Monterey Bay Aquarium?

[egoldber]

When we lived in San Jose we went all the time. But we haven't been there in 10 years. We'll be going there in a couple weeks. Any thoughts or things to keep in mind? We are staying in walking distance, so parking is not a concern.

ETA: Should have said not been there in TEN years and before kids. :)

[SnuggleBuggles]

I love it there. :) We haven't been for a few years. But the one thing I remember is to buy your tickets before you get to the gate. We bought our tickets online and printed out the tickets (there's probably some fancy smart phone app nowadays too). Saves you from a potentially long line. I'd also look at the program schedule ahead of time and see if there is anything you want to sign up for.
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/efc/efc_programs/adventures.aspx

Beth

[new_mom_mry]

Don't eat at any of the places on Cannery Row (so touristy). There are some great restaurants in Monterey and Pacific Grove, and yelp has pretty accurate ratings and reviews of local places around here. Oh--here's another tip--if you happen to know a local who lives in this area, he/she can get free tickets good for admitting up to 5 people at a time. The local country library system (closest libraries to Monterey are in Seaside, Carmel Valley, and Marina) give out these tickets to library members on the 1st of every month.

[egoldber]

Yeah, we used to live in San Jose and went to Monterey once a month-ish. (DH was a diver.) We plan to go to Gianni's for pizza, but I would love more restaurant recs. :)

We plan to take the kids to Point Lobos as well. Maybe to Santa Cruz for a day too.

[mom2binsd]

I loved the Fish Wife restaurant in Pacific Grove, but not sure if it's there still, it was very popular when I went 15 years ago.

http://www.fishwife.com/

[SnuggleBuggles]

Have you gone to Nepenthe in Big Sur? Last time we went to the aquarium, we left around 3:30 and drove down the coast to that restaurant. Such a beautiful drive and scenery.
http://www.nepenthebigsur.com/

[new_mom_mry]

Yeah, we used to live in San Jose and went to Monterey once a month-ish. (DH was a diver.) We plan to go to Gianni's for pizza, but I would love more restaurant recs. :)

We plan to take the kids to Point Lobos as well. Maybe to Santa Cruz for a day too.

Nice, we used to live in Monterey until last summer and now live in Santa Cruz. The children's museum might be another fun place to check out:

http://www.mymuseum.org/

Point Lobos should be fun to visit with the kids, but also, depending on the weather, Carmel beach is really, really fun on a nice sunny day. I can't think of any family friendly restaurants in Cannery Row area that I am in love with, but there are many great places in Carmel. Tommy's Wok is a GREAT family style restaurant in Carmel Village area, and there are many others that we frequented but that was pre-kids, so I don't want to recommend a non-kid friendly place :)

[egoldber]

We had a great time. :) We spent part of the time in San Jose visiting old friends and then arrived in Monterey late Tuesday. We spent two full days at the Aquarium and then one full day exploring beaches around Monterey and Carmel.

We ate at Gianni's, Cannery Row Brewing Company, the Aquarium itself, once at our hotel and an embarrassingly large number of times at Starbucks. :o