A Three Hour Tour

 After our cold, rainy Saturday at the Aquarium, Sam and I were really hoping for a nice day on Sunday so we could spend some time exploring the Monterey Bay area. Thankfully, we were not disappointed! Though it was still a bit damp, it was a beautiful day! We finally were able to enjoy the gardens around the inn.

For some reason, the little cottage behind us looks particularly tiny, thus making us look like giants! Oh well, still a cute picture :-)

Carmel

Before heading off on our whale tour, we decided to do a little exploring in Carmel. The downtown area is full of adorable gourmet stores, boutiques, art gallaries, cafes, and other unique little shops. Between the blocks were beautiful courtyards that seemed to all have different themes. The first one we stumbled upon was the fountain courtyard. It was so fun to walk down the little alleyway into such a beautiful setting.

As a souvenir, Sam and I had decided to look for a piece of art to represent some of our time in California. What better place to look than in downtown Carmel! Unfortunately, the beautiful art in the art gallaries were a little out of our price range for such a spur of the moment purchase. But, as we made our way through the courtyards, we stumbled into this little shop where these beautiful decorative tiles caught my eye. Something about the vibrant colors and texture of the tile really appealed to me, and we both decided it would be a perfect little piece that would remind us of our time in California. 

Afterwards we grabbed a delicious mocha from a cafe in another beautiful courtyard. This one had colorful flowers surrounding a patio with tables and benches. It also happened to be right next to The Cheese Shop. This place was awesome! Sam and I just love us some tasty cheese, and this place did not disappoint. They sell a huge variety of cheeses and are very happy to let you sample whatever. As soon as you walk in they begin handing you samples. Yum yum. We ended up getting a baguette and two types: Fromage d'Affinois with truffles and young mahone. Delicious.

Montery Bay- Whale Watching

After our quick brunch, it was off to our three hour whale watching tour (and yes Sam did begin singing the Gilligan's Island theme song when I told him it was a three hour tour). I can't believe how lucky we got with the weather. Just look at those perfect puffy white clouds! The boat we went on wasn't the biggest or fanciest, but it was comfortable, and we had plenty of room to see all of the wild life. And, it came with that adorable doggie!

The tour was narrated by a "marine naturalist" who pointed out all of the different animals and explained which whales we would see and the research they have conducted. Right now is the migrating season for Gray Whales, but during the summer and fall hump back whales and blue whales come to the bay to feed and mate. We were lucky enough to see a nice handful of whales, as well as dolphins and sea lions. 

The tour guides would look for a blow off in the distance and then we would move in to see the whales a little closer. The pictures don't really do the view justice. We were fortunate enough to see some of the whales flipping their tails before diving down deeper, which was was pretty cool. Sam re-created that with some of our pictures below :)

It was so cool to see the whales up close. Sam and I plan on taking another summer tour at some point to see if one time of year is better than the other, and we definitely need to make it back down to Carmel since we only spent a few hours exploring. With the rain we weren't able to walk on the beaches or take any hikes. We had a wonderful weekend though, and it was the perfect way to celebrate our first year of marriage!