Despite not having a kitchen floor and all sorts of other projects looming over us, Lee and I decided we wanted to take advantage of the three-day weekend and do something fun.  I had never been to Hearst Castle or to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, so we decided to see both.  On Saturday morning we drove the gorgeous drive to San Simeon and enjoyed the "Grand Rooms" and "Upstairs Suites" tours of Hearst Castle.  That place really is a museum and the grounds were beautiful.  The pools were some of the more impressive works of art.

We had seen large groups of people and a million cars along the beach as we were arriving at Hearst, and learned that there was an elephant seal viewing area.  Lucky for us, it was the ideal time of year to see the month-old pups (some of which were still nursing), a few fights between the male seals as the non-alpha males tried to sneak in and mate with the females, and of course some mating of the alpha males and their herems of females.  There could have been a couple hundred seals on the beach.  Watching them inch worm along was really entertaining.  We watched them until the sun went down and returned again on Sunday afternoon.  It was a treat!

We stayed in Morro Bay on Saturday night, had a delicious dinner, went to church on Sunday morning and then strolled along the bluffs in Montana de Oro State Park.  It was chilly and breezy, but gorgeous.  We ended the day in Monterey so we could visit the aquarium on Monday.  The aquarium was packed.   I think every family brought their kids there for President's Day.  The jelly fish and the sea horses were my favorite exhibits.  We had a great weekend and a much needed escape.   Not to mention, I finally made it places I've wanted to visit for years!  Pictures of our weekend fun is in the gallery.