Week 8 has come and gone, with nary a scratch, figuratively. Living with cats makes one quite scratch-prone. After a very long work week, we decided to take a little day trip to Monterey for some relaxation. No rest though, because we like to move around.

Photo 1: A couple of years ago, we became members of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We’ve only been back a couple of times since then, but it’s worth the relatively small donation. Plus, we get access to a lot of neat members-only events, like seafood brunch before the aquarium opens to the public. This first photo is from The Jellies Experience, which, obviously, is all about jellies. This little beauty is the white-spotted jelly. Unfortunately, I left my Canon PowerShot G12 at home, but I was pretty pleased with the way my Samsung Galaxy Nexus captured some of the jellies. Here, the white spots are clearly visible.

Photo 2: After the aquarium, we just strolled around Cannery Row for a bit, before hopping back into the car and driving around. This second photo is from Pacific Grove Shoreline Park.We scrambled over slippery rocks and checked out the tide pools. Unfortunately, we only found a bunch of sea snails. Of course, David had to climb as high as possible. This photo really doesn’t give justice to our climbing efforts. Or, his efforts. I never climb as high.

Photo 3: On a whim, we decided to do 17-Mile Drive from Monterey/Pacific Grove to Pebble Beach. Plenty of pretty spots along this route, and driving through the relatively residential neighborhood was a little daunting. The homes there are gigantic and gorgeous. This is the Lone Cypress, which has triumphed against the wind and rain for more than 250 years. It is now bolstered by additional walls and cables, in the hopes that it will survive to see 300 years. This was probably my favorite spot on the drive.

Photo 4: Another photo from 17-Mile Drive. This was Stop 18, The Ghost Tree. The tree itself wasn’t as sinister as the map made it out to be, hence the lack of a photo. It was another cypress, twisted and bleached by the sun. I suppose it could look evil, but eh. Anyway, I loved the silhouettes of the gnarled cypress against the setting sun, and the gleam of the ocean below.

For more photos from the trip (mostly of jellies and more trees), here’s a link to my Instagram.