Golden Gate Bridge and Monterey Bay

This morning we made our way back to civilization from our jaunt along the redwood coast. After passing through miles of dairy farms with what looked to be VERY happy cattle and sheep, we met back up with the 101. Wanting to keep with theme of supporting small businesses, we made our way to San Rafael before picking up some delicious coffee and croissants at Red Whale Coffee. We're pretty sure that Jason offended the owner by saying that their menu board was the most confusing thing he had every seen, but oh well, the coffee was incredible either way.

Before we knew it, the Golden Gate Bridge was looming in front of us in all of its glory. Neither of us had (in our best recollection) driven across the bridge before, so we had looks of child-like wonder on our faces the entire time. A bit of a change from our norm, we went full tourist-mode and took photos of the bridge from 3 different vantage points, grumpy baby in tow. It really is a sight to behold.

Wanting to make it to our destination early enough to walk around, we skipped touring The City and continued on until we reached Santa Cruz. Fried seafood and french fries on the wharf, with window seats overlooking Monterey Bay... just what we needed. After lunch, we walked around the wharf to check out the California Sea Lions lazily laying around on the decks under the pier. We honestly could have watched their interactions for hours, but Wesley could not. Somehow outvoted, we headed back on the road.

With the most vague of descriptions, Danielle was miraculously able to find the location of a food truck at a farm stand that Jason used to go to with his family growing up. A short jump off the highway and we were in fried artichoke heart heaven. The Choke Coach was just as just as amazing, but MUCH more well known than it had been in the past.

Half an hour later, we made it to Monterey. Danielle's eyes lit up at first sight of Cannery Row. We walked up to the aquarium where we saw a few otters, far out in the water, doing otter things. This was Danielle's first time seeing them in the wild, so despite the distance, it was a real treat!

Ready for dinner, we wandered down to the Old Fisherman's Wharf with fresh seafood on our minds. We passed the first few ice cream, sweets, and gift shops, then saw a restaurant with some baffling signs (yes, multiple) outside reading:
"NO strollers
NO high chairs
NO booster chairs
Children crying or making loud noises are a distraction to other diners, and as such are not allowed in the dining room"
Now we understand that as new parents, we were sure to notice this, but still, not exactly the most welcoming... Either way, we already had a different restaurant in mind and headed past. That is when we saw the most gloriously sarcastic sign in another window reading:
"YES strollers
YES high chairs
YES booster chairs
Adults cursing or making loud noises are a distraction to other diners, and as such are not allowed in the dining room"
It wasn't the restaurant we were headed to, but guess who got our business... Sing it from the rooftops: Abalonetti Bar and Grill! Thank you for your aggressively inclusive sarcasm!

Now that we settled on the restaurant, we got exactly what we were looking for: A whole, steamed dungeness crab and buttery, garlicky seafood scampi. Sea lions dancing in the water, sunset over the trees, an islander outrigger rowing club making their rounds, and possibly the nicest server of all time... it was perfect.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw our sea lion friends posted up on rocks, a massive harbor seal doing the same, and a dozen or so otters, again, doing otter things. We couldn't have ended our day in a better town.Read more