you didn't even feel like you were in the city anymore. It was amazing. After that, we decided to head down to Monterey since Faye was already asleep and it would be a little drive. We took the 1 and stopped in Santa Cruz for a break. After Santa Cruz, we had to stop at a random beach because because there was a bunch of traffic for no apparent reason and we all wanted to get out of the car. That night we had to eat, so we went down to Fisherman's Wharf. We had an amazing dinner at Isabella's. I had parmesan crusted salmon and it was amazing... Faye even liked it. It was a pretty great day. :)

<3

someone was flying this cool kite

Faye and Clark at our little beach stop

leaving San Francisco, on our way down the 1

mill

bison

a little napping/snuggle time before we checked out of our hotel in San Francisco

Alamo Square

Our trip to San Francisco wouldn't have been complete without stopping at Alamo Square for a little Full House inspired photo op. Faye especially loved the park there. She decided that she really liked the twirly slide and went down it over and over again. I also got a pretty cute video of her trying to jump like some girls who were taking a picture while jumping. She makes me laugh a lot.

She stood there like this for a while. This is the gate that goes around the playground.

Painted Ladies

swing, swing!

More painted ladies

and another shot just for fun

Fort Point

As we were driving around, we came across this little gem of an area on accident. Great views of the bay and the bridge, surfers, and a little history all in one. We enjoyed walking around the fort for free; seeing all the cannons and other items from the civil war era. The view from the top was kind of cool too because you are right under the bridge. It was an unexpected, fun stop.

Inside Fort Point

Cool original door

Up top, under the bridge

My baby and me

I love watching this.

My favorites.

Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 39/Ghirardelli Square

After we went down Lombard Street, we headed over to the Pier/Wharf. We got some sourdough bread, saw the sea lions, checked out the view of alcatraz and the bridge (got our picture taken by some random guy who didn't think to include Faye in her stroller), and basically just walked around and enjoyed the beautiful day. We then walked up to Ghirardelli Square. It was a fun afternoon checking everything out down there. We were glad that we got there early and didn't have to deal with large crowds. :)

Lombard Street

We got up pretty early on Saturday so our first stop was driving down Lombard Street... Luckily, it wasn't busy at all, so we were able to drive down and get out to take some pictures. Faye even decided to walk up the stairs a little bit.

We actually stayed on Lombard in the Travelodge, but we were closer to the Presidio. It was great, nice and close to everything we wanted to do.

On the Road

I haven't been in the mood to blog our whole San Francisco/Monterey trip in one post, so it will be coming in pieces. We had a great time being on the road together. Faye was an amazing little traveler (as usual). I think she was made for this kind of life.

Sleeping and babies.

Sunset on the way out (on the 5)... for some reason I didn't take any picture in the car on the way home when we took the 1.... oh wait, that's because I was driving! :)

Sunglasses... We put ours on, so Faye had to put hers on too

And then she had to put on Clark's, mine, and another random pair that was in our glove compartment. She is funny.