the ocean and a kayak

for years every time i see a person driving in an Suv with a kayak attached to their roof (preferably with mountain bikes along for the ride as well)  i am instantly filled with envy for wherever they are headed. Have i ever really been kayaking....NO, but the pure thought of it has always filled me with excitement. Phillip knows this about me cause I'm the first one to point them out every time we are driving somewhere where we happen to stumble across such a sight...its gotten to the point where he will tell me about the ones he even sees while in texas. luxury suv+ kayaks= perfection.
   when phil was home ....one of our many dates we planned for his 3 weeks home was a trip to Monterey  in order to kayak on the ocean. I was stoked to say the least. We looked online and read reviews and found the place we thought would be the most reliable and fun for our first ocean kayak excursion. we decided on 'monterey bay kayaks" ..and it was super great.
   we got coffee  early in the morning ...our tour started at 10 and we had to be in monterey by 9:30...which meant we had to leave home at an awful 7:30 in the morning ugh...kept telling myself it would be worth it..which it was. after our drive we got to the place and they directed us to the are where we get all our sweet semi ridiculous looking gear. we both had to wear wet suits and a ton of other silly looking things...whoever thought wearing a wet suit/ wind breaker/ life jacket/ wet shoes was a good idea was trippin....i felt like Ralphie on "A Christmas Story" when he is barely able to walk in the snow...except for me it was the sand.
    once we were all suited up our tour guide and the other couple who was in our group picked out our paddles and kayaks and were soon taught the basic things we would need to know ..it looked easy enough until i realized me and phil are about  foot difference in height and therefore our paddling strokes were completely different....which made everything way more difficult and exciting. The weather was so perfect that day and the ocean felt more like you were on the most perfect lake ever....it was as smooth as ice. Our tour guide took us around out through the marina where we were able to see sea lions feeding right next to us in the water as well as many otters and their young just floating along the kelp. There were so many neat things to look at and see from such a different angle...amazing .
before we went back into the shore we stopped along a wall back in the marina and picked up a starfish and got to hold it and examine it.....super strange little guys!
overall  it was a beautiful 2 hours out in the ocean on a super beautiful day with my favorite person ever. i def think it was one of the best dates we have gone on and i highly recommend it to any of y'all

 yes its depressing when your boyfriend has skinnier legs than you

 taking time to stop and look at the seals and otters on the kelp beds