Christmas in California, dude

Well the decorations are almost put away, and Grandma's annual gift of homemade peanut-buttercups has all been eaten (by Ryan), so I guess Christmas is actually officially over for this year. Sigh. It took me so long to get into the Christmas spirit this year because of my surgery. For those of you who have never experienced surgery let me tell you that post-surgery you will be really really really tired! I was pretty much a potato camping out on the sofa and I think I watched nearly every movie we own during the month and a half before Christmas. Also, surgery does things to your appetite. All I wanted to eat for a month was grits n' eggs and Dr. Pepper. That's it. No mas.

I am recovering well, and the surgery did what it was supposed to do. I haven't felt any of the pre-surgery pain that I was experiencing for the two years after our car accident. My right arm is going to be much more limited in its movements than my left, but that extra stretchy joint capsule was what allowed the injury in the first place. So, I think I'll happily trade a little mobility for a lack of pain and an increase in stability.

Anyway, back to Christmas. What a fun Christmas it was! We went to Monterey, CA to visit my sis and her hubby and their new little baby. Patrick was about 2 months old at this point, but he's a little chunk so I think he looks older than he is.

Patrick and his auntie!

Patrick being picked on by his mommy. He doesn't seem to mind though. :)

Same Mommy being greatly annoyed by her sister using her as a means to test the quality of the lighting for picture purposes. She does seem to mind. Maybe that sign in the lower right is a warning to Sis? :)

I readily admit that California is a much more interesting place than I thought it would be. I guess I expected nothing but Hollywood, palm trees and overpriced boutiques. Granted, it has those in spades, but it also has picturesque scenery, fascinating flora and fauna and great restaurants! One of the downsides to living in a small town is the limited selection of places to eat. That, and the lack of shopping opportunities, are about the only downsides that I can currently think of though. :P

In Monterey we were able to do so much, and we barely scratched the surface of what that town has to offer. Everywhere we went it seemed that someone in the group was pointing out another place and saying how good the food was. I would have liked to try more of them but we simply didn't have the time.

The first place we went was Cannery Row, which in 1958 was given its current name after the novel by John Steinbeck. I've never read it so I can't say if it's good or not. Once known for the sardine canneries that are no longer operational, it is now a street lined with shops, galleries, and food spots. There were enough sights on this street alone to fill our whole week. Go here, and read this too. You will learn things.

We didn't actually go into the Nestle's shop, because right across the street was this place, and Ghirardelli always wins over Nestle in my book. Always.

Chocolate, chocolate everywhere! Gift boxes of assorted chocolate, loose chocolates to pick and choose from, cookbooks on chocolate, tote bags with pictures of chocolate, free samples of chocolate, etc.

Oh, I miss it already. Ryan got a chocolate-peanut butter sundae that was probably the calorie equivalent of all the other desserts he might have eaten this year combined... but it was tasty so it was worth it.

Anyone who's seen Forrest Gump will recognize the name of this place. The gift shop and the restaurant were filled with memorabilia from the movie, and the food was fantastic.

Here we all are.

Live Christmas music that we could almost hear over the crowd.

The table has little "Forrest quotes" written all over it.

Yep.

Here you can sit and pretend to be Forrest.

One of the highlights of the trip, which I didn't get to go on because my pain medications made me nauseous that day (fun), was the sea kayaking that Ryan, Dad and Daniel got to do. I would have loved to sit in one of those things and be paddled around for a few hours, but it was not to be. Oh well. They got to see some pretty cool things. As I was left out (sad) I will leave the retelling of this portion of the post to Ryan.

Hello. Ryan here. So, sea kayaking rocks. Gary and Daniel and I went out for several hours, and it was a blast. First of all, it's just flat cool to be out in the middle of a beautiful bay, in a T-shirt, in the middle of December.

Second, and more importantly, with some patience you can get really close to some cool animals in a kayak...primarily sea otters.

Those little things are so cute and curious. At first they won't let you get closer than about 50 yards, but if you just sit and watch for awhile, then before long you find them popping up within feet of you. Also, they sometimes just fall asleep hanging on to the kelp, and you can paddle sneak up pretty close to them. Not too close, of course, for fear of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act...anyway, it's really cool. We also got to see quite a few sea lions. Fortunately the bigger ones were always at a distance. Some of the younger ones, however, swam right up to us and followed our kayaks for quite a ways while we were on our way back. Pretty cool.

Other neat stuff we got to see included all sorts of birds, like egrets, and a few jellyfish. All-in-all, an experience I highly recommend.

All of us (including Kathleen who could not go kayaking) got to go see:

Harbor seals (i.e., living beanbags with really cute faces).

Elephant seals, which are so ugly they warrant several pictures. Don't ask me how that logic works, it just does okay?

Sea lions, which are big and noisy.

Sea otters. Can I keep one if I get it to follow me home?

Another treat was the trip we took to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Their pictures are much better than mine. Mine are okay, but the little fishes wouldn't sit still! While we were there we got to see a special exhibit of seahorses from all over the world. The variety was incredible! I didn't do anything to enhance these colors. This is all natural.

Not seahorses, but still beautiful.

Doesn't this little guy look almost space age? That little translucent fin on his back was all that he used to go 'round and 'round in his aquarium. Very energy efficient.

There's two whole seahorses in this picture, and a bit of one more in the bottom left.

These were the best pictures I had. The aquarium is very interesting with lots of fascinating things to see. I would go again, given the chance.

All in all, Christmas was quite fun. We should do it again some time.