i love otters

sk and i went down to Monterey for the weekend. while we were there, we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium and saw the cutest little sea otters. i guess these otters are native to the waters near Monterey. Here's a picture of an otter just swimmin' on its back and munching on some lunch. so cute! this picture does not do them any justice, but it was the best we could do through the plexiglass display window.

it was a beautiful, intelligently-designed aquarium -- much better than the one in Baltimore -- and perfect for families with kids. i think as an adult, i can fully appreciate museums while when i was a kid, i'd inevitably be bored out of my mind! there were a ton of kids at this aquarium and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves. sk and i were oohing and ahhing right next to them.

the Monterey Bay itself must be some kind of wildlife sanctuary, because there was quite the variety of wildlife just out in the open. just peering into the water, you could see starfish latched onto rocks in shallow water, tons of different kinds of birds, and seals just lazing about in the open right next to the aquarium. it was pretty cool.

the other cool part of our trip was just driving around the coast. for you golfers out there, Monterey is also home to world famous Pebble Beach, as well as at least a dozen beautifully groomed public golf courses. sk was practically drooling on the car window as we passed by all the perfectly-manicured greens.

i was drooling over the multi-million-dollar estates/houses that were built on the golf course, overlooking the ocean. we checked the real estate prices, just for fun, and saw that the range went from about $1.5 million (for a 2 bedroom cottage) to $22 million (and up). gee, just in our price range!

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less than one week until GMK and co. visit us in San Fran! i'm pretty excited to see my family! woohoo!