A Little Something Different Today....

Gentle Friends, no Flashback today as I took the day off, and Rico and I are headed south to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  Specifically to see the newest exhibit "Into The Deep: Exploring Our Undiscovered Ocean.  Here's a great video from the Aquarium about some of the curious animals way down deep...

...  I'll be back next week with some updates and snaperoos from our trip.

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Have a super weekend.  Stay Safe!!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little More Thanksgiving

Gentle Friends, after the long weekend and a fun Holiday I came back to a pile at work.  But, I wanted to share some snaps...

... after I set the table for Thanksgiving dinner... then I noticed... no napkins... they were still on the ironing board...but made it to the table before we sat down...

...we made a run the SF Flower Market Wednesday morning so that Rico could make the centrepiece... it was a great Thanksgiving my sister and brother-in-law drove down from Vancouver for the weekend and we some friends over so it was a full house and a tasty meal if I do say so myself!!

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On Friday we headed south to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and a private tour with of friend who is a Red Coat Docent there...  I love this bird !!

... it was a really lovely day as this snap of Monterey Bay illustrates...

... we walked all over the place and of course visited the jellies...  

these I am sure are called Black Sea Nettle jellies...

... isn't this a great starfish!!

... I love the shorebird exhibit, it's so nice to see them up close ...

... isn't this sandpiper a cutie!!

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It was a super weekend!!  Now, as we jump headfirst into the Season.... it seems that every weekend we're booked up and haven't a moment to spare!!  I've started some baking and have our Cards on order and we're getting the house all bedecked for Christmas!!

That about does it for today sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Good Thoughts! Good Words! Good Deeds!

edgar

A Little Road Trip

Gentle Friends, over the weekend we headed south to Monterey Bay... 

and a visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium...once again it was a super visit and I took some snaps...

Sea Nettles 

... the first thing we headed for was the Jellies exhibit.... they are really beautiful!!  

Moon Jellies, Medusa luna del Pacifico

Purple-Striped Jelly

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Giant Pacific Octopus

 It was great to see the GPO out and moving around, we found out that they had added into this tank a female so there were three octopi moving about in the tank.  usually, they are huddled up in little crevices and quiet... that's how they were last time.

... some super anemone...

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... some clown fish...

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... looking out towards the Bay and the Pacific ocean...

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... I really love this life-sized model of a Gray Whale...

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There you go sports fans, thanks for stopping by do stop again!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Road Trip to Monterey Bay Part IV

Gentle Friends,  and finally we arrive and the last post about our day in Monterey... after the Aquarium we headed right out the front door and along Cannery Row...

.... since the day was still bright and beautiful was a nice to walk in the sun ...

... there are spots along the way where you can see the open Bay...and has an open feeling instead of a built-up wall of condos...

... there is a lovely park that has at the front a bust of Johna Steinbeck and a newer larger statue of nine historical figures... this area is called Steinbeck Plaza...  then it was on to lunch.....  

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... we headed to Sly McFly's...

... and ordered a round of drinks...

... and I thought what better way than with a Bloody Mary... gotta have that vitamin C...  

here are our lunches...

... fish and chips...

... Turkey club...

... roasted Chicken Salad...

... and I had a Chef's Sampler Platter of tempura fish, shrimp, and squid "steak strips"...  then some live music started up and we settled in for a little listen...... and another round...

.... with a delicious Buffalo Trace bourbon Old fashioned!!!  It was a lovely afternoon!!!

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... then we went shopping... Rico tried on squid hats!!

... and we hit a candy store...

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Then it was time to get back on the road and head north and home.......

... at last, shot looking out over the Bay towards the open Pacific ocean......

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That wraps up our day in Monterey, I would highly recommend a visit!!  Thanks again for coming along with me a reliving our trip it was lots of fun!!  

Take care,

edgar

A Little Road Trip to Monterey Bay Part III

Gentle Friends its Tuesday and the adventure continues.....

... it's hard to see in a still photo but this exhibit is huge - it's is a gigantic overhead tank of Pacific Sardines... they swim in circles and flash brightly as the sun above hits them... this leads on to the "Jellies" a really beautiful exhibit that is a real "not to miss" section of the Aquarium!!

... The Purple Stripped Jelly......

...The Sea Nettle Jellies...

... The Moon Jellies....

There were many more Jellies I just didn't want to overload you with pictures... the entire exhibit is hypnotizing and beautiful, a real treat for the eyes!! 

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...then it was on to the Baja Peninsula where there are desert dwellers like this tarantula (hard to see but under the rock) and his bronze counterpart on the ledge

... and along the bottom are there Garden Eels..

... and then we came up to another enormous tank of swiftly swimming fish called Lookdowns - again they swam fast and flashed color. it was quite mesmerizing!!  These fish usually stay close to shore as young then move out to the open water as adult fish thus linking the reefs to the open ocean moving freely back and forth.

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I think that will wrap it up for today.  There's only one more Post to this ongoing narrative that I'll get up tomorrow.... thanks for letting me revisit our day I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am!!

Take care,

edgar

A Little Road Trip to Monterey Bay Part II

Gentle Friends, the tour continues upstairs at the touch pools...

... in the children's area are large "touch pools" and there are good and bad comments on the internet about these - however I think that getting small children and even some adults interested in the conservation of our oceans and seeing up close sea life far outweighs anything negative... 

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In addition to the open oceans, the Aquarium also has exhibits about the ecosystems of California...

... the Coastal Steam is one of those systems... they connect the redwoods to the sea creating green corridors through a dry land.  The rocks and roots form deep pools, where fishes like trout and salmon thrive.  Above these deep pools are lush green banks sheltering many creatures.

...  in addition to the steelhead and salmon, they have an exhibit of...

... the California Toad!!  Who knew we had a toad !!  They live in coastal streams and ponds.  With the destruction of these streams and habitats throughout the state these once very prolific toads are quickly disappearing...

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We climbed up to the very top of the aquarium to see what we could see and found something very interesting...

... the open top to the large kelp forest tanks... and even there the didactic information continues...

... I love that they continuously explain and teach here.....

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... here's a shot of the open side of the aquarium from the Bay at the mezzanine level...

... looking down from the top at the same spot...  

In fact the entire day it was really just a beautiful day ... it was nice and breezy, sunny and just lovely.....  this time of year was just perfect as the crowds were very small and movement through the institution was easy and slow...

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...  going back inside I ran up against this great exhibit in the children's area...

.... and here's the information presentation for the younger crowd... 

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The Aquarium is actually in multiple buildings and connected by overhead bridges and gangways...

...here's our friend the gray whale from Part I up close...

... and looking him in the eye and barnacle...

... and I turned around and look who was posing with the killer whale...

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That wraps up part II.  Thanks for stopping by, I'll pick up the narrative next week.  

Have a super weekend!!

Take care,

edgar