On The Road With John Steinbeck..

We made it to the Monterey Bay Aquarium almost without incident.

Just 11 miles from our destination,and after several frantic gestures from passing motorists,we realized our right front tire was nearly flat!

Not to worry..Lizzard King sprung into action,and had us back on the road in less than 10 minutes.

I,of course,took advantage of the opportunity to smoke a cigarette in true supervisory fashion.

We found the aquarium easily enough.

If Cannery Row is the exclamation point of Monterey,then the aquarium is the period that punctuates it..

I should take a moment to explain (make excuses for) a minor malfunction..

..I had the foresight to set my camera for the dim fluorescent lighting of the aquarium,..no flash photography of the live exhibits being allowed.
Pretty clever of me huh?
Sadly,..I forgot to account for this when taking exterior shots,..hence the surreal quality of the photos.
..Pretty dumb of me huh.

The good news is!..We had purchased our tickets in advance from the Triple A store here in O-Town,..so we strutted right past that impossible line of folks out front,and walked directly into the side entrance normally reserved for heads of state and such!

We had anticipated having to deal with the holiday crowd once inside the aquarium,but HOLY CRAP!
In a not-so-subtle twist of irony,we were quite literally packed inside the joint like Monterey Brand Sardines!..Only,..without the soothing lubrication of extra virgin Olive oil.
This made it more than a little frustrating when trying to maneuver for unobstructed photos of the extraordinary collection of ocean dwelling creatures.

Oh sure,..Shoving 6 year old kids to the floor,and using occupied baby strollers as step stools is easy enough,but them determined old folks simply refuse to move their damn walkers,no matter how hard you kick 'em.

Follows,a small portfolio of what I was best able to capture..


















PLUS!!..An exciting video for your nautical pleasure.



Lizzard King,Little Newt,Mom-O,and I had a glorious time at The Monterey Bay Aquarium,..in spite of the crowd.
We spent about three hours marvelling,not just at the variety of species,but the brilliant technology it takes to maintain this world class operation!

It's a uniquely educational experience...