The Dish by Ish...: Mom's Birthday

My mother turned 65 at the end of August and we decided to go away for an overnight stay to celebrate!
We really couldn't do anything expensive, so we decided to take a trip to Monterey, I have an aquarium membership that allows entrance, we could use Hilton points for a free overnight hotel stay, the only cost would be meals. We decided to go for it, and I am so glad we did!

What is there to do in Monterey?... let me tell you, there are plenty of things to do in Monterey that are not very expensive....

To start the day we visited the Elkhorn Slough Safari nature cruise in Moss Landing . It was so much fun!!! If you have not done it, I highly suggest it, we had a great time. The cost is only $32 for adults... and the cruise is an hour and a half!

First off, we completely lucked out by going on the hottest weekend of the year, we boarded the boat at 9:00am and there was not one ounce of fog... it was already over 70 degrees so we knew it was going to be a scorcher...we had a great time cruising the slough checking out the wildlife. It was really great.

We saw over 70 otters, over 400 seals, numerous birds, some jellyfish floating in the water and even some pelicans diving into the water for fish.

Although, if this is something you are thinking of doing, we were talking with others on the boat that on a previous trip, they were bundled up with blankets and jackets and it was socked in with fog... so it all depends on the day and time you sail. Either way, I think it would be a fun trip.

After the Safari Cruise, we traveled to the Carmel Valley and drove around, visited the Bernardus Winery and walked around downtown Carmel.
After taking a rest at the hotel, we at dinner at Domenico's on the warf, it was a great way to end the day!

The next day, we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium... Did you know that if it is your birthday, you can get a birthday button from the information desk and they put your name on it and you can wear it around all day!!! how fun is that?!?!?! hahaha, needless to say, I think I was more excited then my mother, but she was a good sport. I love my Mom!

The Aquarium has a new White Shark on exhibit and they have Jellyfish as well as a new Seahorse exhibit right now.
The Jellies are always a favorite of mine, they are so cool to watch, I love it. The Seahorses are really nice, it is a larger exhibit then it used to be (they had one years ago) but it is a great one!