Choices and Changes

Choices - we make them everyday!  Some turn out to be bad choices and some turn out to be good choices.  Today I made both kinds - but as I've said before, "All's well that ends well."

The Monterey Aquarium is often mentioned as being one-of-the-best and I thought we would go there while in town.  However, when we saw the price of the tickets $40 for adult and $35 for seniors, we paused...questioning the idea of spending that much money at an aquarium.  It was a good choice, a very good choice that we went there.  Highly recommend it!  

As you know, I don't go very many new places that I don't have my camera with me.  After 20+ days of touring, my camera feels heavier and heavier and I made the choice to leave my camera in the car instead of bringing it into the aquarium. Well, the look of shock on hubby's face when he found out I left my camera in the car was enough for me to think, "I may have made a bad choice."  He went back to the car to retrieve my camera and am I glad he did.  Very good choice.  Warning:  Lots of photos from the aquarium visit.  Most were taken through plastic/glass windows, so you may see some glare or feedback on some of the photos.  Enjoy, we sure did!

:(  Boo Hoo!  So sad to leave the aquarium

After lunch, we took the 17 miles Pebble Beach auto tour.  It was 30 years ago that I took this tour and was impressed, so I was eager to show hubby what I saw.  But, changes have occurred.  Trees have grown and houses have been built along the road blocking many views that I had.  Sometimes change is disappointing, as we "mourn" for the way things used to be.  But all-in-all, we did get some photos of the overlooks and the sea action.  Just no photos of the golf holes next to the sea that I remember.  

Drove along the beach towards the east and saw more of Monterey Bay.

Here's a couple more Monterey photos, seals lounging in the marina among the many boats.

As you can see in this photo, the clouds were rolling in and it was a good choice that we went and got our sunset photos last night, as these clouds did not roll on out and you couldn't see a sun set tonight.  Besides that, we were enjoying a postponed anniversary dinner tonight.  Good choice for a change!  ;)

D of D

Yesterday was C of C Day - Chamber of Commerce day.  Today was D of D - Day of Driving for eight hours from southern Oregon to Monterey, CA.  I am beginning to realize that I do not like to drive in heavy traffic; especially since we got rear-ended about year and a half ago.  So by the time we reached Monterey, I had a nasty head ache and my knee (as in "wounded knee") was throbbing even though I did virtually no walking today.  So hubby suggested we have pizza tonight....really HE did suggest it first...but I wouldn't turn down the suggestion.  So we went Pizza My Heart, yummy!  They are a chain restaurant out here.

Drove around a bit and found out the locations of Cannery Row and Fisherman's Wharf.  Then we started driving towards the sun. Accidentally found Point Pinos lighthouse.  Love these photos during the sun set.

Then found a spot on the shoreline to take some photos of the waves crashing on rocks and the sunset.  

Worth the long drive!  :)  Good night!

C of C Day!

When we left this morning to go out and about, hubby says, "This is a Chamber of Commerce day for Ashland, Oregon."  The sky was blue with a few clouds...no smoky, heat-induced summer haze in the air!  Beautiful!  The kind of day that the Chamber of Commerce orders when they want to entice you to move to their neighborhood.

Note:  This photo was taken from moving car.

Went to nearby historic Jacksonville, with plenty of old buildings full of great shopping!

Here's Michael (Paul's brother), Diane (his wife) and Paul in front of the local establishments with the local trolley tour behind them.

Had a delicious lunch at the Jacksonville Inn patio and opted for dessert.  Here's our before and after pics.  

It looks like a site of mass destruction, doesn't it?  :)

Pumpkin patch at local farm market getting close to being ready for Halloween.

Went to Belle Fiore Winery for wine tasting and bought two more bottles for road!  

As we were leaving the winery, we saw these two bucks with their families in the field.  I asked if they were part of a game farm and they're not.  I wonder if they have a fall hunting season here, sure would be nice meat and trophy for someone.

 We also saw (but didn't get photo) of two guys walking their sheep down the street.  Not sure if they were props for a play or not.  Very interesting and beautiful spot of Oregon, that we hate to leave tomorrow.  But we must get on the road again.