Saw this in the neighborhood the other day and had a laugh.

The past few weeks have been a bit rough but I'm trying to get back to normal. And how better to calm my mind than to scroll through hundreds of photos and play around with post-processing. I literally have over 20 GB of photos from California. Think I went a little crazy there.

For now I'll share my experience at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is a place I have been dreaming of visiting for many years.

My first sea otter, with pup. They are a lot bigger than I expected. For some reason I thought they were quite small.


Depending on how the light struck the scales of these mackerel, they looked silver, purple, or green.







Got some amazing views of birds normally seen at a distance.


Perhaps one of the more creative displays I have seen, "The Secret Lives of Seahorses."

Flash was prohibited for most of the exhibits, which made photography interesting.

Leafy Seadragon







Pipefish



Even more seadragons







I really liked the seahorse display but the true stars of the show, I thought, were the jellyfish. They are so completely alien looking.

























More adventures to follow...

You will be deeply missed

This past week I made my first visit to California. I was traveling for work but went over there a few days early for a mini vacation. It was amazing! Will be posting many pics and catching up with blogs soon.

Saturday was spent in Monterey. I woke up ungodly early (still on Florida time- 3 hours ahead of California) and went for a walk once it got light. Few others were as crazy to be up that early so I had the Cannery Row all to myself.







An obliging Rusty blackbird



Harbor Seals and pups.







More to come...