Thursday, August 6, 2009

Bay Side (and i dont mean the high school in Saved by the Bell)

spending the weekend in Monterey was de-lightful. portland had been having a ridiculous heat wave, and my little apartment was overheating. being on the top floor with plenty of west facing windows didnt help anything. i, like many portlanders, do not have air conditioning. but unlike most portlanders, i also dont have a proper fan. what i do have is one of those t-i-n-y desk fans. so i took that little guy with me where ever i went. i couldnt move more than a few inches because i wasnt about to risk having to experience the true heat without my artificial breeze. it is a weird reality when the Bay Area is more temperate than Portland.

Monterey would have been lovely on its own, but it was doubly fantastic because it got me out of the heat. And you cant go to Monterey without going to the aquarium. i think it is one of the only things i've experienced that didnt feel smaller after revisiting as an adult. but then again, the place does have several life-sized whale replicas hanging from the ceiling, and i think that alone would keep anyone from questioning its magnitude.
Kevin was a great tour guide - he knew all about the exhibits and would answer all my questions, i didnt have to bother reading those pesky placards next to each tank. who has that kind of time, anyway? we stayed in a really nice hotel and while we were there my mom and i relaxed and got pedicures, i'm still showing off my freshly manicured toenails. (i might have to consider making pedicures a regular routine:) marvelous.

what was weird to me was being on the beach where the sun didnt set over the water. because we were right on the Monterey Bay, the beach was often to the north and the sun would set away from the water. it kinda freaked me out. thats what happens when you spend most of your life only experiencing the pacific ocean. you dont know how to respond when your near water but the sun sets over the land. it felt wrong.

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