Vacation 2012: Monterey Continued

The rest of our time spent in Monterey was spent in an area called Cannery Row, which was an old cannery district turned into a shopping district filled with fun surf shops and yummy restaurants.

A popular stop in Cannery Row is the Monterey Bay Aquarium:

We were set up with awesome headphones for our tour - we were taken places where we weren't allowed to take pictures, (you know, in case we ever decide to set up our own high tech museum in our back yard,) and we saw a lot of cool ocean life.  We were able to feed the fish - which was a special privilege and we learned a lot about what fish eat.

Brady at the touch pool - to be clear, you may touch the sea life, but you may not pick it up.  This was a distinction Brett learned quickly.

But Brett's not one for following the rules and he convinced Brady to do the same.

I can't remember what kind of crab this was, but it was the one creature I wouldn't touch.

There was a cool tide tunnel which shows you what the tide is like in the ocean.

There were little turtles to see.

Brett likes turtles.  (Please see related YouTube link here.)

There was an amazing deep ocean display on the inside of the Aquarium filled with huge Tuna, Hammerhead sharks, and smaller sharks, along with a few sea turtles and lots of pretty schools of fish.  Unfortunately there just wasn't a good way to get a picture there.

But the Jelly Fish area was kind of beautiful:

There was an awesome area to stand that gave the effect that you were in the middle of a huge school of jellyfish.

The girls got the opportunity to Scuba dive around the Aquarium:

Ella is kind of a pro at posing.

Both of the girls rocked their scuba gear.

Lexi waiting to get her mask and tank.

The girls were assigned in groups of three to a Scuba advisor and he took them around a small pool filled with cool ocean life.

It looked like a lot of fun.  Both Brett and Chad did this as kids too.

After a long day at the Aquarium, Phil & Cindy took the kids back to the hotel to swim in the heated pool and the adults had a date night on Cannery row, but the only pictures I took were with my phone because I decided to ditch my big camera.  But I did get a couple:

This was an awesome rock bench built for possibly a small child's rear, but Brett gave it a try anyway:

Next up: 17 Mile Drive