December, so we decided that the Christmas spirit should visit the van. This
we accomplished with a string of lights running around the 'living room' and a
small (eight inch) live tree. The tree was already decorated with tiny parcels,
to which we added miniature candy canes, which we purloined in fistfuls from
the motel reception desk. As if in punishment for our crime we woke up the
next morning to find pools of blood around the tree.
Actually the sweets had melted in the heat from the Christmas lights
and from this we learned a valuable lesson. The lesson was not ‘do not steal’,
but rather ‘leave wrappers on stolen candy canes if displaying them on your
tree.’
Monterey is famous for its aquarium, so we planned to visit it the next day, our
only one before we were due to move on. However, the coastal town is also a
popular spot to go whale watching, a half day event. There is also an historic
district, the cannery, and - according to the pile of leaflets we picked up in the
motel - a hundred other things to do in the area. Obviously we could not do
everything in one day.... or could we?
We got up very early (for a holiday) the next day and sleepily drove
down to the marina (once we had mopped up the candy cane blood) having
booked a whale-watching trip the evening before. When we had signed up for
it the staff had offered to sell us motion sickness tablets. We decided not to
buy them because Emma doesn’t get seasick and I convinced myself I would
be ok - even though I had been seasick as a child. The tablets were offered
again the next morning and by this stage I was starting to worry that my
stomach would let me down. So, as we sat on the dock eating huge sticky