Fully enjoyed the Monterey aquarium, especially all the stingray exhibits. I even waited with a crowd of kids and got to touch some, the “Big Skate” which were actually tiny, about the size of a corn tortilla (or a 45 record, if anyone remembers those) but with very soft, silky skin. There was another ray in the touch tank with the harder, bumpy, leathery skin I expect. And there were some beautful Amazon freshwater rays, with black skin and whte polka dots, or brown with a spiderweb pattern, or tan with yellowish and brown spots. Not sure if any of my pictures will come out; took a bunch without flash just by holding the camera up against the side of the tank. The kelp forest tank was my favorite, with a wave surge machine designed by David Packard.
Haven’t been able to remember my dreams the past few days, tho they have been coming (and going) in the morning; some involve fields of grain but that’s all that comes back to me. Oh, and Ault was in one of them. Need to get back into the habit of writing them down when I wake up, but this morning even then I couldn’t recall.
Was finally able to return phonecalls yesterday, it’s a bit odd when it’s easier to get an internet connection than it is to make a cellphone call. I don’t even own a phone card, tho I suppose I could purchase one, but the idea of using a payphone seems utterly foreign to me – I remember when Amy and I were in Euro (I guess they called it Europe back then) twenty years ago we had to use public phones in the local post offices to make calls back home.
I’m staying with my friend Rebecca, in N. Oakland. Rebecca and I went to different schools together – Scripps and Pomona – tho we didn’t know each other until a couple of years later. She works for Landscape Forms and sells commercial benches. Went to Ethiopan food last night at Addis, and appeared to be the only non-Ethiopians in the place, the food was excellent and I ignored the carb counts in the injera bread.
I hurried up here from Monterey, in the afternoon but with not horrible traffic; stopped to pick up the gift of garlic from Gilroy – of course it was a lot cheaper at the second stand I saw, after I’d already bought some.
Going to visit a friend from High School this afternoon, John Clements, then plan to join Rebecca and some friends for sailing on the bay, which I’ve never done before either, hope there’s at least a lttle wind. Hoping to visit with my uncle Alan tomorrow before continuing up the outside coast. Am a bit nervous about finding a campsite every night tho it hasn’t been a problem so far; from what I can tell overnight camping by the roadside isn’t allowed much of anywhere anymore.
Oh, and I went ahead and ate at Bubba Gump’s for lunch yesterday, cajun style peel-n-eat shrimp. I tried but could not resist – looking at (or swimming with) fish makes me want to eat them. At least I didn’t get a souvenir mug, but I did get to see about half an hour of the movie while eating in the bar, and chatting with the barwench about swimming in the ocean (too cold up here without a wetsuit, and even so, hard to find an excuse to put the wetsuit on). Next time I come through Monterey I want to take a scuba dive – I took a class a while back but never got my “card” because I didn’t get around to getting them a photograph.
Speaking of which, more new photos posted at http://www.obtainium.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=040806, mostly from the aquarium.
