{"id":4903,"date":"2011-04-29T02:29:00","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T01:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=4903"},"modified":"2011-04-29T02:31:18","modified_gmt":"2011-04-29T01:31:18","slug":"catching-the-rays-in-monterey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/?p=4903","title":{"rendered":"Catching the Rays in Monterey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unexpectedly, we decided to settle in Monterey for longer than we had planned.<\/p>\n

I’m not altogether sure why.<\/p>\n

We just did.<\/p>\n

While we were in town we walked absolutely fucking miles.<\/p>\n

Again.<\/p>\n

Like the 173-mile walk to Muscle Beach.<\/p>\n

But different.<\/p>\n

A couple of years ago I re-read Steinbeck’s ‘Cannery Row<\/em>‘ for the reading group we used to attend\/Soph used to run, in Worcestershire.<\/p>\n

Being in Monterey was an interesting opportunity to look at the setting of the book through a set of 21st Century eyes.<\/p>\n

Monterey is pretty.<\/p>\n

The authorities and planners have worked hard to build the town as something of a Steinbeck heritage centre\/centre of marine conservation.<\/p>\n

The shorefront has been extensively remodelled, over the last few years, to give the place a retro feel of the ‘depression’ era.<\/p>\n

But without the main threads of the depression, obv.<\/p>\n

The well-promoted\u00a0Aquarium\u00a0has many interesting exhibits and themes to capture young and enquiring minds.<\/p>\n

But at $60 entrance fee for two people, that’s stupidly expensive.<\/p>\n

The layout inside is chaotic and very poorly signed, and the peculiar internal design doesn’t make the place user friendly but, as I’ve said, the quality of the visuals are above average.<\/p>\n

And Soph was sticking her head in an exhibit when she made a new friend.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Soph's new friend saying goodbye<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also got to see these guys from two different aspects:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
from above...<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
and from below<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also had the opportunity to see these guys up close and personal:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
a ray<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
another ray<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the walk back to the hotel, we could hear the barking\/baying of seals so clearly they could have been very close.<\/p>\n

Umm… this close?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The next stop in our hectic schedule will be San Francisco.<\/p>\n

We’re going to continue driving up Route 1, rather than using the freeways.<\/p>\n

We’re such crazy kids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unexpectedly, we decided to settle in Monterey for longer than we had planned. I’m not altogether sure why. We just did. While we were in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stuff","two-columns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brennigjones.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}