Tag Archives: Monterey

Sea Otter Tenant

Our visit to the aquarium in Monterey was mainly indoors but we did step out onto the deck area to see what was out there in the rain. I didn’t have a camera with me other than my phone but I did borrow Nancy’s P900 because a Sea Otter had moved in to the pool to take it easy. Someone told us that she was pregnant and liked the shelter the pool afforded. She certainly seemed to be relaxing comfortably while we were there. Maybe Tyson can update us on how she has been doing.

Is There Anywhere a Sea Lion Can’t Sleep?

B11I2639.jpgI am always amazed by the places that sea lions can get to. They can be found on man made structures or rocky outcrops all the time. They will sleep in any space. How they find their way there without harming themselves is a mystery. They do though. Any surface will probably have a sea lion on it taking a nap.

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Monterey Regional Airport

wpid13154-AU0E0276.jpgMy buddy Paul was in town for a day so we headed off to see what we could find. It was a Sunday and the less than ideal transportation options of San Francisco on a Sunday meant we had a slightly later start than planned. We decided to check out Monterey since the airport there has quite a lot of corporate movements as well as some military at the weekends. It also has a viewing area on top of the terminal and a spot for lunch if nothing much is happening.

wpid13156-AU0E0327.jpgAs it turned out, there was not too much going on. We did get a few interesting jet and turboprop movements but not too much. It really was a quiet day so we took the lunch option and wandered around the displays in the terminal before deciding to head on somewhere else.

Artichoke Art

wpid10450-C59F8290.jpgCastroville CA is the self proclaimed artichoke capital of the world. Given the percentage of the world’s artichokes that are grown there, I doubt anyone is going to try and challenge them for the title. They seem to have it wrapped up. To celebrate the artichoke, the town holds an artichoke festival. This has become quite a popular event and has now migrated from Castroville to the County fairgrounds in Monterey. This seemed like something worth a visit. While you could find all sorts of things at the festival and try artichoke in many forms – artichoke cupcakes anyone – and have your picture taken with Arty the Artichoke, the thing that really caught our imagination was the artichoke art.

wpid10448-C59F8287.jpgPeople sculpt various installations using artichokes and other vegetables. They may plan as long as they like but they have to bring the raw ingredients on the morning of the competition and create the art there and then. Some of them were really impressive. My favorite was the pig although several of the others looked pretty cool.

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Seals

wpid8319-C59F0418.jpgOur coastline jaunt took us further south to Monterey.  We have been there before a couple of times on vacations so almost didn’t go but I was tempted to see whether there were any Sea Otters mucking around close to shore.  As it turned out, either there weren’t or they were doing a good job of being somewhere other than where I was.

wpid8316-C59F0405.jpgHowever, there were a couple of seals hanging around in one inlet.  Sea lions are very common along this coastline and seals are not rare either.  However, I always feel like the sea lions are more conspicuous and seeing the seals somehow feels more unexpected.  Given how many there are, this is probably a dopey thing to think but that wouldn’t be a first for me.  Anyway, one of the seals was resting on a rock while another was swimming around.  It’s possible there were two different seals in the water but I couldn’t be sure so I shall only claim one covering a fair bit of ground.  While they are ungainly creatures when out of the water, they can certainly cover some distance in a hurry once in the water.  I got the feeling the one in the water wanted the rock but it didn’t look like he was going to be lucky any time soon!