We spent Christmas day hiking near our cabin at Pfieffer Big Sur State Park along the Pfeiffer Falls path and to Julia Pfieffer Beach and the McVay Falls. Santa also managed to locate our cabin tucked away in the giant coastal redwood forest.
The giant coastal redwoods were amazing to see in person. We enjoyed the mild weather and scenery. Afterwards we headed back out onto highway 1 for Monterey. The green rolling hills and lighthouses were picturesque and reminded me of Ireland. The cattle grazing along the pacific ocean had quite the view to stare upon each day. We crossed the famous Bixby Bridge built in 1932.
Once in Monterey we got settled in to the Navy Lodge and relaxed a bit. The next day we visited the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. Our daughter would like to pursue marine biology in college so she was very excited about our visit. We learned so much at the aquarium about their conservation efforts with various marine life. We especially enjoyed the presentation about the sea otters and the great white sharks. We got to see a few of the resident sea otters that day. The aquarium houses juvenile great white sharks from time to time, but there were not any currently at the aquarium for us to see. The sea kelp forest was extraordinary to see as well.
We finished up our exciting day with a stroll through Cannery Row and a Pinkberry treat.
