Marine Creatures and Plants

It's been awhile since I've been at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Many of the exhibits are the same... sea otters, jellyfish, penguins, and fish of all sorts. However, they had some new exhibits "Secret Life of Seahorses" and "Wild About Otters." Interesting looking fish or freshwater otters?

Overheard a little girl commenting on how cruel it was to keep the animals in tanks and cages for our enjoyment. This is all done in the name of conservation. Take a few samples from the population in order to make everyone aware of their plight is fine. One entire exhibit of the aquarium was dedicated to conservation and the impact of our eating habits. One can feel real guilty about the sashimi they consume, especially when they look at the tuna swimming in the Deep Ocean Exhibit and wonder how much sashimi one can get from that huge tuna. Who knew tuna was that huge? Those cans are very deceiving.

Watching the waters of Monterey makes me want to learn how to scuba dive. It would be amazing to swim through the waters, go through the kelp forests, occasionally see fish, and maybe swim with the sea otters. Pretend to be a mermaid, but a bulky mermaid with an air tank on their back and a mask covering her face.

Wandering through Cannery Row and onto Fisherman's Wharf was quite a walk, 1.2 miles one way. Got to see jellyfish in the wild and the seals and sea lions on the rocks and the wharf (mmm... sounds like a drink: sea lions on the rocks). One tends to realize that fish do not group together that densely in the wild like they are grouped in the aquarium (probably wouldn't draw the crowds).

Moving north to San Francisco, a day was spent wandering around Golden Gate Park while waiting to get into the De Young's special exhibit of "Tutankhamen: The Boy King." It was so cool to see all of the pictures of objects found in Tut's tomb and have them actually be in front of me and walk around them and observe all the cracks and details. They even had the little coffins that held the fetuses of his unborn children! All of these items were made a thousand years ago and were perfectly preserved and are now present before our eyes.

King Tut was not the only exhibit. Wandering around through Golden Gate Park, we managed to find our way to the Flower Conservatory and to the Japanese Tea Garden. Those marble maps are getting hard to read. One has to cover bits of it with their hand to remove the glare and reflection in order to find their way around the park. Moving on beyond my one gripe, the Conservatory was pleasantly warm in order to maintain the tropical climate the collection's plants are used to. Lots of orchids, my favorite, and a showcase of edible plants. Vanilla bean is the greatest scent on the planet.

Speaking of food, a nice break can be had at the tea house at the Tea Garden. However, I lacked cash in my wallet, which is not recommended since this place is cash only. But it was nice to get a pot of Jasmine tea and watch people enter the Tea Garden and take pictures. I enjoy people watching so much. A lot of European tourists at both Monterey and San Francisco. The best feature of the garden was the Drum Bridge. Not very fond of heights and steep stairs, so this was a bit of a challenge for me. However, I made it down alive and now can say I have been on that bridge (I don't suppose there's a club for such an achievement?).