Eatin' with the Jellies - pt 3

The highlight of Mad Scientist's conference was a dinner experience at the Monterey Bay Aquarium on my birthday. We got our dinner buffet-style and then there were tables scattered throughout the aquarium near the exhibits. The display we sat next to was the Kelp forest exhibit that was a tank 2 stories high. It had huge fish swimming about. It was fantastic!

Then, then had dessert in Jelly Fish rooms. It was so calm and peaceful looking at the jellies. It helped that there was New Agey music going in the background. I took quite a few pictures. Not all of them came out because of the lighting and having to shoot through the thicker glass. What a great end to a super day!

I'll post a funny video of the Flubber Jellies in the next little bit. They are as funny as they sound.

Happy Super Special Once in a Century Pi Day!!!

I have written about Pi Day before (2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014). Not sure what happened to 2012. I think we were distracted by interviewing at Why-Oh-Uh and didn't have pie??? Doesn't seem likely though. Anyway. We are fans of Pi Day. Fans of the number and the food:

We have a very, VERY special year this year. I'm quite sure that you know that the first handful digits of Pi are 3.1415926..... So since today is 3/14/15...... we've got a once in a century event! So, I  hope you did something extra special to celebrate Pi at 9:26 this morning. If you missed it, you can do something special again tonight at 9:26pm. Go eat some pie! We did!

Key Lime Pie - one of our absolute favorites!

Chocolate Pudding Pie - this year, to make it extra chocolatey, I added a thin layer of ganache under the pudding. It was fantastic!

Whale Watching - pt 2

On my birthday in Monterey, I got to go whale watching. I have been whale watching before and it was fun. However, prior to going on our trip, I didn't know that I could go whale watching this time of year in Monterey. Some acquaintances of Mad Scientist's had gone whale watching the day before and saw a bunch of whales so I decided this would be a great birthday activity. Mad Scientist was going to his conference to learn more mad scientist stuff so I went on my own. It was a fun time out on the water and sun!

Saw this beautiful pelican on the walk over to Fisherman's Wharf

On the way out of the bay, the captain of our vessel said that they saw plenty of humpback whales the day before. However, he was hoping to see some killer whales (orcas), because it was getting close to the time that they would come into the area. The transient orcas follow the gray whales on their migration through the area to try and catch the baby whale calves. (Note: The deckhand told us the only thing the orcas eat of the baby calves are their tongues!)

All along our ride, we saw lots of sea lions just resting on the surface of the water like this.

If you click on this picture, you can see a brown patch close to the front of the orca. That was a startled sea lion rudely awoken from his nap.

This is a sea lion shooting out of the water to evade a killer whale right below him.

Chomp. We all assumed that the orca got the sea lion.

I thought this was a funny picture. You don't often get to see the orcas' tails so this is rare shot. Usually only the dorsal fin are visible and their signature white patch up near their eye is always discernible.

 We then left the killer whales, because the captain saw a pod of common dolphins ahead of our ship. There was a pod of about 150-200 animals and it was fantastic to see them swimming along with our boat.

Pod of common dolphins (Estimated 150-200 dolphins)

They are smaller than bottle nose dolphins and only about 5-6 feet long.

 We did get to see a few humpback whales further out at the end of our trip so I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures like our last whale watching trip in Cape Cod.

When I was heading back to the hotel, I was looking at the water and saw some funny shaped "rocks". Looking more closely, I saw they were actually sea lions lying on submerged rocks that were pretty close to the surface of the water.

I just had to take a picture of this guy. He looked so chill.

To top off my great morning, I had to finish with a birthday ice cream at Ghirardelli. I had never gotten a sundae all those times of doing the tourist thing with family visiting us in the S.F. Bay area so I thought I should get one now. There was a cherry on top, but I ate it before I thought to take a pic. :)

 

Monterey Sunshine - pt 1

I recently accompanied Mad Scientist to a conference in Monterey, CA during my birthday week. Mad Scientist's sister, Fuchsia, came into town to watch our boys. It was great fun and especially great to enjoy the warm sunshine as a preview for our upcoming warm weather. It was in the 60's all week in Monterey and absolutely beautiful! It made me remember what it was like to be warm with the sun on my face and no coat weighing me down.

Anyway. We stayed on Cannery Row (yes, the John Steinbeck one) and it had fun little shops in the area. Also, they had many historical markers telling about the history of the area.

Flora Woods, who was the inspiration for Steinbeck's characters

Thought it was funny they put little frogs all over the rocks.

I dream of poppies one day growing in my garden. Those bunnies like to eat them!!!

 I also found some hidden gems on this tiny sliver of a beach down a bit from our hotel.

What a fantastic piece of art!

They also had these fun little cairns around the beach. We thought they were an official art installation because some of the rock piles defied gravity!