Everyone talks about the Monterey Aquarium. Or everyone around here, at least. I’ve been putting off going because the prices are honestly kind of ludicrous – $40 per adult and $25 per child, so you’re looking at over a hundred bucks for a family of three – but since we had a few hours to kill in between watching my dad race at Laguna Seca (more on that later) and dinnertime, and since I’m actually kind of okay with ludicrous ticket prices at museums and such because the money goes towards supporting the institution…we went.
It is amazing and worth every cent.
First of all: how did I not know how cute Monterey is? Adorable shops and adorable restaurants and adorable basically everything. We ended up getting an okay sushi lunch from a restaurant on the Marina (the kind of place where you pay for the view rather than the food) and an okay American-style dinner at a restaurant near my dad’s hotel, but I saw a lot of extremely enticing spots as we drove around – so if anyone has recommendations for our next visit, would love to hear them.
And the aquarium. I grew up going to the Museum of Natural History all the time, and no matter how many times I stand there and look up at the life-sized blue whale hanging from the ceiling, I get shivers. The Deep Sea exhibit at the Monterey Aquarium, a massive, almost pitch-black space where a hammerhead or a four-hundred-pound tuna emerges from the darkness every so often to cut through a school of silvery fish, made me feel exactly the same way: like I was standing on the edge of another galaxy.
Look how cute! This little street runs right alongside the aquarium.
Here is our daughter in a clear cave that makes you feel like you’re standing inside a torrential waterfall, not caring about it even one little bit.
(It went over better with Indy.)
Oh, so many touch pools. (Is that what they’re called? That sounds creepy. You know what I mean: the pools where you can reach in and interact with the animals.) Big hit with all involved.
Go! Go! (Find out more about the aquarium here.)
