California, Tuesday and Wednesday

Today is Saturday, but I'm home with the girls while the boys all go up to Lake Tahoe for a little snowboarding. I'm not feeling all that well today, but it seems to be mostly from allergies. California is a bit farther along in spring than Baltimore, so I'm having sudden-onset hayfever. I have most of my pictures caught up so now to the blogging. We left off with Monday night at Fenton's.

Tuesday, we got Luc to school, then Alex and I went for a run with her friend. How I wish I'd had a jogging stroller when my kids were little. It was so cool to be able to just take the kids and go.

After school, we got packed up in record time and left for the big trees and the coast around 12:30. Here's the slideshow:

We made it to Big Basin Redwood State Park in the late afternoon and spent a magical couple of hours exploring among the Giant Redwoods. Heather had said that being among them is a spiritual experience, and so it was. Big Basin has some of the largest trees in the state and it is difficult to describe what it is like to walk down a simple forest path and suddenly feel so very small.

After the trees, we made our way down to Monterey and settled into our hotel. The kids were tired and hungry, but everyone really pitched in to help take care of them, and again, I was so proud of my kids for being so good-natured and loving with little children. We got through dinner at a very busy Chili's, then headed for bed.

Wednesday took us to the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is a great facility, but it made me realize how lucky we are in Baltimore, because our Aquarium is every bit as good (if not better). I loved the jellyfish exhibits and the big main tanks were amazing in their variety. There was a school of fish up near the top of one that were swimming around in a perfect sphere in perfect unison. Sharks were prowling, and rays were flying gracefully over all. It is in a really beautiful setting, right at the water's edge in Monterey Bay. That was my favorite part-I loved being able to go out on the terraces in the back and look at the sea.

The weather in the morning was quite chilly, but the sun came out and it warmed up nicely for our scenic drive around the peninsula. I have had many chances on this trip to make my lifelong dream of driving the Pacific Coast Highway come true . We've seen so many beautiful vistas with gorgeous rocky surf and clear water.

The 17-mile drive around the Pebble Beach community was beautiful on both sides of the road. On the right were amazing ocean views and on the left were the incredible homes of the rich and famous. The size, scale and beauty of these places was really fun to see. Some houses were perched up on the bluffs and looked just like castles. Others were near the shore and looked like Spanish villas.

After the drive, we headed directly home with sun on our cheeks, the ocean in our eyes and lots of fun memories.