Darren   Journal: Day Seven   other journals
	After the night chat Mike and I had about colleges, we went to bed at 1am. We all were supposed to get up at 6am, but what happened was Anne got up at 6am, and she wanted to rest her eyes. She overslept to 7am. That’s why people say you should never rest your eyes when you wake up, you tend to oversleep. Anyways, getting up at 7am and getting everything ready, we got in the van and took off to Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was about a 2 hour drive to Monterey. As we were driving on the highway, I noticed the landscape was getting hilly and country like. Then we got into Highway 1, the California Coast Highway. It was so beautiful and I was so excited because I finally touched it. The highway was better than the Connecticut highway because all you see is trees. We finally arrived at the aquarium. As we got out the van, the first thing you notice is the smell of the salt because the Pacific Ocean is right there in my own eyes. The weather was so warm. When we exited the parking lot, we had to go to the restrooms, and next to the restrooms was a store, it had fudge. I got peanut butter fudge; it was delicious and so freshly made. It was so soft that it melted in my mouth. We walked toward the aquarium and Anne was getting the tickets, I walked to the dock that overlooks over the Pacific Ocean. It was beautiful and relaxing. I saw wild sea otters, seals, starfishes, and fishes. I was taking so many pictures then I borrowed Charise’s binoculars to see the otters in the sea hidden in the kelps. I saw 2 wild sea otters; it was a cool feeling to see them in the water. Then Anne got the tickets, we went in and that when our mouth just dropped to the floor. The aquarium was so huge inside; a grey whale was above our heads. It was awesome how the aquarium was decorated. The aquarium itself was so much better that it beat the Boston Aquarium. Monterey was famous long time ago because that when the first canning company was set up. It was called Monterey Canning Company. It was opened during World War 2 because soldiers were eating those during the war. It was so interesting how the first canning company was set up. San Francisco has a lot of history that anyone could learn from it. I’ve learned so much while my time was in the aquarium. The first thing we saw was the otters. We saw two different species of otters. They were sea otters and freshwater otters. I was very shocked how those two are very different even if they were the same family. When we visited the freshwater otter section, there were three otters playing around with rocks and toys. They were so cute that I wanted to bring one home. After looking at the otters, we had lunch out in the dock with the ocean view, it was so gorgeous. I loved it! It was a nice time for us to relax and enjoy our lunch with the warm weather. When our lunch was chowed down, we went back inside and out three lovely teachers told us we were allowed to go on our own for an hour and half. Mike and I went out together, the girls went on there own. Mike and I saw so much stuff we were overwhelmed with the place. It was three stories high. We started with the deep sea area where fishes had lights, jellyfishes, and very different seaweeds from the deep. After that, we went to see tiny fish living in seaweeds; we found one fish as tiny as a pencil tip. Then we saw different species of jellyfish. WOW, there was so many of them and all came in different sizes. Some were huge, some were tiny, some were colorful, and some were invisible. It was so interesting to see all different kinds of jellyfishes that live the deep blue sea. After finishing doing that, we walked across the other side and entered into The Outer Bay. I loved that part the most because the entrance for the bay was unbelievable. When you enter, there are fishes swimming in a circular motion above your heads and it is huge. The way it moves makes you feel like you are in the ocean because it gets your attention so fast you attractive to the fishes. Inside, the section had everything you could imagine. In the back of the bay area, they had a huge tank aquarium; inside was so many different species of fishes. They were ocean sunfish, pelagic stingray, scalloped hammered head shark, sea turtle, yellow fin tuna, Galapagos shark, California barracuda, and much more. It was the best section overall in the aquarium. After exploring the Bay, we walked into the penguin section and they were so funny and cute. When we arrived, there was a woman feeding the penguins. It was so interesting how they eat their food. Then we walked around the Kelp section and see so many different kinds of kelps living in the ocean. After seeing all those fascinating things that lives in the ocean, our time were up; we had to meet the teachers. When we met, all of us were so excited and tell stories to each other. It was an awesome aquarium. I will visit the place again when I visit California again. It was getting time to leave and as we were leaving, we got hungry. We stopped at Dippin Dots for ice cream; I stopped at Starbucks for Iced Tea Lemonade with green tea and extra sweetener. It was delicious and cooled me off. The teachers got Iced Green Tea and snacks. We all were satisfied what we got. Then we walked back to the parking lot and took off to the Big Sur. As we were driving to the Big Sur, we saw the Carmel Beach rock section; we pulled over because we wanted to climb the rocks. I was so pumped and excited because it was my first time touch the Pacific Ocean. Anne was so excited to see me touch the Pacific Ocean because of the look on my face. Anne got into the water and screamed 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, as she screamed 1, I touched the water. It was cold but refreshing and I was so happy and screaming all over the place! Then Angelina and I climbed to the top of the rocks in the ocean and when we arrived there, we screamed, “This is California baby!” and started dancing around. Anne came up and joined us dancing; it was so fun and great experience for us. I just stood up on top of the rock and enjoyed the view of the beautiful water. Angelina climbed back to the shore, Anne and I stayed at the top because it was so hard to leave the view of the ocean. We stayed for a little bit then started to head back to shore. As we were climbing back to shore, it was harder to walk on the rocks because some were in water. Getting to the shore, we rested right next to the shore with the others. It was so nice to have us see the ocean and relax; we talked about our past about other oceans. After relaxing, we finally got back to the shore. At the shore, I asked Megan, “Was this your first time to the Pacific Ocean?” She replied, “Yes.” Anne was shocked and thrilled for her. It was Megan and me for the first time touching the Pacific Ocean. So, Anne took pictures of us hugging right next to the beach first time. It was the best part of the trip and I’ve touched three oceans. I touched Atlantic, Pacific and Caribbean. We all got in the van and took off to see Big Sur. As we were driving, we took Highway 1 to get to Big Sur. When we were driving, we saw the ocean right next us. It was breathtaking, unbelievable thing to see in your life. I was gorgeous how to see the cliff was formed with the trees, rivers, and the landscape. It was the real natural Mother Nature. When Charise was driving, we stopped in every pull off stops because everything was so beautiful we had to take pictures of everything. Charise cried of happiness because it was so wonderful to see the cliff with ocean, it was so relaxing for her. All of our mouths dropped to the floor. It was a great experience for us. When I plan to visit again, I will drive from San Francisco to Las Angeles using highway 1 because of the landscape. I can’t even imagine how it would be like. It was an overwhelming experience and worth every moment. After all the sightseeing, we finally arrived at the Big Sur. WOW; it was a mountain with real pine trees. The smell of the pine was unbelievable and so strong. Everything looks so clean and fresh. I wanted to steal one and use it for a Christmas tree. This day was awesome and I learned a lot in one day. After seeing all we possible could, we had a three hour drive back home. We all were so tired and slept in the van on the way home. We got home at CSD around 9pm, and then we had dinner at 10pm. Then we just hit the sack!
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