My alarm went off at 6:30am Idaho time this morning. I guess my cell phone doesn't know to differentiate between normal Monday mornings and Christmas Eve Monday mornings. So I crawled across two sleeping girls to turn it off, and then back.
It wasn't long, however, before my dad came in to wake us -- after breakfast and a quick sweep of the house for our varied belongings (my mom wanted us to get the mess into the bedrooms so that my grandma wouldn't have to worry about anything of ours as she prepared for the big family dinner on Christmas Day), we prepared for the drive to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The trip was approximately two hours of driving, I think -- on GoogleMaps it gave the distance at just over 100 miles. I started crocheting my second scarf of the vacation week, and most everyone dozed off a bit at various times or entertained themselves by reading. We drove around Monterey Bay a couple of different directions, foiled in our attempts to find parking close to the aquarium by the one-way grid and construction zones. There was a little discussion as I was ferried from the airport on my first day debating whether Californians were picking up bad road construction habits from Idaho, or whether they had brought them to Idaho in the first place ...
At any rate, we did find parking, we did find lunch before starving to death, and we did make it to the aquarium around noon or 1pm. We spent about three hours inspecting the exhibits through mind-bending and eye-watering glass and lighting, especially in the jellyfish tanks. It was quite good. I really enjoyed the various jellyfish exhibits -- I can't say that they do anything terribly interesting or demonstrative of intelligence, but they're pretty. There were many many anemones in practically every exhibit. (We are Legion!) On the spotted jellyfish exhibit there was a placard announcing that these beautiful creatures are going extinct, because they need mangrove roots in order to survive and people keep cutting those trees down. I was slightly bemused by this statement, especially after I had carefully searched the tank containing the jellyfish in vain for a mangrove tree. Perhaps glass is a respectable substitute.
The jellyfish came in all sizes and colors; some were transparent but for small white bits for the most necessary organs, and some where thick and looked cuddly in their brown and blue globes. There were rainbow jellies, teeny-tiny clustering moon jellies, umbrella jellies, and some which did not swim but rested upside-down on the bottom of their tank, lifting their plumes into the water in imitation of a barnacle or anemone. It astonished me, as I looked at the minuscule swarms which were magnified 50 times so that we could see them, just how complicated this rather comparatively simple creature was. There was so much going on at a microscopic level, you'd never guess it to merely gaze upon the clear hoods and see the trailing tentacles.
The otters were cute -- the freshwater otters were mostly sleeping but for two brothers romping in one tank, and the sea otters refused to acknowledge my existence. We were near the tank at feeding time, but didn't feel it necessary to insinuate ourselves into the crowd gathered around to watch the event. The Great White shark was smaller than I would have expected -- only five feet long or so -- but that's just because he was a juvenile. The leopard sharks are quite pretty. They looked as though they would be soft to the touch.
The octopus was impressive. Nothing looks quite so alien as an octopus or squid. Although my mother was slightly disturbed by the rainbow jellyfish -- their small propelling hairs diffract the light like prisms, causing a technicolor display as they swim around slowly. These mostly-transparent creatures are similar to the sea cucumber, in that they self-destruct and disintegrate when disturbed. Perhaps the bits grow into new jellyfish, a la' starfish. I did pet a starfish, but I was called to join the rest of the family just as I was searching the petting pool for something more interesting to touch.
After three hours of walking, we were all hungry again -- on the trip home we investigated the remains of the travel snacks which had been in the back for the last few days -- various crackers and nuts. Slim pickings, but enough to stave off the immediate starvation which some of us were anticipating.
The trip back seemed longer than the trip out, but I suppose that's fairly normal for an excursion. We found some Christmas music on the radio to listen to. We were also informed, to a few sighs, that the trip to Alcatraz was canceled. It was visible from the Golden Gate Bridge on our way from Muir Park the day before yesterday, and my parents decided to spend the time alloted for that in other activities. Perhaps another time.
We've just finished the fifth movie of the vacation: The Avengers, The Crimson Pirate, Bewitched, While You Were Sleeping, and topped off with tonight's 'Foul Play,' starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase. Not bad. Quite funny.
That's all for now folks ... Have a wonderful and merry Christmas!
Anemone
Post a Comment