California trip recap 7: Monterey

We only spent about 18 hours in Monterey but we really enjoyed it. It kind of reminded me of Lake Geneva but on a bay instead of a Lake. It had so many cute shops and restaurants and great water views. Monterey's history is rooted in the canning industry. Most of the local canneries are now shops and restaurants.

 A view of all the vintage cannery buildings

When we arrived in Monterey our room wasn't ready yet so we walked around the bay and got some lunch. We had an amazing seafood lunch at The Fish Hopper. I had a super yummy shrimp spinach salad and Michael had fish and chips. The seafood was so fresh and tasty!

The Fish Hopper

The view from our table

My yummy salad

Seals hanging out on the rocks

After lunch we checked into our hotel. We were staying at a beautiful Intercontinental Hotel. It was right on the bay and had beautiful views.

Our beautiful hotel

 Hotel lobby

The hotel was just gorgeous

Michael checking our digs

Our beautiful bathroom

A bonsai tree and zen sand garden to de-stress, HA!

 The hotel had this beautiful patio with fire pits overlooking the bay view

 

Bay view from our hotel

Michael by the Bay

After checking into our hotel and looking around, we decided to make our way down the street to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I was really excited to visit the aquarium since it was one of the reasons we chose to make our stop here. 

The aquarium used to house a canning facility

Entrance sign

Beautiful kelp tank when you walked in

They had some amazing saltwater tanks. The coral was just beautiful!

One of my favorite exhibits was the jellyfish. They had an amazing collection of so many different types.

Another one of my favorite exhibits was the sea otters. They were so cute!

Michael with a killer whale sneaking up behind him!

They had a small penguin exhibit with these cute little guys

Stingrays and sharks

We had a great time at the aquarium. Once we were through with the aquarium we started the walk back to the hotel and stopped at a bunch of shops along the way. We went back to the hotel and relaxed for a couple of hours before heading out to dinner. We knew we wanted some type of seafood again so we found an awesome sushi restaurant to try. We had a great dinner and the sushi was delicious!

Sunset on the bay

Checking out the sunset before dinner

Michael doing his "gazing" pose!

We had a great time in Monterey. It was such a nice and relaxing day after 7 action packed days in San Diego and Anaheim. Having some time to relax got us all charged up for our drive to San Francisco the next day. Details on our drive to San Francisco tomorrow!

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