We made it to Monterey Bay! The drive continues to be a pleasure. When we planned this road trip, we thought we would need to rush from one spot to the next in fear that our children would be uncomfortable in the car. So far, it hasn't been the case. We are quite comfortable cruising in our SUV, with the Tom Petty station on high. We actually took our time from Pismo to Monterey.
On the way to Monterey Bay, we stopped off at a rest stop in Bradley. Ok, I am not one to get excited about a rest stop, but this is worth mentioning if you take this road trip and are in need of a place to stop. The bathrooms are very clean, they have great information about the wildlife in the area, and lots of vending machines. The kids all got ice cream while they stretched their legs.
We arrived at the Marina Dunes RV Park in Marina by 2:30 pm. This place is beautiful! I wish we would have planned a few more days here. The beach is a bit of a hike from our site, but there are lot's of trails here for nature lovers. We walked down to the beach on the first night and watched the sunset. Our neighbors reported they saw dolphins when they went to the beach. We were less fortunate. Since Devlin is still sick, we didn't make it to the whales I was dying to see in Moss Landing. We may find a way to hit the spot on the way back to Pismo from San Francisco.
We went to the Sea Harvest Fish Market for clam chowder and calamari. The food here was great, I'd highly recommend it. The service was good, and it wasn't too pricy. After our late lunch we headed back to the camp site and Devlin crashed early. Poor kid is taking forever to recover.
This morning when we woke up we noticed Derek and Devlin both had pink eye. We had already booked a tour for Derek at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, so we decided to hustle down for Derek to scuba dive and then hit up a local urgent care. This was a total disaster. We got there in the nick of time, got our tickets, Derek suited up to scuba and 5 minutes into his tour he had to get out. His eye had swelled up and looked like someone had punched him in the face. It was all red and agitated with pus. I know, a little gross. Devlin was crying in the stroller, and Marty and I looked like we just earned the Parents of the Year Award. We paid $75 for Derek to scuba, on top of the damn tickets to get into the Aquarium, so I was not about to let him miss it. Fortunately, they gave us a refund, and out we went to Urgent Care.
The Urgent Care didn't accept our insurance, so we had to hit up the Emergency Room at the hospital. Normally I would have paid the money for urgent care, but they wanted $212 for each kid. Really?! This totally sucked! Not only did we sit in the Emergency Room for 3 hours, we were out $400! I'm not a huge fan of our insurance company at the moment. It would have been better for us to just stay at the urgent care so we could have returned to the Aquarium. By the time everything was said an done, it was 2:30 and none of us had eaten lunch. So, we went down to Fisherman's Wharf and went to lunch at Crabby Jim's Seafood Restaurant. The food was pretty good. We wanted to hit up the Old Fisherman's Grotto, but they took one look at McKinley and asked me if I was "aware of their policy." I looked down and on the hostess stand it said families with young children would need to leave the restaurant if their children cried. This is a major touristy area with tons of families with young children, and I thought the policy was ridiculous. First off, I never would allow my children to disrupt others around us by being loud. Needless to say, we went a few doors down to Crabby Jim's where they welcomed us with open arms. McKinley didn't make a peep the entire time. The kids were just happy to get food in their bellies, and wanted to head back to the camp site to get some rest.
We took a nap and headed over to California State University Monterey Bay to visit the campus. I wanted to get a better feel of the campus layout and the appearance for my clients. It's on an old military base, but nicely updated. Derek didn't feel it was the right college for him. But it was nice to get him on a campus to get a feel as he begins thinking about college.
Tomorrow morning, we will be up bright and early to head to San Francisco. We are staying at the Candlesticks RV Park which doesn't have very good reviews, but we will be near everything we want to see. Our trailer is nice, and feels like a second home so I am sure it will be fine. Location, location, location as my mom always says.
On the way to Monterey Bay, we stopped off at a rest stop in Bradley. Ok, I am not one to get excited about a rest stop, but this is worth mentioning if you take this road trip and are in need of a place to stop. The bathrooms are very clean, they have great information about the wildlife in the area, and lots of vending machines. The kids all got ice cream while they stretched their legs.
We arrived at the Marina Dunes RV Park in Marina by 2:30 pm. This place is beautiful! I wish we would have planned a few more days here. The beach is a bit of a hike from our site, but there are lot's of trails here for nature lovers. We walked down to the beach on the first night and watched the sunset. Our neighbors reported they saw dolphins when they went to the beach. We were less fortunate. Since Devlin is still sick, we didn't make it to the whales I was dying to see in Moss Landing. We may find a way to hit the spot on the way back to Pismo from San Francisco.
We went to the Sea Harvest Fish Market for clam chowder and calamari. The food here was great, I'd highly recommend it. The service was good, and it wasn't too pricy. After our late lunch we headed back to the camp site and Devlin crashed early. Poor kid is taking forever to recover.
This morning when we woke up we noticed Derek and Devlin both had pink eye. We had already booked a tour for Derek at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, so we decided to hustle down for Derek to scuba dive and then hit up a local urgent care. This was a total disaster. We got there in the nick of time, got our tickets, Derek suited up to scuba and 5 minutes into his tour he had to get out. His eye had swelled up and looked like someone had punched him in the face. It was all red and agitated with pus. I know, a little gross. Devlin was crying in the stroller, and Marty and I looked like we just earned the Parents of the Year Award. We paid $75 for Derek to scuba, on top of the damn tickets to get into the Aquarium, so I was not about to let him miss it. Fortunately, they gave us a refund, and out we went to Urgent Care.
The Urgent Care didn't accept our insurance, so we had to hit up the Emergency Room at the hospital. Normally I would have paid the money for urgent care, but they wanted $212 for each kid. Really?! This totally sucked! Not only did we sit in the Emergency Room for 3 hours, we were out $400! I'm not a huge fan of our insurance company at the moment. It would have been better for us to just stay at the urgent care so we could have returned to the Aquarium. By the time everything was said an done, it was 2:30 and none of us had eaten lunch. So, we went down to Fisherman's Wharf and went to lunch at Crabby Jim's Seafood Restaurant. The food was pretty good. We wanted to hit up the Old Fisherman's Grotto, but they took one look at McKinley and asked me if I was "aware of their policy." I looked down and on the hostess stand it said families with young children would need to leave the restaurant if their children cried. This is a major touristy area with tons of families with young children, and I thought the policy was ridiculous. First off, I never would allow my children to disrupt others around us by being loud. Needless to say, we went a few doors down to Crabby Jim's where they welcomed us with open arms. McKinley didn't make a peep the entire time. The kids were just happy to get food in their bellies, and wanted to head back to the camp site to get some rest.
We took a nap and headed over to California State University Monterey Bay to visit the campus. I wanted to get a better feel of the campus layout and the appearance for my clients. It's on an old military base, but nicely updated. Derek didn't feel it was the right college for him. But it was nice to get him on a campus to get a feel as he begins thinking about college.
Tomorrow morning, we will be up bright and early to head to San Francisco. We are staying at the Candlesticks RV Park which doesn't have very good reviews, but we will be near everything we want to see. Our trailer is nice, and feels like a second home so I am sure it will be fine. Location, location, location as my mom always says.
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