One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Latest adventure from last Monday was...... Monterey!!! For once - one of my adventures went off without (too much of a ) hitch! It was supposed to rain all day, so my friend and I chose to go to the aquarium to stay dry, but it turns out that the whole day was bright and sunny!!!

There was some on and off rain on the drive out and we ALMOST got stuck waiting on a closed road because of a really bad accident, but luckily my friend had some hook-ups in Monterey (whom we were also planning on visiting) and they gave us the traffic scoop and helped us navigate to our final destination.

Other than that, there's really no crazy stories to tell this time around. Wierd, huh? But I LOVE LOVE LOVE Monterey. It's beautiful. The aquarium was nice (not terrible crowded - could easily have been worse). I'll just go ahead and get straight to the photos I suppose! The day was just fun and silly all around - so very few "nice" photos

Touch the star fish (and sea cucumbers - eww)

Look closely - This is a sweet leafy sea dragon! Some things that are alive are BIZARRE

Jellies!
Oh the colors!

Not all the fish at the aquarium were beautiful , but the displays were cool. This was a big circle tank in a circle room.

And now me recreating the schools of fish via finger puppets. I have that crazy look in my eye....

A view from one of the many balconies at the aquarium and us showing it off ever so nicely.

After the aquarium, we hit up Cannery Row since it was a beautiful day! We got the most delicious cinnamon roll (which is saying something since I don't particularly care for them!)

In the "Harry Otter" store

Some seals we saw! They don't do a whole lot... We saw a sea otter playing in the ocean too though!

We climbed out to this point to watch the water and see the surfers. Clearly I was not a mountain goat in a prior life and had balance issues on the rocks. Instead of getting offered help, I got laughed at.

The peeps we met up with for dinner. Apparently having an equally not serious photo day.

All in all - good day! I have plenty more pictures of course..let me know if you want to see more!

San Francisco - A tale of one woman's expedition

Hi once again to all! First of all, a quick birthday update - it was good! The day before Nick left we went kayaking out in Morro Bay with the seals and had authentic clam chowder while sitting at a bar with an awesome view of the Pacific! I wish Everyone could have been there to share the fun! There are only cell phone photos from this trip though - even though a new camera was purchases in lieu of the previous being so crudely dropped by yours truely - it's battery failed to work in our time of need (which resulted in a later return to Best Buy) If Nick figures out how to upload those, I'll be sure to share them!

Now jump ahead a week! Growing increasingly bored with staring at my beige walls, and coming to terms with the fact that no matter how much I beat my dinosaur of a television the picture is not going to fix itself, I chose to step out of my comfort zone and see some of California! Monday's pick... San Francisco (for better or worse...)

After a pleasant 3 hours drive, I found myself in the heart of ghetto San Francisco (you can google all the charms of the "Tenderloin"). Terrified and lost, it wasn't long before I was crying in my car. People drive NUTS. I almost got hit by a bus and no one uses crosswalks. Just short of turning around and going home, I stopped at the only eatery I could find. Once inside McDonalds, I found I was the ONLY white person. Go figure, they say if you ate out all 3 meals at a different restaurant everyday, it would take you 8.5 YEARS to get through them all in San Fran....and I went to McDonald's. Nice. I paid an extravagant amount for a hamburger, made a few phone calls and decided I didn't drive 3 hours to eat at fast food! I made my way to a local tour bus company and hopped on!

Maybe it was Senior Citizen discount day or maybe it was just awesome luck, but now I was on a bus with the finest of our vacationing geriatric population. But - I saw the city! I saw Chinatown, the hoity toity shopping square, those crazy steep curvy roads, cable cars, transvestites, and more! I hopped of at Pier 39 which is a big touristy hub. Lots of cute shops! At the end of the pier I saw Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz (but no Sean Connery in sight...) Eventully I made it back to my car and finished my day by seeing Haight Ashbury (where the hippie movement got big momentum!) I'm a little disappointed I didn't see the "painted ladies" victorian homes, but then again, I'm proud I saw anything in San Fran at all! I guess I'll just have to go back someday (preferably with company!) And of course, as it is anyday I choose to take a trip, it was raining cats and dogs. I was the epitome of fashion in a bright red poncho supplied by the tour bus. So hot, these California girls have nothing on me! Nothing! :)

Here's the capital building! Complete with gold on top (and you wonder why the state is going under...)

Crazy zig-zag street!

Damn wires that the electric buses ran on (and almost hit me!)

Entrance to China Town

Even the ice cream was hippie-fied in Haight Ashbury!


Entrance to Pier 39 (my camera chose to take it in B&W - not me!)

ALCATRAZ (THE ROCK!!!) I think I could probably swim it.

I want a sail boat now!

Me, the Golden Gate, and the crappy weather.

And finally - Me - Happy I survived!