Tuesday Coastal Wandering

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Writing in situ presents a couple of challenges. Our days are already long as we use the majority of daylight to remain active. The rising sun and setting sun see us eating, and any residual evening light is used for a walk after feasting. When we finally reach our room our day has already been roughly 14 hours long. We do not reach for the remote control, though. Instead, I try to bring together loose ends regarding the details of this day for the blog. By the next morning, Caroline and I were making decisions about the photos selected for the previous day’s entry, and when that was done, she started editing the post I finished writing the night before, which was for the day before that.

As she is busy editing, I’m trying to think about what I’ll start writing this morning about the previous day. It’s inevitable that she’ll enquire about some garbled ideas I tried to capture in what looks like a haphazardly tossed pile of words that I, myself, who penned the random word scramble, have trouble deciphering. This interrupts my thoughts about what I might write about yesterday by dragging me into the day before while simultaneously considering that we have a new day ahead of us, and it, too, requires consideration. So, in effect, I have three days of travel running through my mind, and after some time out here on the road with consecutive 16 – 17 hour days, I start to suffer a bit of confusion about the time remaining, where we are, and what’s next.

Then, I bring my attention back to the photo at hand and focus. I’m writing about the snowy plovers we were watching yesterday morning as they darted back and forth, side to side, on the hunt for breakfast in the receding surf.

With the aquarium closed, we have no real choice but to do other stuff and that stuff starts at Marina State Beach north of Monterey. North will be the direction of our travels today.

Considering how I opened today’s post, I feel that those plovers and this man fishing on the beach are the ones who are really on vacation, but I admit that I only say that tongue-in-cheek. Out here with the purpose of walking hand in hand with Caroline, enchanted by every little thing except the trash, my exploration of the details we are experiencing and some thought along the trail about which of these impressions should be noted later, this structure of travel and vacation really is my perfect scenario.

If I were a flower that had the ability to document its world, I’d be taking photos of the insects that stop by helping pollinate me. I’d photograph the people who try to smell me or simply gaze at how beautiful I am. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be complaining too often about the dog that lifted a leg to pee on me and instead would sing songs about the abundant sunshine, occasional rains, and the intimacy of my world when fog hangs low and the surrounding world disappears.

One minute, these shapes emerged from the surf after it returned to the sea, and with the next crashing wave, most of it was gone while another pattern formed in its stead. The many times we’ve seen these on the beach, they were already present as relics on display for our passing eyes, but today, I’ve finally seen them being made and just as quickly removed.

This image and the two above were taken at Salinas River State Beach. The weather you are seeing is supposed to follow us all day.

Moss Landing State Beach was our next stop on this journey north. If I thought our Saturday drive was slow at 18 mph, so far, we have driven 20 miles in two hours for the breakneck average speed of 10 mph. Someday we’ll graduate to staying in a place next to the pool at some resort and reading a book, but for now, we keep on moving.

What contributes to making a vacation memorable for us beyond the extra handholding and time together is the myriad of details that create the totality of an environment. It’s easy to only focus on the extraordinarily beautiful and spectacular but how that picture gets painted in memories years down the road is important to me too. Maybe it’s not just the dramatic coastal views, lighthouses, and wildlife but the thread of all sights and impressions that were taken in as the experiences of the day. And so, even this lone fishing boat returning to the harbor, cutting its path between the otters we were watching further up the channel it too plays a part that reading or seeing fishing boats 20 years from now might help bring us back to those days when we stopped to watch them on the California coast.

There’s truth in that old saying, “You can never see enough curlews and plovers on the beach,” okay, I made that up, but there should be an old saying stating this obvious reward for being at the edge of the sea.

From the sea forest offshore, emissaries were sent as sacrifices so we might know their kind.

In order to move closer to the coast on our way to Manresa State Beach near Watsonville, we left Highway 1, and to our surprise, we spotted a Starbucks out here in the middle of nowhere. You can’t even see the coffee shop from the main road, and it wasn’t until we left their parking lot that we saw this amazing house. Since 1897, the Redman-Hirahara House has occupied this site but fell into disrepair long ago. In 2004, it was designated a National Historic Site but obviously has not attracted funding yet to save the fragile-looking former farmstead.

It’s a half-mile walk from the parking lot down to the beach, and with Manresa State Beach being part of the California State Park system, there’s a $10 charge for visiting. The cost was well worth it, and the pass is good for all other California State Parks for the remainder of the day. So, down the trail, we went looking for all that we may find.

Bright yellow flowers in front of the sea trigger memories of previous visits to the Oregon coast, where we’ve seen the invasive gorse in bloom. This is not the same plant, but the view is reminiscent and puts a smile on our faces all the same.

This is neither gorse nor the flower in the photo above, but it is yellow, obviously, so that might imply I’m trying to show a close-up of what I’ve already photographed, but I’m not. It’s simply another pretty flower I want to remember.

While I grew up in Southern California and have seen and smelled my fair share of eucalyptus, I can’t say I ever consciously recognized that the hard seed pods found under these trees at some point during the spring bloom with a thousand wispy flower elements. Picking one and squeezing the still green center of the seed, an almost solvent-like smell of fresh eucalyptus was released. The aroma was almost nothing at all, like the smell that wafts through the warm California air.

Because not all coasts along the Pacific Ocean look the same, one should explore as many as possible to discover the many sights on offer.

Good thing we’re on backroads instead of Highway 1, or we would have missed the guy on the side of the road. We actually turned around after remembering we had some cash, and for $15, we bought half a case or six baskets of fresh GIANT strawberries. Plenty of other times, we’ve been fooled by a layer of golfball-sized berries that were hiding tiny berries below, but not this time. As it was already after lunch and we were a bit hungry, we probably ate half this crate in the next 15 minutes.

Welcome to the SS Palo Alto at Seacliff State Beach in Aptos, California. This broken old ship made of concrete was built for service during World War I, but it never saw battle and was decommissioned in 1929. Apparently, it was once part of the pier system and used for fishing, but subsequent storms over the years have torn the ship apart, and the pier is now falling apart, too.

That yarn in Caroline’s hands is destined to become a pair of socks; she’s seen here after picking it out for me at The Yarn Shop In Santa Cruz.

Lunch followed at Taqueria Los Pericos, which was what came up after searching for the best burrito in Santa Cruz: they deserve that title.

I’ll give you three guesses as to why the park we are at right now is called Natural Bridges State Beach. Also of note, I’m sunburned to a crisp by now, as not only did we forget my hat in Arizona, but we left our sunblock at the motel back in Pacific Grove! Of course, Caroline applied sunblock to herself before we left, and she had her hat on. It’s always about Caroline and what she needs. I beg for sunblock reminders as I burn easily but she always forgets about me, ALWAYS! By the way, if she tries editing this to say I refuse the sunblock and my hat, she’s lying because she’s ALWAYS LYING, I swear! Though, on rare occasions, I’ve been known to need to stretch the truth, but NEVER about her and her constant neglecting me…not that I’m complaining. [really, John…? ಠ_ಠ]

With my face so burned as to be peeling off my skull in a blistering, pus-drenched ooze of juicy, crunchy bits, I refused to consider a 4-mile roundtrip hike through Wilder Ranch State Park down to the beach and instead opted to stop just north of the park where as luck would have it the reflection of the sun off the ocean probably permanently disfigured me, which is also Caroline’s fault. Why it’s her fault is still being worked out in my mind as I write this, but I’ll be sure to share my reasoning once a clever enough amount of convincing blame can be assigned without embarrassing me for embellishing a story.

As my eyes were welling with tears from the pain I was so stoically enduring, Caroline began to recognize the life-threatening situation I was facing. Without cell service this far out in the middle of nowhere (we were nearly 60 miles from San Francisco at this point), she insisted I pull over into Año Nuevo State Park. Somehow, she remembered that there was a payphone near the entry station. This memory is from 16 years ago when we last visited, but it was just my luck that the payphone no longer worked, so I laid down and cried. Caroline cruelly likely knew beforehand that the phone didn’t work and that sepsis was setting in; she brought me here to the edge of sanity just to watch me suffer. Through it all, though, I still love her a lot. [oh, ok then… ಠ‿ಠ]

Enough of the shenanigans. After learning that the elephant seals at Año Nuevo State Park would not be visited on this trip either, as was our experience 16 years ago, we decided we’d go as far as Pigeon Point Lighthouse and turn around. From here, we were only 50 miles from San Francisco, but this type of vacation is definitely not conducive to visiting big cities; as a matter of fact, Santa Cruz, with its 64,500 people, was nearly too big for our senses after only four days away.

This appears to be our third visit to Pigeon Point; the first was with my mother-in-law in May of 2005, and our second visit was seven months later in December 2005. We may have passed it again since then, but there’s no note of it to be found here on the blog. There is a hostel on the property we could rent, but for the two of us in a place that hosts six for the price of $400 a night, it feels a bit steep.

Sadly, the lighthouse is in poor shape. When we were here last, the Fresnel lens was still in the lantern room, and I took a great shot that captured a slice of light from above, but now the lens has been moved into a nearby building for its own safety until a time when the tower can be renovated.

With a final glance at the ocean in the late day, we turned south for our return to Monterey, where we were once again eating with Hee-Kyong who owns Wonju Korean Restaurant. She was such a terrific host the other night, and we feel that any little bit we can help support her business might be helpful. Back at the motel by 9:00 p.m., it was later than we’d have preferred, and tragically, this is our last night at Lovers Point Inn in Pacific Grove, but tomorrow, a wholly new adventure awaits us.

Monday, Now With 100% More Aquarium

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Sunrise in Pacific Grove, California

Not exactly up with the sun, but close enough. We are on our way to Toasties Café on Lighthouse Avenue, where instead of disappointment, we dine on yummy breakfast. This is only our second morning out here walking to our destinations for the day, but it’s becoming a habit in no time. By the time we leave on Wednesday, there will likely be big sadness even with four more nights here on the Central Coast of California.

Does it ever happen to you when you are out somewhere that you see yourselves in others? There are times at breakfast when our future selves come in and sit down across from us and surprise our current selves with new behaviors, especially out-of-character traits like drinking so early in the day or being finicky. Sometimes, there are also younger versions of us snuggling and sharing a romantic moment at an exceptionally beautiful location.

Pacific Grove, California

Looking south on our walk north to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Just out of view on the right are dozens of fishing boats. A local informed us they are out there for squid, which coincides with Monterey salmon season. Over the course of these ten days, we’ll be on vacation I hope to share enough photos to adequately represent the narrative visual arch of our travels, so, in 10 years, we’ll have a sense of where we were back in 2021. By the time this day is over, I’ll have taken nearly 900 photos to get to the 20 I’ve chosen to post. I think I could easily post twice as many, but then I’ll feel compelled to write to those too, and there’s simply not enough time in the day to explore, eat, choose photos, and write a quick 1,000 or more words that offer the most important impressions we had.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

Sun rays from the right tell you that it’s early morning. This is important because later, I’ll post a nearly identical image. If the aquarium was open this Tuesday or Wednesday, we’d have a third day here just to sit in front of the Kelp Forest. A weak impression of this corner of our happy place can be seen on a live webcam by clicking here.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

Like a nebula surrounded by over 50 stars in a circular orbit, if you look into the areas between, you might find yourself rewarded with charming little treasures that were easily missed as you passed by before. All the potential of an entire universe is not seen because you were distracted trying to see the bigger picture.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

Maybe we’re conditioned to be on the lookout for the predator that inhibits our ability to see more, or maybe it’s the limitations of our senses that are tuned to our terrestrial existence combined with a lack of encouragement to refine those we do have that slows our uptake. On the other hand, maybe it’s the curiosity of the few who peel back all the layers of life that have allowed our crazy abundance of available knowledge to find the eyes, ears, and minds of those who are open to exploring with attention to details.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

The metaphors keep swimming forward as these anchovies are great representatives of the mass of humanity. With noses following the butts in front of them, they require the invisible influencer to lead them, even when it’s in circles. This brings us back to what I said earlier about past and future selves, as we must also witness those we’ll never be. They pose by themselves alone, likely thinking they are the gleaming example of what their species aspire to be, not recognizing that they are not exploring anything more than sticking their nose up the ass of the last person they saw doing exactly what they are currently doing. Stepping away from the herd is difficult when all you have to compete with is the level of shininess you are able to reflect on your way around the block.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

How do you transition out of misplaced subjects that are missing the beat of celebrating vacation on the sea? You change direction and go the other way.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

Back to the world of the aquarium as we continue our slow walk through the exhibits. We couldn’t ever answer how many times we’ve passed these jellies as, on some visits, we might pass by three to five times. I’m pointing this out to let readers know that we never get bored watching any of the animal life in the aquarium. The humans, on the other hand, get plenty boring.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

In yesterday’s blog post, I mentioned how these squids are aliens. Look deep into their eyes, and you can see their home planet. Should Caroline and I ever slow down our travels, maybe we’ll consider setting up an aquarium and populating it with squid, octopus, and cuttlefish.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

Speaking of cuttlefish, I’m including another strange example of one of these peculiar creatures. I wish I had the ability to describe what you are looking at, but I’m at a loss. I probably shot 50 photos, with 49 of them turning out mostly blurry or at angles that were impossible to see the front or back of them.

Years ago, Caroline and I were on hand for a special exhibit that featured nautiloids. We learned on this visit that this was not an easy animal to host as they require a high-pressure environment; maybe the new “Into The Deep” exhibit opening in April 2022 will bring these ancient animals back?

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

While I’m just now posting this photo of the octopus, we were watching it much earlier in the day. We’d never seen this level of activity from any of the octopuses the aquarium has had on display. Typically, they hide in one of the corners and hardly move. So why did this earlier photo get included here? Because I decided after returning to the exhibit and seeing him (yes, we asked about gender) so active, I continued taking photos over the course of the day and I’m consolidating a few of my favorites here.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

The display itself is quite dark, and signs are posted not to use flash, so capturing this guy is difficult and requires a lot of patience. We have a ton of that today, as yesterday we saw a little bit of everything, and so now that the octopus is so busy putting himself on stage for our entertainment, we are ready to oblige and watch his shenanigans for the better part of an hour.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

The reflection in the octopus’ eye made it look like he had human characteristics. It appeared as if he was looking right at me, which he probably was. This gaze, which seemed familiar and deep, allowed me to consider that his mind was at work wondering how such a simple creature like us people could imprison something of his grandeur.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

Damn, my photo of this California Sheephead fish sucks. I Googled what a black and orange fish at Monterey Bay Aquarium is called, and up came other people’s photos and wow, there are some great images of this particular fish right here. I’m nearly embarrassed to post this now but it’s all I got.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

Earlier, I pointed out the sun rays on the right of that image, now notice the sun rays coming in from the left. It’s late in the day, and in less than 5 minutes, we’ll be asked to leave the aquarium. Time to go and see you-know-who one last time.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in California

There are so many forms and attitudes that this octopus is able to share in such a small space. We don’t even have the chance to see how he might interact with a mating partner as he lives in isolation for our benefit, but if he can help people appreciate their role in the watery environment octopuses call home, then maybe others will take up the cause of helping protect their world.

Seals in Monterey Bay, California

A length of coast has been fenced off during this time when female harbor seals are resting on the beaches with their pups. I didn’t bring the right lens to capture wildlife from afar; somehow, I didn’t think about our opportunity to see dolphins, otters, seals, whales, and shorebirds on this trip along the coast.

Pacific Grove, California

While this and yesterday’s blog posts focus on the aquarium, we do have plenty of time to take in the ocean, too.

Pacific Grove, California

What I’ve not shared yet about the trip so far is how much Caroline and I talk about how fortunate we are or maybe I have shared that and have forgotten it. After sunset, I finally get to transfer the photos to my computer, at which point I choose what’s going to be posted. I perform some minor adjustments, fixing things like leveling the horizon, adding contrast, some saturation, or dehazing the image. When photos are dark, as with the octopus, I might need to do some serious noise reduction due to shooting high ISOs such as 3200. Usually, though, I try to find a good composition and then adjust my aperture and exposure values so I can get to what I see in nature. Inevitably, I have to bring a series of all of the above to many of the images so they get close to looking similar to what we saw on any given day.

Sunset in Pacific Grove, California

Lunch today, like yesterday, was right at the aquarium, while dinner tonight was at the Monterey Fish House. This is probably the most reasonably priced dinner in all the area and very good. This was the second time we’ve eaten at the Fish House since learning of it on our visit back in 2017.

Regarding this last photo of the day, it is the empty bench awaiting our return.

Sunday at the Aquarium

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise at Red House Café in Pacific Grove, California

Breakfast was at the Red House Cafe just up the street from our hotel and around the corner from the glimmering sun shining on the bay. It was a good thing we showed up when we did as only about 15 later, the wait for people showing up went from “seated immediately,” like we were, to approximately 45 minutes. My frittata with avocado and a side of bacon and Caroline’s breakfast sandwich were both great, and while tempted to stick with what we know for tomorrow’s breakfast, we will be trying a place called Toasties Café.

Pacific Grove, California

The ulterior motive for finding places within walking distance of our hotel is that we have a parking place nearly in front of our door, and the aquarium is only a little more than a mile away, so we can walk nearly everywhere we need to be. And what’s not to love about these kinds of views?

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

This is the second day the Monterey Bay Aquarium has been open in more than a year, and here we are on opening weekend. Capacity has been greatly reduced, and the first two weeks are open exclusively to members only; lucky us. From more than 17,000 people on busy days, operations have been scaled down to only 1,700 as they experiment with what will work to keep staff and visitors safe. We’re in line and couldn’t be more excited, even if we were 5-year-olds going into Disneyland for the first time. As a matter of fact, this might as well be any theme park on Earth right now, making dreams come true.

During the first hour, only 200 visitors were let in. I can’t emphasize how perfect this is as we’ve been here on busy days that only discouraged the idea of ever wanting to return.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

Our first stop was at the Kelp Forest, wherewith the pulse and sway of so much beauty, Caroline’s tears joined in the flow with the oh-so-familiar music, guaranteeing her emotions would go sailing. This is where the mandatory mask policy came in handy as not only do they hide the emotional outbreak on the lower half of her face, but the top of the mask can also be used to mop up tears that escape her eyes.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

Like our drive at 18mph up the coast yesterday, we are trying to maintain a velocity that might confuse others into believing we are chitons, moving imperceptibly. We couldn’t tell you if anything has ever changed in the Kelp Forest over the years; for all we know, these are the exact same fish that were here on our very first visit back in 1991. We continue to sit right here, enchanted that there isn’t a massive crowd forming, just us and the sway reminiscent of the tide pushing things to and fro.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

The elusive octopus remained so and spurred Caroline into wondering if a donation of sufficient bribery size might get us into a behind-the-scenes opportunity to have a close encounter with one of these fascinating creatures. I think we’ll likely inquire with management tomorrow how something like this could come to pass.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

We are not competing with others to gain close-up views of the fish; we don’t have to allow small children to step through to have their moment, as everyone is following social distancing guidelines and remaining appropriately separated.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

While hard to see, I’m posting these skeleton shrimp today because tomorrow I may not get one even this good, if this can be considered that. These guys or gals are tiny, and how a guide we had years ago while kayaking the Strait of Juan de Fuca saw one in some kelp at the surface still remains a mystery to me.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

You might think we’ve grown tired of seeing anemones due to the numbers of them seen in tidepools and snorkeling over the many years we’ve been exploring coastal waters, but you’d be wrong, as all anemones are special in our eyes. Should you ever be so lucky to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium, you’ll see hundreds of these creatures on display and will likely be inclined to start naming them just as we do. This particular specimen is named Ganymede Jones.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

I took a really nice photo of this American Avocet head-on, but you can’t see the curve in its beak, so I chose my second favorite. The other 72 pictures I took of this bird didn’t make the cut. Seriously though, I didn’t take quite that many.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

If you are familiar with the aquarium, you’ll know that we are upstairs in the Splash Zone, where the tropical fish and penguins reside.

Caroline Wise at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

This is probably for kids, but Caroline fit so back into the egg she went. Back, you ask? Caroline was once an egg found under a cabbage leaf many years ago. Click here for proof.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

Steve the Eel was happy to welcome us back after our four-year absence. That he still remembered us was a big surprise, but seeing his smile again warmed our hearts just as it did on our first encounter.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

If you, too, are thinking I should consider starting a side business in fish portraiture, I’m inclined to believe there’s an opportunity here going untapped.

Caroline Wise at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

While it was already lunchtime when I started writing this, our meal was done, and Caroline was nearly finished with her can of Alvarado Street Pils she mixed with a bottle of Lemon Seltzer. We need to get walking again as we only have about three hours left here. It’ll be evening by the time I get to transfer the hundreds of photos I shot today with hopes of reducing the count to a mere couple of dozen, maybe three dozen, but seriously, no more than that.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

We know our way around the aquarium, and while on one hand, the beautiful weather here in the Monterey Bay begs us to be out there listening to the shorebirds and crashing surf right now, we’ll have plenty of opportunities to linger out here in the next few days.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

With two days available to visit the aquarium, there is no rush. If we feel like lingering, we have all the luxury in the world to do just that.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

It was just about here that Caroline gasped in the horror of recognizing that having salmon poke for lunch with a beer produces burps that back-flow from the mask right into the nose and they aren’t pretty. Hopefully, my wife doesn’t edit out this bit of too-much-info [I was sorely tempted – Caroline].

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

If I had to wager, I’d say that the jellies and the otters are the two most popular exhibits, and for good reason. The otters look cuddly and sweet, though if you saw one of them captured, you’d be rightfully afraid of them. Otters are big and pry open clams with their bare paws, so while their images are sold as a loving plushy, just ask the last bird that was pulled into its maw how cute these creatures are. Jellies, on the other hand, excluding the Portuguese Man o’ War, are non-aggressive angelic floating sea clouds that pose on command, showing the wonders of the universe in their psychedelic inner folds where time dissolves into the sea.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

The nemesis tank is how I refer to this giant window on the deeper ocean. While always entertaining with its tuna darting around and a couple of turtles swimming around above them, it is notoriously difficult to photograph those things that ply the waters of the Open Ocean.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

Every visit to the aquarium we’ve ever made has always introduced us to creatures we’ve never seen before but there are consequences that come with that.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

Certain animals on display you might hope to see on a subsequent visit might be replaced and so it was with the missing nautiloids that disappeared years ago and the giant cuttlefish that change colors. Well, at least there are these squids that are obviously from an alien dimension theorized to exist by Michio Kaku in his landmark book, “Squids Are Smarter Than You And Are Aliens.”

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

Mini cuttlefish were better than no cuttlefish. I’m asking Caroline to have this engraved on the tombstone I won’t have, as my instructions are to be cremated upon death so this is a non-starter for deeper conversations that might include anybody else’s opinions for what is appropriate.

Staring at this photo, hopelessly lost for something witty to write about it, I got to thinking about cloning and splicing DNA, especially in human genetics, and realized that cuttlefish or squid DNA responsible for the wild gyrations in color would be conducive to offering future generations of people some truly unique appearance characteristics.

Caroline Wise at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

Well, here it is at 4:00 p.m. with an hour to go before the aquarium closes, and it’s time for a coffee and a large glass of water. For while we are surrounded by water, I find very few fountains to slake my thirst; that or I’m too focused on taking 1000s of photos. (Okay, it’s only 609 so far). Actually, I don’t really want to write anything at the moment, as watching the waves roll in while sipping my coffee is mesmerizing. It’s almost strange how soothing the ocean is on a calm sunny day when one stops to think of the roiling abyss that, to a human lost in the middle of it, would appear to be an inescapable infinity. But there it is in all of its mystery, somehow talking to me, reassuring my senses that everything is fine.

In forty-five minutes, the aquarium will close, and while we have all day here tomorrow, we are considering asking for passes for a 3:00 p.m. entry on…nope, I was just reminded that this place is closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for cleaning and evaluating how the first few days of being open are going. And after learning that, we now have about 30 minutes to race through the kelp exhibit. Time to run, but I’ll return.

Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey Bay, California

The lights are being turned off, and the fish are snuggling up as they pair off to head to sleepy land, or would that be a watery world?

As for us, we headed over to Wonju Restaurant, a Korean place we ate at the last time we were in Monterey. After the carnage of a year without tourism, the other Korean restaurants shut down and this one is hopeful to survive after being at the same location for 27 years now. Do we have recommendations here? Well, I’ll vouch for the Bibimbap being a solid and hearty dish; while Caroline’s flounder and tofu soup was great, I know it was great because I tried it.

Pacific Grove, California

The temperature was dropping fast as the sun dipped out of the sky. While both of us would have enjoyed staying out for another hour or two, I’m trying my best not to fall too far behind in blogging about our experience before we’ve collected even more impressions further down the road.

Up The Coast We Go

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

How is it we’d never explored Carpenteria before? It’s a nice little town by the ocean that’s every bit as beautiful as Santa Barbara. We started the morning at the Carpenteria State Beach next to the Santa Cruz campground. With a little breeze and some serious humidity, the temperature felt a lot colder than in Arizona. After a short walk along the shore, we started our long drive north that, instead of the 4-hour jaunt it should take, might turn into a 10-hour meander for us.

We are on Highway 101, and if we’re not careful, we’ll pass out on the road due to the deep breaths we take, trying to savor every hint of the eucalyptus that permeates the air and interior of the car. That is, until a skunk makes itself known and has us wondering if it’s hitching a ride. And no, it isn’t the smell of weed, though we smelled plenty of that last night at Motel 6.

Our next stop was at the Glen Annie / Storke Road offramp in Goleta, where instead of turning right, which would have brought us to our great aunt and uncle who used to live here just north of Santa Barbara, we turned left to go have breakfast at Cajun Kitchen, an old favorite of theirs. Keeping up the tradition of my aunt Ann, Caroline is having a side order of toast with coffee, though when we are done here; we’ll backtrack a few miles so she can indulge in a healthier breakfast at Backyard Bowls on Calle Real.

A note about yesterday: we played semi-truck bingo as we passed so many familiar shipping company brands hauling stuff back and forth across the desert. From Old Dominion and Covenant to Swift and Werner, we ticked them off the list. Sadly, Sweet Simon with the skunk logo wasn’t seen, but then again, it’s been years since one of those trucks was seen on an American highway.

And what about breakfast at Cajun Kitchen? You can’t go back; it’s not the same without our family members. Nostalgia is a bittersweet dish that prods us to realize we should move on and away from things that can never be the same again, especially those places that are so intertwined with others.

Out of shared experiences with others and on to adventures shared by the two of us. We’ve been up this road plenty of times to be quite familiar with the golden rolling hills of the Central California Coast, but only rarely have we been here in Spring, when things are vibrantly green with bursts of color splashed upon the landscape. Yellow flowers appear and then quickly disappear. Getting a photo of them is difficult, with few places to pull over on this road and most everyone moving along at nearly 80mph. The photo I wanted remained elusive, while the one I took failed to show the grandeur.

Let’s Knit in Grover Beach was our first yarn store visit of the day. Caroline is holding one of my next pairs of socks in her hand. In her right hand is her mask, which I asked her to take off so I can capture her smile. California is remaining vigilant about masks and hand sanitizer. Some locations still have mask mandates in place outdoors, although the CDC has backed off of that necessity. Yes, maybe we’ve drunk the Kool-Aid, but things feel better here with people being aware compared to the Wild West circus we are going through in Arizona. But enough about COVID; we are here for yarn, coast, fish, and great weather.

From Grover Beach up to SLO, as it’s known up this way, or San Luis Obispo, we stopped at the old Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa only because of its location across the street from, guess what?

Yarns…At The Adobe. While I grabbed another skein of fingering weight yarn for yet more socks, Caroline went hunting for some locally dyed crimped yarn that would find its way into a shawl. With no other business in SLO and 137 miles remaining on our SLOW drive north on Highway 1, well, that and the fact that we only paid for 24 minutes of parking meter time, we left town in search of more yarn and our next encounter with the ocean.

Great day for a drive.

Our first stop to take in the ocean is at a place we’ve never been before, Estero Bluffs, just north of Cayucos.

I learned as I’m writing this up that there’s also an Estero Bluffs State Park, but that’s further north up by San Simeon, another 20 miles up the highway. How these two locations share the same name is a puzzle I’m not solving here. By the way, the crowds heading up the coast today I was anticipating due to the road south of Big Sur being reopened never really materialized.

When we reached Cambria, where we were staying the next weekend, we were hungry for lunch and, of course, more yarn. We got the important stuff out of the way first with a visit to Ball & Skein & More. While it should have taken us 2 hours to cover the stretch of road we’ve traveled so far, we are now 5 hours into this journey with no intention of speeding up.

Outdoor seating in springtime has its advantages, and here at Robin’s Restaurant, it comes in a beautiful garden setting with properly socially distanced tables. It seems the kitchen got behind, but how could we care about that when we are enjoying the nearly cold breeze coming in off the coast?

There’s a section of road here in Cambria we’ve never traveled that runs along the ocean, and across the street from the hotel we will be checking into on Friday. We’ll have more time along this stretch of the sea soon enough.

Flowers are blooming everywhere, and if wasn’t for the fact that I already have 28 photos included in this post, I could have included more of everything from rolling hills to the ocean. Considering I feel inclined to write something with each photo, I only create more pressure on myself when I get carried away with showing the nicer aspects of our travels.

If I’ve never stated it before, it is my goal with these travel posts to share the arc of the day and what others can experience if they are NOT in a hurry to get somewhere. You see, years and years ago, there was a magazine called Giant Robot, and one of their features was called something like “My Perfect Day.” In those articles, they asked artists, musicians, and other creative types to describe a perfect day for themselves in the city they were living in, such as Tokyo, Edinburgh, San Francisco, or Sao Paolo. It was always a treat to read how a graffiti artist in Brazil might wake up for breakfast at their favorite little cafe, go record shopping, walk through a shopping district, stop to meet up with friends for a beer, and close out their day with activities that made them happy such as painting or whatever. With that in mind, I try to show a perfect travel day where Caroline and I are fully experiencing every moment of the day.

I mean, what’s the alternative? Lay around in the sun, fart, and go for a swim like these elephant seals? Well, I suppose, in some ways, that’s exactly what we are doing today.

The colony of elephant seals out here at Piedras Blancas is huge, and this was just the northern side of their on-land home.

Posting images of this place is an exercise of my obsessive-compulsive nature because we’ve stayed here once, years ago, and loved it. It’s been closed for many years now, and we thought it was supposed to be destroyed by the State, but instead, nature is taking its long, slow hand to remove it from its perch on the sea.

I’m telling you, I could have posted dozens of photos of flowers today.

I could have also shared dozens of photos of twisty, winding roads clinging precariously to the edges of mountains that drop precipitously down to the ocean.

With hairpin turns and vistas that beg us to pull over and linger in such impressively beautiful sights.

And then get out of the car again and fight the winds that work so hard to trigger my vertigo as we get close to the edge for photos that will remind us forever of the places we’ve been.

You are looking at a couple of miles of road that snake along the foot of these mountains. While it might be difficult to see in this smaller version of the photo, the road is out there as a thin tan line cut into the slope. Should you be wondering why I’m not waxing about the aquamarine color of the ocean and the silvery sheen where the sun is reflecting off the Pacific, it’s because my treasury of descriptive language has limits, especially when reduced to oohs and aahs, as we stand, astonished that we are once again in such a gorgeous place.

Nope, there’s no yarn out there, but we are starting to see some shifting in the weather.

Where’d this come from? Have we seen it before? Did I photograph this on a previous road trip up Highway 1? Well, it’s new to us today and looks remarkable from our perspective.

The waterfall is missing in action here at the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. I can’t say we’ve ever seen a situation where it was absolutely dry.

While things look beautiful here at the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, California, like Arizona, is experiencing drought conditions. Oh, we’ve finally reached Big Sur.

As we expected, the Big Sur Bakery was closed when we arrived, and our hunt for eucalyptus soap also came up empty-handed, but we did get this sweet photo of an amazing flower.

One minute later, we drove into this wall of clouds, and for the rest of the late afternoon, we were in drizzle and gray. That earlier estimate of turning a 4-hour drive into a 10-hour drive was a little off by 3 hours, as it took us 13 hours to travel the 240 miles to our destination in Pacific Grove just south of Monterey. I’ll save you the math; we averaged 18 miles per hour today, or 29 km/h.

Dinner was at Wild Fish Restaurant on Lighthouse Avenue, just a short walk from our hotel. Oysters, mussels, red snapper, and sable were the menu items that found their way to our table and that piece of chocolate strawberry cake we shared.

We are staying at the Lovers Point Inn at Lovers Point because, of course, we are!

Travel Habits

JWise Photo of the Day, Travels

Caroline Wise and John Wise in Phoenix, Arizona

Leaving Phoenix, Arizona, before noon is a luxury. Heck, leaving anywhere at any time is a luxury. A sure sign of aging is that I no longer really feel comfortable taking selfies when I’m driving, so we took this one in the parking lot as we were about to depart. At times over the years, this was a habit that preceded almost every trip, but we’ve gotten lax about it in recent years.

Most preparations for this vacation were finished by yesterday; all that was left today was picking up a bag of ice for the ice chest, some raspberries, and cashews. With all of that out of the way, I tried planting myself at King Coffee to get some writing done, but all I could think about was departing the valley. Then, about 4 hours before I thought we’d leave, Caroline told me she was ready to go. After a stop at In-N-Out on the far west of Phoenix, we were ready to embark on the long haul over the desert.

California Stateline

As we left, the plan had been to drive into California on Interstate 10 and make our way to either Tehachapi or Bakersfield, but having this extra time available, we detoured in the direction of Santa Barbara. Stopping to take pictures at state lines was also an old habit that fell out of favor; again, we’re fixing these omissions.

Kia Niro dashboard in the desert of California

We were supposed to have our first 100-degree day (38c) in Phoenix tomorrow, May 1st. So, how the hell is it 110 (43 Celsius) here in the California desert on April 30th?

Traveling Interstate 10 in Southern California

Why would anyone get off the freeway to take a photo at an empty offramp that seemingly leads nowhere? I’ll give you one guess. Note that there are no bushes or anything to hide behind out here, so you know it wasn’t Caroline who demanded we take this exit.

Pad Kee Mow at Mix Bowl in Pomona, California

Once in the Los Angeles area, or Pomona, to be more precise, we stopped at Mix Bowl on Indian Hill Blvd. Being early afforded us the time to sit down for dinner at an old favorite place of ours. We’d not been here in countless years, but we did recognize one of the guys working there. I looked up an old photo here on my blog and showed him a picture of the place we had taken back in January 2001 on our very first visit when it was still called Big Bowl before they were sued to change the name. While the fried morning glory is no longer on the menu, we were able to start with steamed koo chai and grilled pork before sharing one of the best pad kee mow with fried tofu that we know of. Some habits are worth the effort of maintaining.

Los Angeles, California

Dozens of offramps beg us to get off the freeway and go explore, snap some photos, and bask in nostalgia but with our destination up the road, we had to keep on driving. This was right at sunset when we were passing downtown Los Angeles on the 101. We finally pulled into Carpenteria shortly after 21:30 and snagged a room at Motel 6 for the relatively inexpensive price of only $110 minus tax with a veterans’ discount. Tomorrow, we head up the coast from here as we are right next to it, which gives us an extra 137 miles of the coastal region before reaching Cambria, where we were originally supposed to meet the ocean.

Big Plans At The End Of 57

JWise Moments, Travels

Monterey Bay Aquarium Map

Today is the last day of my 57th year; tomorrow, I’ll be 58. But this wasn’t just any old day closing out another year of life. I was working to clean up the grammar of older blog posts when I came across one about the Monterey Bay Aquarium we last visited in 2017. That triggered me to wonder when the aquarium might reopen; well, today was my lucky day as they are making that splash on May 1st to members only and then on the 15th to the general public. If you think that just because we are 700 miles (1,137km) from Monterey, we aren’t members, you are wrong.

Here, just before my birthday, I worked out a nearly 10-day trip and already booked our lodging reservations in the sincere belief that when the aquarium opens reservations on April 26th at 9:00 a.m. PST, I’ll be right there to book our entry for a 10:00 a.m. entry for one of the days we’ll be up there.

Note left at Treebones Resort in Big Sur, California

If that wasn’t exciting enough, I also have us booked at the Lover’s Point Inn in Pacific Grove, just down the street from the aquarium, along with two more unbelievable nights in the Human Nest at Treebones Resort in Big Sur. From there, we’ll head down to Cambria to stay at a place across the street from the ocean. While I still have some details to figure out, the frenzy of having worked all that out requires me to take a break and allow my brain to stop sizzling. This kind of excitement is taxing on old men’s brains, NOT! The photo above is the note I wrote and the drawings Caroline made back at the end of 2010 when, for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, we stayed in the nest but were nearly blown out of our perch; click here to see that post!

Octopus at Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey, California

While it feels like we’ve been to the aquarium dozens, if not hundreds of times, the truth is more modest. This is our 11th visit in 29 years or hardly enough when I see it this way. Our first time ever in Monterey back in January 1992 included the aquarium and then in 1997, after we’d moved to America, we took my mother-in-law Jutta with us to visit this magic place. In 2001 and 2002, we visited once each year, but in 2004 and 2005, we visited twice each of those years. This was followed by a six-year pause, and we didn’t return until 2011. Another six-year break ensued that culminated with our last visit in 2017. Now, in 2021, seeing this on our horizon, it almost feels like there should have been five or six other visits thrown in there over the years, but obviously, there were other places on the map we wanted to visit, too.

Maybe we’ll make it an even dozen times we’ll have visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium come 2022 when a new “Into The Deep” exhibit is scheduled to open.