Travel Diary: Family Trip to Monterey

So last week, I had the opportunity to turn off and take a wonderful family trip to Monterey, CA for a few days and created memories to last a lifetime. So here goes: Our Monterey Travel Diary!

Day 1: Road Tripping, Seeing the Ocean for the First time

Monterey is about a 5 hour drive away from where we live. Therefore, our vacation started on the road. Living in California, we’ve had A LOT of rain. So as we drove down the state, we got to see how that rain made the entire state so gorgeously green-starting with the valley to the coastal mountains. The drive down was absolutely stunning. Once we reached Monterey, we checked into our hotel, which was right on Cannery Row and chose to spend the late afternoon/early evening exploring. There was a chill breeze in Monterey Bay, but it was gorgeous. We ended our day in a sea-facing restaurant and called it a night after a long drive down!

Day 2: Monterey Bay Aquarium, Relaxed Evening

On day 2, I woke up a little early and got to enjoy my morning coffee while watching the morning sunrise. It was a nice quiet moment before the day started. One of the biggest reasons we chose Monterey was to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium and show Aisha marine life, and she loved it all. The aquarium was walking distance from our hotel, and it was truly magical inside. We saw all types of marine life. However, Aisha’s favorites were the jellyfish and the bigger fish. We weren’t a fan of the smaller finish-except the brightly colored ones. We spent about an hour and a half inside before we started to get a little tired. Therefore, we finished all the exhibits, had a delicious sandwich lunch right after (with an ocean view), and went back to our hotel for some down time. I managed to squeeze in a photoshoot during that down time. And then, my husband found local seafood spot for dinner, which was fantastic and finished off the night with a Ghirardelli sundae!

Day 3: 17 Mile Drive, Carmel, & Fisherman’s Wharf

After 2 days of walking everywhere, we decided to take the car and venture around the area. Starting with the absolutely stunning 17 mile drive: an oceanside drive through the Pebble Beach golf course. It was truly breathtaking. The views of the ocean waves truly rendered us speechless. We took this drive from Monterey to a charming little spot called Carmel-by-the-Sea: a cute little coastal town that reminds of Europe. It had so many tiny cute restaurants and coffee shops, plus we got there on a Farmers Market day! We spent a good amount of the late morning/early afternoon there, had a delicious lunch, grabbed a coffee and took the 17 mile drive back to Monterey for some downtime. After some downtime in the hotel room, we ventured to Fisherman’s Wharf for dinner. And this was so cute! It was right on the water, full of colorful buildings, and lots of pigeons for Aisha to chase everywhere. We concluded the day with a delicious dinner in the last ocean view restaurant and headed back to our hotel for the night.

Day 4: Heading Home

I had my last coffee with an ocean sunrise before getting ready to hit the road. It was long drive up, which was just as beautiful as the drive down. I didn’t take too many photos because I wasn’t feeling well and Aisha wasn’t too happy to be in the car for a long time. However, it was a wonderful wonderful family trip full of great memories!

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2 Comments

  1. April 19, 2023 / 2:44 pm

    Monterey looks gorgeous! Thanks for capturing and sharing all your moments with us!

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