Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay

 

I move up to Monterey, the home of the Monterey Pop Festival. I so wanted to be here in 1967 when the soundtrack of my life - Hendrix, Joplin and Redding among others - played here. This festival is generally regarded as one of the beginnings of the “Summer of Love”. For many of us wannabes, this was the place to be.

Besides the Pop Festival, Monterey has always attracted artists, musicians and many counterculture type folk. For example, John Steinbeck wrote Cannery Row about the sardine canneries in Monterey, although nowadays, Cannery Row caters to the tourist crowd. Robert Louis Stevenson several works while living in Monterey.

With all this abundant culture, I am here for the Butterfly House which is a romantic story in itself. A young couple bought a run down house in the Pacific Grove area and spent several years remodeling it. Not too many years later, Sonja started losing her eyesight, the result of a degenerative eye disease. They discovered that Sonja was able to make out bright colors so J went to work and created the Butterfly House.

Many people suggested that I go to the Monterey Aquarium. What everybody forgot to mention was that it is Spring Break. The line to get in was around the block and buses were dropping off hundreds of kids by the moment. While the Monterey Aquarium was nice, it does not compare to the Chattanooga Aquarium which has my vote for best aquarium ever. Monterey did have an exquisite jellyfish exhibit – so many different types. I have a fondness for Octopuses. Regretfully, most of them seemed to be sleeping in their dens.

Anchovies

The Eel Gang

Point Lobos State Park was just down the road. Again, this was highly recommended to me and this did not disappoint. For years I've seen beautiful pictures of the California coast and I finally got to be in a place that made me feel like I was finally doing the California coast.

A little further down the road is the Garrapata State Park. As far as I can tell, it was just a strip of land between the highway and the ocean. In the park, there is a valley which they call the Calla Lily Valley and I was in luck – it is Calla Lily blooming time.

I did stay at another Elks Lodge. This lodge was pretty stupendous. They had a swimming pool, a hot tub, a workout room, laundry facilities and a view over the Monterey Bay. These Elks know how to live.