Day 4: Monterey and Gamie

The next day we got up and went down to Cannery Row in Monterey. We had reserved kayaks to take out into the bay. Hannah wanted one of her own, so I rowed with Abigail, and Hannah and David each had their own. This was a fantastic experience, my favorite of the trip!! Abigail was freaked out to begin with as you launch from the beach and there were waves crashing...but it was suprisingly simple! She quickly relaxed and was rowing away. We rowed all down the waterfront area, over kelp “fields”. We saw otters, seals, sea lions and plenty of birds. Some of the sea lions were so close that we could almost touch them. We weren't trying!!! They just float with their heads just above the water, and sometimes you don't see them till you are right over them. They just sit there and stare at you...so cool!! The girls did awesome at rowing, and after about an hour and a half we were all pretty tired and ready to go in. It is kind of an awkward position, to sit in a kayak...so for most of us our backs and legs hurt long before our arms and shoulders. So glad we did this...highly recommended if you ever have a chance either in Monterey or anywhere for that matter! :)

We then walked around the shops in Cannery Row and had lunch at Bubba Gump's ... it was overpriced ok food...but we had never been...and now we have.

After lunch we drove to Los Gatos to visit Gamie and Tom. It was really great to see Gamie again, she has definitely aged since the last time we saw her, but she is doing really well. Her mind is more engaged in person than on the phone, so I was really glad to see that! I had an old photo album of her family that I needed people identified in, and she happily did so! That was a fun conversation...it brought up old memories for her that she was happy to talk about.

We then went out to dinner at a great family pizza/italian restaurant. It was cute as Gamie very much wanted dessert after dinner. Then she got all worried as she was the only one who ordered it...but she was very happy once she started eating her chocolate cake.

After dinner we said our goodbyes and drove to Sunnyvale for the night.




The kelp "field"