Well, I’m back to my blog writing. It’s been a very busy last few months, as I made the big move to California and started a new job. It’s funny how the entirety of my experiences can be summed up in a single sentence, that somehow doesn’t even begin to explain the infinite list of things to do in order to transplant myself into a new world. It’s starting to settle down, though, so I think this is a good time to get back into my normal swing of things.

I had a particularly relaxing weekend last week, when the boyfriend and I went down to Monterey and Carmel. It’s an area that I’ve wanted to explore for quite a while, but the extra day of the long weekend gave us the opportunity. It was definitely worth it.

One of my favourite things was the coastline. As a Vancouver girl, I’m deeply and madly in love with the ocean, and it’s been a little sad not seeing blue every day. (I have to admit, the blue sky is a nice substitute, though).

We did the 17-mile drive near Carmel, which I would highly recommend. It’s a loop that goes through everything from extremely fancy houses tucked away in the woods, to golf tees hovering perilously close to cliffside drop offs, to the actual drop offs that turn spectacularly into the beautiful seaside. It’s very easy to stop anywhere for a walk and pictures, which is exactly what we did.

The town of Carmel was also very cute. You could tell it was touristy, but forgave it because it was so charming. We ate some delicious pasta at a place called Yafa – trying to find a restaurant on Saturday night was crazy! We didn’t realize most places were reserved until 8 or 9, but the very nice waiter at Yafa squeezed us in.

The next day, we visited Point Lobos state park, which was also very beautiful. One of my favourite things was seeing sea otters playing far down below in the water. They were too far to photograph, but my boyfriend had to drag me away, or I would’ve stayed there watching for hours.

Later in the day, it started to get really foggy, which made the views both picturesque and a little eerie. Looking out at endless blue and white from on top of a cliff gives you vertigo like nothing else.

The last day, we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which I had been extremely looking forwards to. I thought it was a very nicely done aquarium, and they had a special jellyfish exhibit. My favourite were the blubber jellyfish, which seemed to have no other purpose than collide aimlessly with one another, causing giant clumps of rapidly pulsating jellies.

Overall, a really neat trip, and a welcome break from the normal work-weekend schedule. Though this weekend we made homemade cabbage rolls, and I played with my Kitchenaid and made snickerdoodles, so ordinary life isn’t so bad either.