August in Monterey

Steve travels a lot for work, and during the week he is gone for at least half the year. He doesn't pay for hotel, food or gas to the job. He is a Marriott card holder and is now a Platinum Elite member. So free upgrades and other perks depending on which type of Marriott he is staying at. When he travels to somewhere boring like Bakersfield, we stay at home, but if he is somewhere wonderful, like Santa Cruz or Monterey, Jenna and I travel with him. Since it is usually about 105+ in Fresno in August, we make sure to go with him when he travels to Monterey! And this time we stayed in really nice rooms that average $200 a night. No way would we pay for this on our own dime! This year, we were there for two weeks. The first week had the famous car show at the end of it. The total bill for 5 nights? $1,700! Crazy, right???

This Marriott was right in the middle of historic downtown Monterey. It was next to the wharf (and the car show), old historic buildings and (on Tuesday nights) a farmers market. It was only a 10 minute walk to the public library. And I only had to walk for 15-20 minutes to get to Dennis the Menace Playground, a really interesting park. At the park, Jenna finally learned that in order to go down the slide one has to go up the steps and across the structure. That was fun for her and I didn't have to do much to entertain her for 40 minutes!

At a restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf.

Dessert at the restaurant above.
 

Trying on sunglasses that Daddy got from work.
 



 

 

Where we ate our dinner from the Farmer's market.

This seal was fascinating. Jenna was in love.