Marine life up close along the Central Coast

We braved our inaugural road trip with Serene last week up north, primarily for a dear friend's baby shower last weekend, but also for a much awaited family vacation. We were apprehensive about how nearly 9-month-old Serene would do during the 6 hour drive, particularly since she is as curious as ever, not wanting to be confined to one space (i.e. her car seat) for too long. I perused as many "travel with a baby" articles as I could find beforehand, probably packed enough for every natural disaster known to mankind, and fervently prayed that we would rejoice always no matter what ensues. We left at 4am when she woke up for her early morning feeding, with hopes that she'd sleep until 8am per her usual wake-up time during the drive. That didn't happen, but with just a few meltdowns mediated by rest stops, we arrived at our first destination a tad bleary eyed, but all together thrilled to spend quality time together.

Fortunately, Monterey Bay was a sight for sore eyes. I hadn't visited since 8th grade and recall nothing about that trip but ice cream sundaes at Ghirardelli's, so exploring the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Cannery Row during the first day with Alex and the baby was a brand new adventure. I found it fascinating that the waterfront district comprised of sardine canning factories back in the early 1900s until the 1950s, when overfishing brought the canneries to extinction. Now in the 21st century, we get to gawk at marine life up close at the aquarium (which is located on the site of a former cannery) and along the coastline. To be in the midst of such beautiful creation was humbling and awe-inspiring. So much so that Alex has a hankering that God may be calling us to be missionaries in Monterey Bay now - haha!