I found a motel and settled for the night. Since I had big plans for the next day -- go to the aquarium (which I expected to take a while, since I'm a dawdler in aquariums), drive to Jade Cove and do my hiking, AND drive all the way back to the Los Angeles area -- I was up really early and got over to Cannery Row over an hour before the aquarium opened. Whoops. So I wandered around, getting some hot cocoa at an ice cream shop and enjoying the view off the boardwalk. There was a cluster of rocks not far out, and gulls and seals got on and off as I watched.

The aquarium wasn't quite what I was expecting, but it was still nice. There were sea otters, a kelp forest.. and an enormous tuna/shark tank that was housing the only great white shark to survive captivity. There was a HUGE crowd around that tank, so I stayed back and thus don't have pictures. I think I saw the exciting shark, but I'm not sure. She was pretty small and it was hard to tell.

One of the best exhibits there was the jellyfish room. Lots of tanks built into the walls. I love watching jellyfish -- behind glass, that is. =) There was one room where they'd installed mirrors around the tank so it looked like you were surrounded by the moon jellies. I imitated a couple and lay down on the floor to enjoy the view upside down. Then other people followed suit.

I didn't finish at the aquarium until almost 2:00pm, which I expected and had mentally ticked off as my departure time. But then I didn't leave Cannery Row! I got distracted by the gift shops, including one that had an entire section about pirates. I'm not particularly fond of pirates (aside from my all-time favorite anime show), but several of my friends are nuts about them. So I went shopping. :P And I found non-pirate stuff, too. So it was 3:00pm by the time I was leaving Monterey. I zoomed down the coast to Jade Cove and went hiking until 6:00 and then zoomed off again. I considered finding another motel for the night, but I felt alert enough to drive until I was only an hour away from Santa Monica, at which point it was silly. I tanked up on Mountain Dew and loud music and made it back.

Pacific Palisades
Coastal Road Trip
La Jolla Cove
Vista & Fallbrook
Index