MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA

During the 80’s and 90’s, we often took vacations along the California coast, taking three or four days to get to San Francisco and then ending up in the Napa Valley for a few days, staying with my cousin and her husband.

The first time we visited Monterey, we stayed at the Hotel Pacific downtown, but we ventured out to Cannery Row and the Aquarium, and ended up having dinner at The Monterey Plaza Hotel one night.

It looked so nice, and was right on the water with one building hanging out over the Pacific on pylons.  The next year we booked into the Monterey Plaza and were given the room at the very end of that wing on the 11th floor, Room 1102.

What we soon discovered was that at various times of the day, the sea otters swam by, and sometimes they dove for abalone in the water right under our balcony.  There were also sea lions and harbor seals, and as the photo above shows, many many seagulls looking for food.  They flew in circles, cathing bread in mid air as we threw it from the balcony.  They also came to visit as you can see above.  Until I took this photo, I never knew that seagulls have webbed feet, but it makes sense since they do forage for food in the ocean.  The photo below shows the same seagull getting ready to take off in flight.

We went back to Room 1102 more than a few times on our trips up and down the coast, and each time we were fascinated by the marine life found in Monterey Bay.  We even went kayaking on one trip, but I haven’t yet come across those photos.