Still hate the ocean

My friend Sarah had a plan to get me over my fear of sharks (my plan was to go cage diving with them).  Her plan was to go to the aquarium...so, now I'm completely afraid of the multitude of creatures in the sea, so that plan didn't work!

I spent the morning at the Monterey Aquarium which was pretty neat.  It's on the water and so they have made sure that sea birds, etc have homes/nesting places along the coast near the aquarium.   LOTS of otters both inside and outside of the aquarium.  They look tiny, but once they're out of the water their fur dries and they look huge!   I also bought my newest nephew his first book from Aunt Jennie and got the other boys books and taffy (because I'm the book buying aunt... Lots and lots of books).

Next I grabbed lunch.  Had a delicious grilled artichoke.  Following lunch I went for a walk along the waterfront of Cannery Row, named after all the fish canning buildings that were there.  John Steinbeck wrote a book called Cannery Row.  Now, I have cursed Steinbeck's name ever since I read Grapes of Wrath in high school.  I had loved Of Mice and Men, but reading Grapes of Wrath was so torturous that  living during the Dust Bowl seemed like an okay time.  However, two years ago when I was in Romania I reread Dracula (Stoker's description of the Carpathian Mountains and surrounding land made me want to go to Romania... So I did) and it was great to see where the book took place.  So I decided to give Steinbeck another chance and read Cannery Row, and I'm glad I did.  I started a few days before the trip and enjoyed walking around Cannery Row, the Wharf and driving around Monetery picturing the story take place.  It's a really good book (a bit depressing, but hey, that was the time period), easy read, and I highly recommend reading it.

While walking I spotted a whale!!  So I stayed put for awhile a did some whale watching, which was pretty cool.  Eventually I got in the car and did some driving along the coast, over toward Pebble Beach.   For dinner I drove back to the wharf and had some roasted garlic with bread and bacon wrapped scallops over risotto... Delicious!  Although the amount of garlic I ate will keep vampires away from me for a lengthy amount of time.

Random:  There is a stretch or rocks west of the wharf that goes out into the water and there are tons of sea lions laying out on it sunning themselves.

Today I'm off to drive along Big Sur, make a secret stop, and then to Hearst Castle.