California Tour Diary - June 24, 2013

June 24, 2013: Overcast skies greeted us this morning but the rain stayed away.  A quick breakfast was had at the hotel before we left for Cannery Row along the Monterey coast, made famous by the John Steinbeck novel of the same name . We spent a good amount of time taking in the sites and shopping for souvenirs and on our way into the Monterey Aquarium we gave an impromptu one song concert for the tourists. We spent a couple of hours walking around the Aquarium looking at the great collection of sea life to include jellyfish, seahorse, sea otters, penguins and many amazing species of fish. We had a tasty mid day meal at the Islands Restaurant.  Half the group ate on the cozy outdoor patio while the other half chose to eat indoors and even celebrated Madison’s 16th birthday with an ice cream cake (was it really her birthday???). The highlight of our day was our tour and full concert at the Carmel Mission Basilica.  Many were touched by this performance, even to the point of tears, as the acoustics of the basicalla reverberated throughout the church.  The day ended with a quick social hour and off to bed for an early morning ride to our next destination.