ms. nikki continues to tell me that she works at the most beautiful place on earth. until yesterday, i just shook my head at her and thought “whatever”…
yesterday, ms. nikki invited me to go down to the montery bay aquarium with her sister and her nephew. i wasn’t sure i wanted to go, but that kind of thing really is for kids, and since there was going to be a kid there, i thought, what the hell.
i got my butt up at 8, filled up the car, tuned in the sabercats game and started to drive. after an hour and a half drive, i arrived in marina… believe it or not, this town that ms. nikki lives in is about 5 miles from where my aunt de lives. i felt really bad about not stopping. i don’t even know if she knows how sick my dad is. i’m not sure he told her. i’m not feeling like doing it. i know, it’s bad. oops, off topic.
ms. nikki and holly were still getting ready so i played with jack. jack is this cat that ms. nikki has had since she and andrea used to live together all those years ago. jack is one of the few cats i’m not afraid of. he is all black. nikki has those claw covers on him, so he has bright pink nails. it’s funny.
we decided to take separate cars, and nikki and i drove out to pebble beach to pick-up our passes for the day. appparently pebble beach purchases several aquarium memberships for their employees to use throughout the year. nikki reserved the passes for sunday. you have to pick them up and return them the same day. thus the drive up.
it was then i realized that pebble beach was part of the 17 mile drive. it is like $8.50 to go on the drive, but we wizzed right by all the traffic with nikki’s employee pass. very cool. we got a bit lost looking for security (we were in the right place but no markings)… finally we got the passes and left. it is really beautiful up there. lots of forest lands. yummy stuff.
we then went and met holly and the nephew at bubba gumps on cannery row. god you get a bunch of food. (this not eating chicken thing is starting to become a pain) i had fish and chips. good for the tummy, sucky for the heart and waistline. after the nephew got jello all over him, we went to the aquarium.
the aquarium was hosting a kids day. it was packed! but what fun to see all those kids enjoying the marine life. we started in the brand spanking new shark exhibit. WOW… what a great job! the sharks were incredible. lots to learn… what i want to know is what kind of mean trick was mother nature playing on the hammer head shark? really. they are kind of cute, they look like they are smiling all the time.
about 15 minutes in, we lost holly. lets just say this… the tickets (had they been purchased) are $20 a piece… nikki was intending to see all this with her nephew. she has a teeny bit of time with him, and never saw him again. she was a bit angry. i don’t blame her.
but, not to worry… we went on to see the jelly fish exhibit. OH MY GOD! they are such beautiful creatures! they were lit from behind with black light… you could see all these natural colors. then there was a room with mirrors on each end and jelly fish on both sides. it was like you were surrounded by jellies! it was the coolest thing. to bad they can really hurt you.
then we went to see the sea otters. apparently 3 years ago their male sea otter died. so there are only 2 sea otters to look at. but how cute are they? really cute! the one was just swimming around the top, holding this toy. kinda like lookie what i got!
then we went to look for the penguins. i love the penguins. they look so tame. they come right up to the window as if to say, hey how are you doing! very cute. i had to buy a penguin key chain for my keys. nikki did too.
finally nikki got holly on the phone. we found them in the gift shop. the nephew was throwing a hissey fit (not seen that with him before) and holly said, he needs a nap, we are leaving. who knows. nikki was really hurt. it’s really hard. nikki is more of the “parent” in the situation, with none of the rights.
after that, nikki and i went and bought salt water taffy and some chocolate for me to take to work.
then, we had to drop the passes back to pebble beach. nikki said, you want to take the scenic route back? i said, sure, i’ve got nothing to do.
we got on ocean view boulevard / sunset drive (it follows the coast line), and drove through pacific grove to pebble beach. OH MY GOD! you couldn’t have asked for a better day to make this drive. it was about 80, the sky was crystal clear, bright blue and no clouds to be seen. the ocean was calm for the most part, but there were surfers and such hanging out in the water. we didn’t see any otters in the bay, but i’m sure they were there.
as we got closer to pebble beach, nikki asked if i wanted to do the 17 mile drive. i said, sure, i’ve never done it before. we went past the inn at spanish bay, and point joe. as we passed china rock, nikki said look at the deer. and there about 300 feet from the ocean were a family of deer. they were sitting on the golf course as if they belonged there. there were four does sitting under a cypress tree. about 100 miles beyond them were three bucks, also sitting in the shade under a cypress tree. now, normally deer don’t excite me. i’ve seen deer… just not so close to salt water, sitting on a very well manicured golf course.
it was incredible.
then we stopped at bird rock. we paid our .25 and looked at the pelicans through the telescope. nikki tried to tell me there were seals out there, but she lied. boo nikki! every once in a while i would accidently point at a seagull. i’d comment, i didn’t come all the way to pebble beach to see a seagull. i’ve got them at home. nikki laughed. we were having a blast.
we didn’t get to see the seals because it is pupping season. this means that the seals are hanging out with their pups on the beach. apparently the tourists were disrupting the environment too much, and the mothers were abandoning the pups. so there is a big fence around the seals. good for the seals, bad for viewing the seals.
then we drove by the lone cypress. it really was too busy to stop. besides, i had forgotten my camera (yet again).
we drove the rest of the drive… and went by some of the most beautiful homes i have ever seen. it is absolutely incredible. the views, the surroundings, the wildlife… nikki is right. she works at the most beautiful place on earth.
and it was worth every minute of drive time.
Look who’s talking…