During our recent summer roadtrip vacation in California, we spent a magical day in Monterey.
Monterey is a great little seaside town which E and I had visited once before, many years ago before we became parents. We were delighted to take Zoe and Napa there to enjoy a day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium during our recent trip.
Monterey is notable for its abundant sealife. You can often see otters, dolphins, seals, sea lions or whales offshore thanks to the two-mile-deep sea canyon within the bay, and there are many boat trips available for up-close critter-watching adventures.
We opted to stay on shore and explore the undersea world at the world-famous aquarium, which never disappoints. Located in the historic Cannery Row area, the aquarium is fun for kids of all ages. We spent several hours going through all the exhibits and enjoyed the sea otters, penguins, octopus and many, many sea creatures on display.
If you’ve ever been to our home in Ohio, you know that we have a huge teal accent wall in our family room. What you may not know, however, is that our accent wall was inspired by the epic 28-foot Kelp Forest exhibit at Monterey Bay Aquarium. I love how jaw-dropping that huge, gorgeous aquarium exhibit looks and wanted to give our massive, two-story family room wall a similar impact. I’ve loved our wall ever since E painted it that deep teal hue 12 years ago!
After exploring the aquarium during our recent visit, we walked along Cannery Row to find a good spot for a late lunch. There are many cute shops and eateries along the front as well as great photo opps for a family pic.
We ended up at Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Factory – possibly a perplexing choice for someone with a shellfish and shrimp allergy, but I figured this trusted national chain would know a thing or two about keeping guests safe and I was right. We all enjoyed our Forrest Gump-themed lunch and especially the incredible views of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary just on the other side of the glass windows. We seal-watched as we ate lunch!
We then enjoyed the rest of our afternoon browsing the charming shops of Cannery Row. Our favorites were a Turkish shop called Grand Bazaar with handmade fine art straight from Istanbul and Troya, the Turkish cafe next door featuring baklava and Turkish delight.
I bought a half pound of pistachio-pomegranate Turkish delight after being offered a sample and falling madly in love. Everyone I shared it with also loved it – I now know that freshly made Turkish delight is one of my all-time favorite international sweets!
I don’t know when our travels will bring us back again to Monterey, but I see a visit to the aquarium and a box of fresh Turkish delight in our future when that happens. Both are can’t-miss parts of the Monterey experience!
