Travelogue – Sunday, 3 August 2008

Previously … 

We had the car mostly packed so it was a relatively leisurely morning at the B&B before breakfast, followed by a last flurry of activity and hitting the road.

We were to meet Jim & Ginger and Katherine in Monterey. I had online ordered admission tix to the Monterey Bay Aquarium … and had, to boot, ordered tix for the Behind-the-Scenes Tour. The latter required a time, so I’d said 2 p.m.

Hmmmm. That may have been a mistake. Based on Sheila’s estimate, it would take us until about 1:15p to get from the B&B to the Aquarium, so leaving by 10 would be just fine. And, in fact, we left at 9:50a, so it should be just fine …

Of course, Sheila doesn’t know about traffic.

Margie drove the course, while I read a Sayers Wimsey novel to her, which was quite nice. But between traffic going over the hill to Santa Cruz, plus some whacky lunch misdirection in Watsonville, plus stop-and-go from the time we left CA 1 to get into Monterey, plus hellacious parking circumstances around the Aquarium … well, we literally dashed into the door and ran to the tour desk and joined things in the very nick of time.

Not pleasant.

But the B-t-S Tour was fun, with both history of the aquarium and discussion of their animal rescue efforts (and a view of the Fin-a-bego), learnig why Astroturf is used with octopus tanks, and getting a chance to feed the big aquarium tank with handsful of krill. Good times.

We spent another couple of hours at the Aquarium (I got to run up to the car and move it from its really-shouldn’t-park-there spot to some place that wouldn’t get us towed, which cut into my enjoyment of the place, but it is really Very Highly Recommended to anyone.), then headed to the fabulous Monterey Bay Lodge. Cocktails and snacks followed, segueing into a long walk to Fisherman’s Wharf for dinner at Domenico’s. 

While most wharf restaurants tend to be gimmicky and touristy, Domenico’s actually manages to serve a decent (if not wildly sophisticated) seafood menu (with slabs of beef for those who evolved out of the ocean to avoid seafood). The food and wine list were decent, and the help was helpful. Best of all, though, we had a ringside seat for an array of albatrosses and a few dozen sea lions. The latter were split between ones trying to bogart a raft to sleep on, ones snoozing in the water, ones cavorting with amorous intent, and ones trying to horn in on one or another of the above groups. It was the next best thing to a live stage show. Recommended.

After that, a walk back to the hotel, and a bit of reading (and blogging) and bed time.

Tomorrow: Old Homesteads and Old Campuses.