After a quick continental breakfast, Matilda and I drove to Monterrey, and to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium.  It was chilly out, and I was dressed in shorts and sandals.  But that was my decision, and I didn't worry much about it.  The naval layer, as Mar calls it, was still there, but did eventually burn off later in the day.

Not knowing my way around the town, I drove up and down streets first, trying to find HP parking, which was basically non-existent on the streets, which were very crowded and narrow.  I finally settled on a parking garage, put Matilda in an HP parking spot, and grabbed my long sleeved shirt, walking stick, my camera, and my purse.  I went down quite a few steps, something I haven't done in months, taking each step VERY carefully.  I found a walking path to the aquarium, and strolled along.  It was part of the Cannery Row area, and I came across some wonderful painted scenes from John Steinbeck's book, GRAPES OF WRATH.  They looked very real.  When I reached the end of the walk, which was about two city blocks long, I looked to my right, and there was the aquarium.  I had read somewhere that this time of year it isn't as crowded as in the summer.  But there were plenty of people around, as well as school groups, and colleges kids viewing exhibits and make notations.  Lots of different languages were being spoken as well.

I decided to become a member because I really like what this particular aquarium is doing for the world's oceans and their inhabitants.  After looking at the guide, I immediately headed for the sea otter exhibit.  There were four otters playing with one another, grabbing each other, diving, chasing, and lying on their backs, grooming themselves.  I learned later from a talk about otters, that they groom themselves to keep air bubbles under their fur, to protect them from the cold water.  And did you know that they can have up to 1,000,000 hairs in one square inch?  I sure didn’t!  At night they wrap themselves in kelp, which keeps them from floating out to sea when they sleep.  I absolutely love sea otters, and watching them and listening to the docent telling about their habits made me smile.

I went to the special exhibit of seahorses.  Unbelievable.  I didn’t know there were so many kinds of seahorses.  I took a few pictures, and hope that they will come out.  There is one seahorse variety that looks just like seaweed!  I also went to the special exhibit of jellyfish.  Beautiful creatures, seemingly just moving at their own leisure, but looking for food, actually.  You could actually see right through the body of one variety.  I wondered how they moved, did they have a heart? 

I had read about the kelp forests that the Aquarium was nurturing.  Big giants, their roots embedded or attached to something on the bottom of the ocean, rolling gently with the movement of the water.  Awesome.  There in one corner were a thousand or more silver anchovies or sardines, swirling in a circle, making beautiful patterns, but always together.  I took a couple of pictures of them.  It was incredible to watch them.  All of sudden something would happen and the pattern would change, but always moving clockwise all together.  I thought back to when I would read SWIMMY to my kids.  It is a wonderful book.  I looked for a Swimmy, but only once did a small reddish fish go near this swirling mass of sliver, and then he darted away.  I asked the docent about them, and she told me that they had just been added to the exhibit, and were sometimes food for the bigger fish, and when they got depleted, more would be added.

The biggest fish tank in the Aquarium was closed down.  It is the one I had seen on NATURE that had a Great White in it.  The shark got so big, that they had to remove it and put it out in the ocean, successfully I might add.  The docent told me that they usually always have one in that tank, get them as small “kids” and when they get to a certain size, release them. 

I went outside and took a picture of a big seal up on a rock, surrounded by cormorants drying themselves after a good lunch.  I spotted an egret out fishing.  How could an egret be out in the harbor fishing?  I asked about that and was told that they are so light, they can stand on the seaweed beds with no trouble.  I certainly couldn’t do that!!!!

I treated myself with a sit down lunch, and had a wonderful bowl of seafood stew with red sauce, all “safe” seafood.  The salad was a fruit salad, all local produce, with tiny bay shrimp on it.  With a hot cup of tea, I rejoiced in the beauty around me. 

At the Museum shop, and purchased a few items and was talking with one of the volunteers, and he told me that about five days ago, an orphaned baby sea otter, a female, was found near Moro Bay.  It was brought to the Aquarium where it is being nursed by a surrogate mother sea otter, and is getting better each day.  The mother will teach it all it needs to know, and then it will be either released or will be kept to become a surrogate mother.  They have four or five of these mothers, who for one reason or another would not survive being released.  Wet nurses!  I love it.

I left the Aquarium and headed back for my car, happy as a clam, vowing I would return another day.  At 3PM it was still chilly, but the sun was out, with mare’s tails scudding across the sky.  Weather change! 

Driving back to Salinas, off to my right, I saw wild turkeys, probably fifty of them, in a small field foraging for food.  Hadn’t seen so many wild turkeys, ever!

In and around Salinas are oversized brightly painted people along the fields, some working, some filling the backs of wagons, on tractors, etc.  It fascinated me, but I didn’t find out THIS time who did them, and why.  But I know they represented the farmers and workers that live in this very fertile area. 

I had an IN AND OUT burger, which, as usual was very good.  Kat introduced them to me a long time ago.  All that is served are burgers, fries, shakes, and drinks.  That’s it.  And there are always long lines of cars waiting at the drive up and people standing inside waiting also. 

Sunday, I took it easy, and just about five minutes of eleven I checked out.  I had scoped out downtown old Salinas the night before, and after loading up, I headed for there.  I had a great breakfast at a corner restaurant.  I had fresh fruit, which is cut up as ordered, and mostly local, and a Bacado omelet – avocado and bacon.  Yummy.  Sated, I walked to the John Steinbeck Museum, and looked around.  This is another place I need to come back too, because I didn’t even see a 1/3 of the exhibits.  I watched a good short about Steinbeck, and another one about the local farmers in the area.  John Steinbeck wrote an incredible number of books, far more than I knew.  This time, instead of going to Amazon, I will get them from libraries and read them.  That’s how many there are.

Reluctantly I left the Museum, and Matilda and I headed back out to the 101, and going north, we were off again. 

To be continued –

Adieu, Adios, Mahalo,

I love you all,

Sally