Left Thursday after work and took off Friday so we could have a decent amount of time out here on the coast of California. We drove 444 miles (713 km) from Phoenix, Arizona, to Ventura, California, though we would have gone further if we hadn’t been so tired after about eight hours of driving. This photo was taken just north of Cambria as we were driving north on Highway 1. There are faster ways to Monterey, but none so scenic.

Hints of the sun glisten off the water and we are thrilled to once again be along the shoreline of the Pacific Ocean.

That’s Point Sur out there under the low clouds. If you know the layout of the coast, then you know we are now north of Big Sur.

We got into Monterey and wasted no time getting right to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

This is Kyle; we named him on a previous visit as we were trying to gauge how long each jelly lives here at the aquarium.

This thing, on the other hand, is an alien and must have been teleported from another dimension.

Caroline could have stayed here the rest of the night; hell, she could live in the aquarium if they’d let her.

We have to go outside on the patios surrounding the back of the aquarium as the views from here can be as beautiful as those inside.

We finished our visit tonight with the seahorses, but will return tomorrow morning for a bit more aquarium because it’s like that great songwriter once wrote, “You can never have enough of the Monterey Bay Aquarium.” I think that was Frank Sinatra, but then again, no.

Even at night, we’d prefer to be at the water’s edge.