Spring Break: Monterey+

On Thursday we got up and got ready and were out the door with a send off by Hank and Colette, our hosts.  We drove down to San Juan Bautista, and California was glorious.  The golden hills were green and it was a beautiful drive.  We arrived at the mission and took a self guided tour:

One of my favorite parts of the interior were the dog paw prints in the tile floor.  A dog must have been running around when they were drying outside.  

 Then we drove to Monterey where we had lunch and spent several hours at the awesome aquarium.  Clara said it was the best day of her life.  It was fun:

At one point during the aquarium they were feeding the penguins and they let kids ask questions.  Clara had her hand up for a good 15 minutes and got to ask how penguins swim with their eyes open.  Good question from our persistent girl. 

Watching the otters play in the kelp beds.  Very cool:

From Monterey we went to the amazing Point Lobos State Park and enjoyed the cliff top trails.  Rugged, dramatic, and beautiful.  And can I just add that running at sea level is A LOT easier than running in Reno.  Holy cow.  What a difference!!!

 We had grand plans for an evening spent at the Board Walk in Santa Cruz but it slipped our mind that it was April and in April they close at 5.  So we stopped at a beach.  It was chilly, but no one cared.  No one got in the water (maybe because when anyone got close I yelled at them.  Who wants to deal with wet sandy kids?)

So for dinner we headed back to Palo Alto where all the HDT's were gathered for dinner.  It was fun to see everyone.  We had a terrific day!!!