Monterey Aquarium

We got there early, within 30 minutes of its opening but that didn’t stop it from being pretty crowded around the otters first thing for the 10:30 feeding. Chari’s favorite part were the otters, she wants one to take home for her bathtub!

The aquarium is very well done. There is a lot of space for humans to view the fish and animals and the habitat is very realistic including a wave machine in the aviary that has a ‘beach’ for the shorebirds and the waves wash up and down the beach. The aquariums have so much sea life like anemones, starfish and kelp along with the fish you would almost think they had just surrounded part of the pacific ocean and you were actually just looking into the ocean. It helps that the aquarium is right on the pacific and the outdoor areas you are right at the beach and are watching wild sea otters and shore birds just like indoors.

The fish were very awesome but hard to photograph but I got this one good picture.
But the sharks and tuna and the many many fish in the big tanks were to dark to photograph.

The Jelly fish were pretty amazing and look nothing like the jelly fish that used to sting Della and I when swimming in Haines or the nearly invisible slime when pulling fish that would burn my hands. These were beautiful and I could stand there watching them mesmerized.

Bird rock, sea lions and buck on the beach

Chari and I are spending the weekend in Monterey CA. Today we took the 17 mile drive
through pebble beach. There is just no way to describe the massive amounts of seals
on the beach.

Cormorants on the top of Bird Rock, seals at the bottom.

Young buck grazing on the beach.

Doggy week

Lots of dogs this week, with Chari and her three Greyhounds up for a week of vacation and then Sophie staying for ten days its been a very dog focused week. Here are the three big dogs napping together in the sun. Surrounded by toy carcases.

Here are the two Italian Greyhounds, there are two here, they just sleep on one another so its hard to tell.

Lots of dog park and toy innards this week. At least there was no rain so not a lot of mud being dragged in. The below freezing temperatures saw to that.

Well the Greyhounds have gone home so its just Sophie and Missy for a few days. Still lots of stuffed toy fluff. I start to think there can’t be any more stuffing in the toys but I leave for a few minutes and the room is covered again. I really think one must step on the peddle of the garbage can while the other retrieves the stuffing I’ve thrown away so they can dispense it again while I’m not looking.

(and yes the doggy room came in very handy)

quite new year

The day was spent alone, and pretty quite. It was a very nice day.
I’m not making any grand resolutions, just to be thankful, happy and live healthfully.

The stroke of midnight was spent on the phone with Chari of course. Not the ideal new years kiss but I was glad she stayed up until Midnight.

Today I spent the first day of 2008 working on projects around my house, did some weeding and started planning out this years garden. (I realize winter just started but I am excited for gardening to start). I also started getting the downstairs bathroom ready to be painted. I took Missy out for the first walk of the New Year and short trip to the store for white beans to make soup with. See a great day.
There are so many projects I want to do around here. Not a lot of new ones, most are left over from last year that I didn’t get to. The big project this year would be the wall removal but really that only took a day. Last years project was the kitchen makeover in which I never did get the floor redone. We’ll just add it to the on-going list. But there seem to be a lot of things other things I didn’t get to also. Including taking the Yoga class I looked into and was going to take but got side tracked.

I did get to see my Aunts and cousins last year which hadn’t happened in years. I am extremely happy about that but it is sad that illness and death was the catalyst.

Only one vacation last year, a week at Yachats with Chari and the dogs in April which was a beautiful trip. The coast was a nice way to unwind from peak at work and spend the week together.

There is talk of a Hawaii trip this fall with Chari and her son but that depends on quite a few factors. Also there is talk of going to Germany to see my sister for Oktoberfest. I’ll be saving my pennies and my vacation time for those possible trips. Camping also didn’t happen last year. It wasn’t a resolution but I remember stating I wanted to do more camping but hey maybe this year. GRIN