09/18/00 -- Trip to CA

Monterey -- Cannery Row and the Aquarium

It's been about nine years since I was last in Monterey.  Somehow we all managed to get out of bed at a decent time to head down there from San Francisco.  We get directions, we head out.  To my vast relief, we're only on Hwy 1 for a brief time -- to get into Monterey -- so I don't die of fright from Jonah's driving along the windy cliffy parts of it. :)

I'd planned to go dressed in my little schoolgirl outfit, but I decided I just couldn't handle wearing a skirt.  Boo was relieved.  I still think it would've been fun.

We make our way to Monterey, right?  There's this nifty pond thing with a cool bird sculputre/fountain in the middle of it and I think, "Hey!  That'd be a cool picture!" (I mentioned I've been camera-crazy, right?)  So I make Jonah pull over and I take a couple of cool pictures.

Monterey is as gorgeous as I remember.  And Cannery Row is as nifty as I remember.  We wind up eating brunch at some little place along the walk from the parking garage to the Aquarium.  I have a chowder bread bowl, so does Boo.  Jonah has fish and chips.  Not bad, all things considered.

Then we walk to the Aquarium.  Wow.  It's changed a lot from the last time I was there.  At least, I don't remember it being quite so big or there being quite so much in there.  I mean, yeah, it was big and there was a lot, just, well, yeah.

I take pictures of *everything*.  I don't care.  I'm playing with my camera.  If they turn out, cool, if they don't, oh well. [Side note, just about everything turned out -- most of it better than I expected!  Will scan and post at some point.  No promises when.]

I go through six rolls of film in the Aquarium.  It's just so cool.  Jelly fish, non jelly fish, otters, penguins.  Boo got a frightened look from one of the docents, at one point, when he asked me to give him my camera and take my clothes off.  I was like, "Huh?"  He said, "Give me your camera and take your clothes off.  You can't do Venus on the Half Shell with your clothes on."  It was the "take your clothes off" bit that got him the worried look.  Needless to say, I gave him my camera, but I didn't take my clothes off.  Cute pictures taken in the fiberglass/plastic giant clam. :)  And then later in the penguin egg.

We wandered around Cannery Row a little bit after we wandered around the Aquarium.  I took s'more pictures.  Then we drove back up to SF and met up with some folks Jonah knows from online.  We did dinner.  We went back to the hotel.  We soaked in the hot tub.  Not as long as I would've liked, but still, it was a soaking nonetheless.

And I crashed afterwards.  Tired f'angle!