Whale of a Tale!

It's really no secret that I love adventures, especially when I get to have them with awesome people!  This is one of the reasons I love February...it means that a birthday adventure with Scott is right around the corner!  This year we went whale watching!   

Here we are in our spot at the back of the boat:

The weather was perfect and the boat was actually really nice too!  If you ever go whale watching, I would highly recommend giving Shoreliner Cruises a shot!  The boat was filled to capacity, but didn't even feel crowded and the captain went out of the way to make sure we got to see some whales!  And we did!  Gray ones, to be exact...barnacles and all!  I had no idea that gray whales are covered in barnacles, but they are.  I felt a little bad for them!  :/  Anyhow, we saw gray whales, sea otters, and sea lions.  We also got to sail right past the Angels Gate Lighthouse, which is an old, but very pretty lighthouse off the San Pedro coast.  

It was cool to see the whales, but after we had seen them and started to head back, both Scott and I decided that, apparently, we needed a mid-day nap.  We seriously slept on the boat almost all the way back to the shore.  We woke up just in time for the captain to announce that we were about to see the otters and sea lions.  At first I felt mildly pathetic, but then realized how much more refreshed (though still plenty exhausted) I felt after the nap and then I decided that I just didn't care.  YOLO.  (Don't worry; that's most likely the only time I'll ever say that.  haha!).

Hey look!  That's our boat! We totally planted ourselves on the side, just to the left of those stairs.

Next, we headed to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium that was super close by.  We got to see some crazy-huge lobsters, one of which was a major bully, some whale skeletons, and tons of other underwater creatures.  We even got to pet anemones, urchins, and bat fish!  Well...I did; Scott opted out of that and instead snapped a couple of pics.  ;)

That water was ICE COLD, by the way.  Ice. Cold.

After our aquarium adventure we walked across the parking lot to Cabrillo Beach and played on the swings for a bit, before taking a walk down by the water.

Next, it was off to Redondo Beach, where we had dinner reservations at Samba Brazilian Stakehouse.  Scott served his mission in Brazil and so this was the perfect place to go!  We had some time to kill before our reservation time, so we walked around the pier.  There were tons of people there and the ocean was beautiful, as always!  We just walked around, talking and checking the place out.  We went into this arcade/carnival area they had, which was SO creepy.  They had weird things hanging from the ceiling and odd games to play (in addition to a few normal-ish ones).  We agreed that this was the type of place you would go if you were starring in a horror movie.  Since we were trying to kill time, not people, we went ahead and exited the building.  We enjoyed the rest of our walk and then went back to the restaurant.  

It was pretty delish, I gotta say!

It was fun to try some of the things Scott had eaten in Brazil, like the cheese bread (YUM!) and this powdery stuff that we put on top of rice and black beans.  We were way too full to eat dessert at the restaurant, so we headed towards home and got Coldstone on the way back, once our dinner had settled a bit.  It was a way fun day with one of the most amazing people I know...can't beat that!  

Happy Birthday, Scott!!!