The final countdown!

We arrived in Monterey yesterday feeling rather flat, as you may have surmised from the tone of my blog - if you read it, of course - so we weren't quite sure how we'd feel about today. We opened the room door to go down for breakfast prepared for the icy blast that flattened us, in more ways than one, yesterday, only to feel the gentle breath of a very warm breeze and the glare of the sun (well, we were a bit tardy getting up). We had considered the possibility of a whale watch cruise this morning, but were saved the expense by being able to observe a pair in a feeding frenzy in the breakfast room. Unfortunately, they seemed to have hoovered up most of the available food, so we patient souls had to wait quietly for the poor woman to restock. Gave us a giggle and, along with the warmth of the sun, set the tone nicely for the day. We headed off with the top down, (not many chances left, it goes back first thing in the morning) and parked up along the waterfront. First stop the noisy sea lions that we'd seen last night. Quite captivating actually! 

We checked out the ice cream shop for later, strolled along the Cannery Row waterfront path, watching the sea birds and seals, and headed towards the Aquarium. I had read that this is a first class establishment, and on this occasion my readings were spot on - no disappointments here! A couple of hours passed easily; fantastic jellyfish displays and 2 Giant Octopii - my favourite sea creature! Brilliant! 

We tried to eat in Bubba Gump's (something to do with Forrest Gump) but it was heaving, so we made do, quite well, elsewhere, before searching out the ice cream place for desert. Then it was leaving time; our last drive in our gorgeous car, the end of our road trip. We had thought about continuing up the Pacific Coast Highway, but after yesterday decided that we'd rather just get back to San Francisco the quickest way possible - with the top down, of course! And so we did. Great drive, pretty scenery, even through Silicon Valley, and hardly any hold-ups to speak of. And the temperature was fab all the way - even in San Fran it was about 20˚ warmer than when we were here 3 weeks ago. Getting us ready for Hawaii tomorrow :-) So, our last day on the mainland was terrific. Not action packed like much of the road trip, but just really lovely. And as we drew up at our hotel, what should start playing on the radio? 'The Final Countdown'! (Something funny going on here!) Early start tomorrow for the flight to Honolulu where we board our cruise ship, Pride of America, sailing at 7pm; first stop Maui Sunday morning.

Can't wait :-)