spoiled rotten

This post will piss you off if you:
a) have dial-up and/or do not like photo-laden entries
b) are irked by the non-frugal

MyFavoriteKid and I are in Monterey Bay for a couple of nights, primarily to visit the Aquarium. I had one free adult ticket, compliments of TheBon, and I was able to get the kid's ticket cheaply by way of AAA. Every year I save up some money for summer happenings, and this year I did not send MyFK to daycamp, nor did I make any substantial travel plans....so, I decided to splurge on the hotel for this trip.

We're at the Spindrift Inn, right on Cannery Row, just a block or two from the Aquarium.

The bonus for me is that we're so in the thick of it, that I wont even need my car. Yay for that. It is pretty quiet even though we are on a busy street because I put us on the ocean side.


We're on the second floor, center.

The room is pretty lavish. Fireplace, featherbeds, big screen tv, marble baths with robes, etc...
There's a bay window with a bench seat overlooking the beach.


And complimentary binoculars, even.


We went exploring around the building (it's neat, because it's an old one), and found out there is a rooftop garden.



And then there's the complimentary wine and cheese in the lobby thang...


Ummmmm.....yah.....so....we're kinda living it up here.

We're doing the Aquarium tomorrow, so for the afternoon we tripped around the Cannery Row shops. We mostly cruised the art galleries here (there are many). Every single time I ducked into one, MyFK whined, but once he got inside, he dug every single one of them. He really spent time with the art he liked, commenting on it and all. Same with the art he didn't like, actually LOL.

We hung out on a pier and checked out some of the wildlife (not very good pics, but there are sea lions out there on those rocks)....



I found one of those stores that only sells socks, and well....I just LOVE socks....the crazier the better. I was mostly enjoying the fact that many of them had "Engrish" labels (here's just one, as an example):

And then last, but not least, we ended our shopping tour at this gem and crystal shop. MyFK kinda has a collection going. He's been doing it since he was a kid. He was so into it, that the lady behind the counter gave him a big fat discount and omitted sales tax, and even tossed in a free gemstone. She loved him. But not as much as we loved her dog.


That is Ozzie, and ohhhh my gawd he was just the sweetest thing on four legs.

We went to the general store to stock up on bottled waters and snacks (hey, even though we're splurgin', I aint payin' to restock that mini-bar, dang it!), and now we're just kickin' it in the room. We're about to head out for some dinner somewhere, and then we might check out the 3D-IMax shark movie, or maybe the scary creatures of the deep movie.



Have a nice night. I know we will. Tucked all in our little high thread count sheets and feather beds....
listening to the waves.....
awaiting the complimentary in room breakfast....
;-)
Sheesh. LOL