I mentioned this before, somewhere, but I can't remember where--I asked Brett to take me to Monterey on Saturday the 3rd, so that we could spend some time together, and I could see the latest in Windstone designs. We have far too many already, but that didn't stop us.
Friday night, Matt came down, and there was much fun to be had at dinner. He stayed overnight and went to Monterey with us the following day. He'd never been to the aquarium, which we also wanted to see, because they've got a new exhibit out there--all sharks, all the time.
Mistake #1: "Oh wow, these convenience fees are killer. Let's just wait and buy tickets when we get there." Never, never again will I say that, for reasons which will become apparent.
Mistake #2: Going to Monterey *at all* over the 4th of July weekend. When we
finally got there, there was no parking to be found near Cannery Row or the aquarium, so we had to park downtown, deal with the Great Race foo, and take the trolley to where we wanted to go.
Ah yes, the trolley.
Imagine, if you will, one of those cute little trolley-bus things, that's probably ideal for seating maybe 20-30 people. Imagine, next, said trolley with every seat full, and another 15 people (including us, me first, after dealing with the family who thought that, even though they'd got there last, they were entitled to get on first) climbing on.
It's already a cool day out, perhaps maybe 65 degrees. Yet the AC on said cute little trolley is on full blast, and it's like standing in the middle of an arctic wind.
Let's not forget the little anklebiters everywhere, with no care as to where their hands go, and no care who or what they kick, elbow, or otherwise run into.
And the trolley driver who kept stopping at every stop, in spite of the fact that there are now probably 50 people on his trolley, and we are packed in like sardines.
Oh, and the idiots who SEE the trolley is full, but still try to force their way on in the first place... without waiting for the people who actually wanted to get OFF the damn thing.
Oh yes. So much hate.
We finally got off at Cannery Row and walked from there to the aquarium. We got to the place almost before the trolley did, and all agreed that the trolley was NOT the way to get back to the parking garage.
There was still more rage at the aquarium, and this is where the 'let's just buy tickets there' part comes in. Had we purchased tickets online, we could've picked them up at will call.
Hey, will call, says Matt, why not see if we can call in an order? No dice, though--only advance purchases are allowed via phone, which basically prevents people from doing what we wanted to do. We got there, saw the line and were horrified, and tried to call. Seems kind of silly to me, but whatever.
Yet again, there were children with all kinds of personal space issues, which turned out to be quite annoying. Especially when the matriarch of the family behind us got all pissy. Sadly, she never got overtly pissy, otherwise I would've told her to keep a better hold on her rugrats. Ugh. Kids. So cute when they're young, well-behaved, and belong to someone else. :)
Anyhow. The aquarium was cool. I got some great pictures of some of the jellies, and some not-so-great pictures of the sharks and the sea otters. It's harder to get those, because they're always moving. Arg. I managed okay, though, I think. I'll post those at some point.
After the aquarium was Bubba Gump's--we put our names in and were told to anticipate a 70-75 minute wait. The guy at the counter said, "That's nothing, if you were here next weekend, it'd be 3-4 hours." Buh. So, we shopped a bit while waiting for food, had an excellent dinner where, once again, we ate too much, then we grabbed a cab and went home.
Not a bad day, all things considered, the trolley of hate aside.
Next time, if we ever go on a holiday weekend again (unlikely!), we'll remember to buy tickets beforehand...and to get there early if we want to park at Cannery Row.