Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Day 5 - Whale Watching/Carmel Mission/17 Mile Drive

Tuesday morning, we got up and ready early, then headed to Monterey for a whale watching tour.  Of course, we had the usual car sickness on the way.



We were running a little late, and didn't really know where we were going, so we were a little stressed out.  Our GPS took us right to fisherman's wharf, but that wasn't where parking was, so Scott dropped me and the kids off, then drove off to find parking.  I soon realized I had left my cell phone in the van, so I had no way of finding out where Scott was.  I got us checked in for our tour, then stood nervously waiting for Scott to come find us.  After about 15 tense minutes, we finally saw him coming up the wharf.  We all made our way down to the dock together, and spotted several sea lions along the way.


 We boarded the boat, and I made everyone pose for a picture.

 Soon we were on our way out to sea!












Do you see Nate in the picture above?  We were only about 10 minutes into the trip, when he started feeling sea sick.  We had given Dramamine to the kids that usually get motion sick (Kate, Sara, and Owen), but we thought the others would be fine without it.  Poor Nate, he ended up being sick the entire time.  He threw up over the side of the boat more than once, and was just miserable the whole 3 hours.

We had barely left the harbor, when we suddenly had dolphins surrounding us, playing in our wake!







 We made our way further out into the ocean, and suddenly we had whales circling our boat!


We sat out at sea for about an hour, while these whales circled our boat.  The captain said they only have that happen (where the whales circle the boat) 8 to 10 times a year, so we were really lucky!  Kate fell asleep on my lap, so I was missing getting to see the whales.  So after a while, Scott switched me places so I could get up and see.  Soon Nate fell asleep next to Scott.  The poor boy was so sick, he didn't even care about seeing the whales.






As we sat out on the water, the waves rocked the boat quite a bit.  Soon Nate wasn't the only sea sick passenger.

Savannah was really freaked out about getting sea sick.  As a lady was puking off the side of the boat, Savannah turned to Scott in a panic and said, "I want off!  Get me off!"  Scott told her that was impossible, because we were surrounded by water.  Then she started to feel queasy herself, and she really wasn't ok with that!   She stood on the side of the boat, fighting the urge to throw up.  (Thankfully for her, she never did throw up.)


Even through the motion sickness, we had a wonderful time watching the whales.







I even spotted a jelly fish!


Finally, it was time to head back to the dock.  Owen decided to curl up next to Scott, and soon he was asleep too.





After our whale watching trip, we decided to get lunch on the wharf.  Our boat captain had recommended Cafe Fina, so we decided to eat there.  It was delicious, but very spendy.  It was our only eating out the whole vacation, so we decided the splurge was ok. 


After lunch at fisherman's wharf, we were planning to go to the aquarium.  But the kids were really tired and grouchy, so we decided to go for a drive instead (and hopefully let a few of them nap).  We drove to Carmel to explore the old Spanish mission.  It was built in the 1770s, so it's pretty old.  It was nice to have a quiet peaceful activity.



Owen wasn't much of a fan, but the rest of us found it very interesting.


Nate wasn't a fan of Kate's idea of a double stroller.  




After the mission, we decided to do the 17 mile drive that begins in Carmel.  Scott had done it a few years ago, and had loved it.  I have to say, when it first started out, I was very unimpressed.  The kids were cranky, and they just wanted to go back to the house and play on the beach.  The scenery was only so-so, and didn't compare to stuff we'd seen already. 

But then.....we hit the back side of 17 mile drive, where it meets the ocean, and we were all speechless at the views.














Someday Scott and I will come back here, just the two of us, and he will golf here.  Someday.


We made it back to the house just in time to catch the sunset from the back patio.









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