A Quick Get Away

Because Aidan attends a year round school, he has 3 weeks off in October. Every year, I have grand plans of going to Disneyland during the October Intersession, and every year (ok, only two years thus far) by September, I realize the error of my thinking and change our plans. We have been to Disneyland, and it is fun, but the idea of packing for a longish trip, getting on a plane, blah, blah, blah, for a theme park is just not in me by Labor Day.

Instead, we opted to go to Carmel/Monterey this year. It is a quick trip, and much lower in stress and preparations. For you fine folks who live around this area, this is what I recommend:

Day 1: On your drive down, stop by Los Gatos downtown, walk around, get lunch, relax. (That was the plan, but we decided to get ramen instead, which was delicious.) Throw the kids in the car, and they might just take a nap for the second leg of the trip. Drive past your hotel, either the Embassy Suites or Holiday Inn Express or the Marriott, and continue to Carmel. It takes about another hour- perfect duration for a car nap. By the time you get there, it is mid afternoon, get a snack, walk around town, chide at your kids for touching things in an antique shop. Get dinner at Little Napoli on Dolores Street. Get back to hotel, put the kids to bed. Enjoy the extra couple feet of space in your wheel chair accessible room, because you so cleverly took that room away from the truly handicapped people. (Ok, maybe I should feel bad about this, but I think, first come first serve.) The slightly bigger bathroom is very, very, nice. Especially if you have a baby who sleeps in a porta-crib. You can set it up in there! =)

Day 2: Go to the Aquarium. Park on Wave Street, and if you are lucky, you can park within a block of the Aquarium. Become members, because if you just go back once, you have 'made money.' Besides, it is totally tax deductible- it is not completely clear to me how this can be tax deductible when I am actually getting something out of it? Get lunch at the cafe around 11:30 so you beat the rush. Then, go for a lecture at 1:30, so that you can take a quick nap while the kids listen to the experts talk about whales. Go back to the hotel when you are done with the Aquarium for a swim, then dinner at the Fishwife's in Seaside then throw the kids in bed early and watch TV.

Day 3: On your way back home, swing by Gilroy Gardens. Do the swan ride first, because that gets busy. Then the car ride, because that also gets busy. The healthiest place to eat is the restaurant at the "Mission". They have fruit, roasted chicken, salads...etc. SKIP the Grill and the Mexican joints, trust me. Leave the park about 3, and the children will take another nap, and you are home in time for dinner!

One of the most amusing things for us on vacation is to have TV. The kids are definitely very intrigued by ALL the channels available, and I find some TV shows absolutely fascinating. Like Sisterwives, the reality TV show about this polygamist family. (Frankly, I don't know what people are so up in arms about polygamists anyway, I mean, so they have their own definition of marriage, while not for me, why make it illegal? There are many things that ought to be illegal, or stay illegal, like good old Mary Jane.) There is also this reality TV show about women who didn't know they were pregnant, they thought they were just eating poorly, getting fat, and too stressed, and in menopause. By the time they were in labor, they pretty much all thought they ate something bad, something REALLY bad. I would get cable just to watch these two shows. Seriously. (Actually, the only time I had cable was when I was in med school, and let me tell you, I watched a LOT of TV then- kinda makes me wonder how I passed second year...)

Anyway, book a trip to Carmel/Monterey, watch some TV, and relax!