Blogs from Monterey, California, United States, North America - page 8

On October 3, 2011 I will be traveling, on a one-way ticket, to Istanbul, Turkey. When I tell people this fact, I’m met, more often than not, with a wide-eyed stare and the question, “What’s your plan there?” This is my answer. My plan is to make no plan. In my experience, plans exist only to be frustrated, and frustration is not an emotion I take to well. That being said, I have developed the faintest trace of an outline, in the form of a three-pronged campaign. Stage 1: The Middle East. After a month or two of traveling through Turkey, I’ll head south. Reluctantly, but necessarily, avoiding Syria, I’ll hit up Lebanon, Jordan and Israel before crossing over into Egypt to fulfill my childhood dream of climbing the pyramids. The next part is hazy, but ... read more

Here it is - the last day of the big trip! It's been better even than I expected it would be. San Francisco has been great - need to come back here to do some more exploring. Yesterday we did the Golden gate bridge (in the fog!); Union Square; Haight street (very bohemian and hippy, right up my street...); and of course the trams! In the evening went to Alcatraz, which was fabulous - really eerie in the fog; got some great photos. Apparently, it's always foggy in the Bay area in summer - ah well, never mind. Today we drove down the coast through San Jose (do you know the way?); past silicon valley (1st silicon chip invented); to Monterey, a lovely place, made famous by John steinbeck's novels. Bought a copy of Cannery Row ... read more

So much here is familiar. We know a lot of the TV programs (a lot of them from South American TV). Many of the shops and retail chains are very normal. Fashions. Cars. Freeways. Language – after a fashion. Even prices are similar to Australia, although a lot higher than we have been used to more recently. And just that little easier with such a strong Aus$. At the same time it is all just a little strange. But, while we have some 8 lane freeways in Australia, around LA they seem to be the norm. And they don't stop at 8. Sure, we have fast food chains but 10 or even 20 outlets within easy walking distance of each other? So many shops, so many cars, so many people. Such big SUVs. Such massive servings ... read more

Today the weather was very average, so after breakfast we spent the morning at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Most of it was quite similar to Kelly Tarlton's but they had a really cool jellyfish display, which we took lots of photos of. We saw the penguins getting fed, and a pretty cute sea otter! We were hoping the weather would clear in the afternoon, but it just got worse so we spent most of the afternoon planning our driving routes and booking accommodation for the next couple of weeks. The lounge in the hostel was awesome so we hung out in there for the afternoon and met a nice guy from Switzerland. I was feeling really ill, which was my own fault because I ate too many sour snakes, so I crawled into bed and went ... read more

March 11, 2011 Monterey Today went by the tourist bureau in Monterey about info on the Presidio in Monterey and the elderly lady there told me that I could not visit it as it was now a Navy base and post 911 you could not visit it. So I said OK and let it go but since then I have read in the tourist info that there is a museum in It I can visit so tomorrow I will see. I often find out I know more from doing my homework than those volunteers in tourist info centers. I drove over to Cannery Row and started to park at one of the meters there but noted that they charged a quarter for just 10 minutes which adds up to $1.50 an hour and you have to ... read more