Monterey Bay

A pretty wild poppy--Matilija poppy?-- growing on the edge of the sidewalk. Lots and lots of flowers, even in February. I won't bore you with all the flower pictures I took, though... let this one stand in for the rest of them.

I didn't take a whole lot of pictures at the aquarium, mainly because I've done it before and let's face it, one picture of a tank full of fish swimming back and forth is pretty much like another picture of a tankful of fish swimming back and forth!
But I did take this one of the aquarium itself...I just love this view. And yes, the sky was a beautiful blue. The weather has been perfect since we've been up here. We'll see if it holds for the whole time; there is rain in the forecast, but we all know how forecasts go!

The coastline shot was taken from the deck on the upper floor of the aquarium, looking across the bay. If you look reallly closely you will see a pinkish block on the far shore--that's our hotel. Sorta stands out, huh?
The boat is actually inside the aquarium, part of a display of the building's former history as a cannery. Did you know this is the original Cannery Row that John Steinbeck wrote about? Monterey is prime Steinbeck country--the aquarium's bookstore has a complete set of his books, as well as biographies etc. Yeah, the old bookseller has to visit bookstores even on vacation.

Time to pack up the hotel room and move to the park. It will be interesting to see what kind of internet connections might be available. Imagine if I had to live my life "in person" instead of on line...