Visiting the Monterey Aquarium

We enjoyed our visit to the Monterey Aquarium today, but we were only there about two hours! I could have stayed most of the day. I don't know why I only took four photos, guess I was too busy looking. This area has a curved glass (plastic?) roof which protects the visitors from a great splashing wave that comes down every few minutes. Mary Leakey and Elizabeth Barton are looking at the rocks and animal life just after the wave subsides.

And here they are mid-wave with the water streaming down the glass.

I think this is called "The Great Tide Pool", but I could be wrong. It is hard to identify on the Aquarium map. I enjoyed the Coastal Bird display which I remember from my last visit. The birds were all rescued and given medical treatment, but are too badly injured to be released into the wild. Their lives are greatly extended by living in captivity, the oldest bird (a whimbrel, I think) was rescued 21 years ago, but her life expectancy in the wild would have been about ten years. In their enclosure they move about freely and don't appear to be the least aware of the visitors standing so closely. There is no barrier between birds and people - quite amazing.

After we left we drove over to The Red House, one of our favorite restaurants in Pacific Grove, where we each had their grilled cheese sandwich made with Fontina cheese, bell peppers, onions and served with a little pot of aoli w/olives. "Yum-O"!!

Cooler today with a lovely breeze after we arrived back at Mary's. Tomorrow is departure day for both Elizabeth (back to Georgia) and me (back to Placentia). I hope it has cooled down a bit, everyone has been suffering in the terrible heat and apparently experiencing brownouts. Guess my houseplants may have gone to that great greenhouse in the sky.