This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2007 at 1:48 am and is filed under Bay Area Backroads, Pictures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Mama and I generally make an effort to do at least one “exciting” thing every weekend. Some are less exciting than others, but we do get out and enjoy the bay area as much as possible. This weekend we started out Saturday with soccer and then after taking Babi home we decided to go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We haven’t been there before and both love the ocean so it seemed like a natural place to try.
The first thing that I would tell anyone considering visiting the aquarium on a weekend is to prepare for an overwhelming number of people. We got there pretty late on Saturday (around 2:45) and there was till a 15 minute line to get in. Once in the exhibits the place was what I would consider very crowded - almost to the point of being frustrating. Sure, we’ve visited the zoo and other places with a large number of people, but even those didn’t seem nearly as overwhelming as this place. On top of that it’s very dark so chasing your children around can make for a tedious afternoon.
When all is said and done, though, the gilrs did have a good time. We took in everything - the sea otters were their favorite - and even though some of what the aquarium is trying to share is over their heads the aquarium does a good job of mixing in things that are fun for the children, too. Additionally, the place seemed very clean and the ability to go outside to see the natural Monterey coastline makes it a place that I’d recommend at least once. My only thought would be to try visiting, if at all possible, on a weekday, or some time that the aquarium might be less crowded.
After the aquarium we got the girls each a small stuffed seal (that they keep calling an otter - but they picked them) and enjoyed dinner overlooking the ocean. All in all it was a great day.
Papa
