Whales & Cupcakes...

I have a weird fascination with the sea. 

Whales make my heart race. Many are surprised to hear this about 

me because I'm more of a people person than I am an animal person.

I tolerate dogs of my friends and that's about it. I don't get all swoony

over puppies and cats like I do over babies. But whales? 

I can stand on a boat and watch them for hours on end. 

I've been whale watching before in Dana Point, CA. 

It wasn't the greatest experience. Charlie got sick and 

we didn't even see a freakin' whale. Just some dolphins and seals, 

which is still cool and makes me happy, by the way. But they're not whales. 

When we were planning this little getaway and I knew we

were going to be driving back from SF down the California coast,

it felt like serendipity that I stumbled upon this Lisa Leonard blog post at the 

exact time that I did... I had to go on this whale watching tour. I just had to.

So, when we left San Francisco that morning, we had EXACTLY 2 hours to 

make the 2 hour trip to Monterey, CA or I would miss the boat and my 

chance to see my whales. Jaclyne drove like a maniac (safely, though).

Kate threw up on the way there. That was really fun.

Charlie needed to go to the restroom halfway through too. 

I don't know how we made it on time, but I slid onto the boat

a few seconds before they pushed off. I wished I wasn't alone

on the boat but kids under 5 aren't allowed and Charlie would just get sick

so J took them to the beach while I got to go on my 3 hour tour of the

Monterey Bay. I don't even care if going alone makes me a bit

weird. (Some people have told me that...) I wanted the experience that badly...

It was a cool, sunny, breezy day on land. 

As soon as we got out to sea, it was gloomy and gray.

The spray of the ocean and the cold was biting...

This boat went out at the same time as we did. 

It took a while to get out to where we would see any whales. 

I started to lose hope a little bit that I wouldn't get lucky and 

the time would be a waste. Just then, someone yelled that they saw a blow

right in front of where I was standing... I looked up and there, 

right in front of me,  I saw the BIGGEST mammal on earth. A blue whale.

Just swimming next to my boat. It was crazy.

The whales came non-stop after that. We saw at least 20 blue and humpback whales.

 With every one that I saw, I became even more fascinated.

My dream was to see one breach.

We were watching a mama humpback and her calf coming up for air

when in front of my very eyes, another playful calf comes shooting out of the water.

I was literally dumb-founded. I stood there with my mouth gaping.

I didn't even think to take a photo until the whale splashed a HUGE landing.

The last 2 of the series are the whale after landing...

It was one of the coolest moments of my life.

This was the kids with J at the beach while I was watching my whales...

The rest of the day was filled with driving and more driving.

We took the scenic route from Monterey to Cambria. 

I'm glad I did it once in my adult life 'cause I'm never doing it again.
As beautiful as it was, it was long and the kids were whining to get out.
The roads were windy and made me a little sick. It was very gorgeous though.

In keeping with the sea theme of the day, we happened upon

 a beach where there are TONS of elephant seals just hanging out.

Ella and Charlie liked that they "burped" at each other.

We spent the night in Cambria and took the kids to the tidal pools

after lunch the next day. Charlie was really excited to see Moonstone Beach

because we'd been talking to him about it... 

The beach doesn't have sand, it has millions of these tiny rocks.

The drive home was the roughest of the whole trip.

They were done. They wanted out of the car. They wanted their home.

So, we stopped and got cupcakes in Los Olivos, CA as a treat.

Enjoy Cupcakes... they incorporate wine in their treats

because they are in wine country. They smelled and tasted so good.

It was an amazing, much-needed and fun summer trip.

I loved every second of it.