Day 5 - Spiny Lumpsucker and Other Good Names for a Band

On Monday, I said goodbye to San Francisco and hello to Los Angeles. But first, I needed to say goodbye and thank you to Cindy and Co. and get one last glimpse of that spectacular view!

The drive to LA takes at least seven hours, so in order to make the trek a bit more reasonable, and because it's awesome, I stopped at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

I parked in front of the Sardine Factory (note that this is a assembly line I would NOT want to work on). 

My mom and a good friend of mine used to work at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium so I am not unfamiliar with the concept, but it has been a while since I've been to one. Some of the features were familiar, but others were definitely new.

I was at the Monterey Bay Aquarium once before with my parents on one of our vacations I was too young to appreciate. There were many, many, many kids at the aquarium on this Monday afternoon that were to young to appreciate it and will probably have no memory of the experience.  

No memory except for the many, many, many pictures their parents were taking. Of course, I have to plead guilty to an itchy shutter finger, too. 

Kelp garden

A camera's flash is the 2000s version of tapping on the glass. 

A cuddly cuttlefish

Fun Fact: That sepia toned photo that looks all old timey? You have Mr. or Ms. Cuttlefish to thank for that, as the sepia seeps from a cuttlefish's ink sac.

The sardine tank is one of the features I remember from my first visit.

Sardines (sans Saltines)

They swim around, and around, and around all day. But they must know quite a lot if they spend so much time in school.

Please welcome to the stage . . .

New album drops soon!

Next was a HUGE octopus that could totally carry all of your groceries, and your car, and then eat your face. I think this is what was always rumored to be living under the Narrows Bridge.

An octopus in his garden in the shade

Above the tank was a sign asking that we please not flash the octopus, so I made sure to keep my sweater zipped up tight.

Anyone who's been to Fox Island will recognize theses little guys:

A boy was looking at them and asked how they got their name. His father explained that back before we had money, people used to use these to buy stuff. (And I guess everyone kept their excess in a river bank?)

There was a lot more environmental preaching than I remember from the first time around. This tank was filled with animals who like to live in debris. 

This little guy lives in a glass bottle

Then they had a helpful sign reminding us that we didn't need to provide them with any more homes. 

There was a "diner" set up to teach us about eating seafood responsibly. Of course, no diner is complete without autographed celebrity photos. 

Seafood lovers

These were my favorites:

Rose and Mr. Spock

The aquarium featured an enormous jellyfish exhibit.

Are you ready for this jelly?

This is a lion's mane jellyfish:

The mane! The lion's mane!

Fun Fact: According to Stephen Fry on QI, the lion's mane is the longest animal (totally longer than the blue whale). Those tendrils growing off the main body can grow up to 200 feet. Also, a lion's mane jellyfish apparently was featured in one of the Sherlock Holmes stories. 

More pretty:

Anyone have some peanut butter?

'Cause that's a lot of jelly!

I also got to check out the promised "see into the sea" feature of my sunglasses from a deck high above the bay. 

Me high above the bay

Without sunglasses

With sunglasses

So, if you're looking for kelp and whatnot, I think I found some for you.

Here's another one of those preachy displays:

I totally had that pasta spoon,
but I think I threw it out before the move

A bird made of plastic garbage
saved from the ocean

 And yet another preachy display. This one about reusable grocery bags.

Paper or plastic?

When you lift the lever on the left, a reusable grocery bag is revealed surrounded by lights of preachyness. But what are dog owners supposed to scoop poop with, huh? What are dog owners supposed to scoop poop with?

The greatest part of this display is that the people in the picture on the left seem to totally know how lame this is:

Okay look like you're saving the environment with that grocery bag

This is really lame

And how!

My last stop was the otter tank where there didn't seem to be any otters. I asked one of the staff members if they were out for repairs, but she said there should be two in there. It turns out that they were snuggled in a giant bucket on the rocks above and just out of sight except for an errant flipper.

You otter know

This was extremely vexing for one of the aquarium visitors who tried to explain to the otters that she'd driven all the way here and that they could nap another time because now is the time to let her take flash photographs of them while her kids tapped on the glass. Somehow the otters were not persuaded and stayed decidedly put. 

Before hitting the road to LA, I did a bit of shopping on Cannery Row.

On the road, I headed for California 1. I had intended to take CA 1 from Eureka to San Francisco, but my GPS didn't think that should be an option, so I was determined to find it this time. 

It was a lovely scenic drive for the first hour or so. Slow and curvy, but scenic. After that first hour, I'd decided I'd had enough and the fog started to roll in. Actually it didn't roll, it pounced! One minute all sunshine and blue skies, next minute the mist.

Okay maybe not like that

But still, pretty misty

I discovered that as hard as it was to get on CA 1, it was even more difficult to get off. An ocean view is fine, but I think I am officially a 101 girl from now on. 

When I arrived at the hotel I discovered an unexpected treat. 

Ooo, a jacuzzi soaky tub

What was also unexpected is that it's feet from the bed. 

Waterfront property

Maybe this is a thing, but it is new to me. 

I arrived at the hotel just in time to fall asleep. (By taking CA 1 instead of 101 or I-5, my trip went from six and change hours to nine and change.)

I am here tonight and tomorrow, but I am back to using the sleep sack. Who knows how many people thought it was just too much work to put on pants from the tub to the bed. 

Odometer Start: 34984

Odometer End: 35426

Miles Driven Today: 442

Miles Driven Total: 1606

Today In/Around: Monterey, CA and Los Angeles, CA

Tomorrow: Los Angeles, CA again

States Visited: 3 (Washington, Oregon, California)

Overpriced Souvenirs Purchased: 2

Otters Spotted: 0