Goslings Go West - California baby!

We got to Phoenix airport nice and early.  We were starting to get used to security now, especially with me having pat downs rather than going through the machines due to my medical devices.  Phoenix airport is a little dated.  Didn't stop the boys from loving the travelators though.

Our flight ended up being delayed.  We did think this might happen.  When I booked it, google gave me a warning that 75% of these flights were delayed.  Never mind, gave us time to have a leisurely breakfast and for the boys to have some kindle time.

     Once we were on the plane it was less than 2 hours to San Francisco.  We picked up our luggage and jumped on the monorail to the car rental place.  Funny how all the airports are doing this now.  Putting all the car rental companies together under one roof, just on the outskirts of the airport.  Luckily this rental company had enough cars! We left in a nice BIG Chevrolet Tahoe.  The drive south from San Francisco went up and down winding roads.  The traffic going into the city was horrendous, but we had a pretty clear drive.  It took about 90 minutes two get to Aptos, the town we were staying in.  We stopped at the local supermarket and picked up some supplies for the 6 days we were there.                            

We followed the sat nag down to the house.  What an incredible place.  When I booked this, I really struggled to get what www anted within our price range.  This end up being slightly above what we wanted to pay, but to be practically on the beach was so worth the extra.  We unloaded all the stuff from the car, had a quick snack, and headed over the road to the beach.

                               

Rio del Mar is the name of this beach on Monterrey Bay.  Our first evening we saw a sea otter, floating in the waves.  We are used to seeing dolphins, but otters? This was a new one for us.

We had such a beautiful view of the sun setting, every night.  We were really fortunate with the weather in that it didn't rain at all when we were away.  

Sitting in the front room of the house with the sun setting behind us was awesome.  The house was really well equipped with everything we needed.

The next morning we headed out on the beach for a walk.  It wasn't very warm, but the sun was shinning making it feel warmer.

This beach had loads of driftwood.  Other people had made forts and dens from it. In the afternoon, we went back to the beach.  The kids commandeered a fort from out the front of our house, and started making alterations.  They had a great time playing.

This was an absolutely awesome beach and we felt so lucky to have found this vacation rental.  Aptos seems to be where all the locals go.  you know you are on to a winner when the locals go there.

(More details on the vacation rental can be found here)