Goin' back to Cali
About a month ago, a colleague of mine asked if I'd be interested in joining a project that he's principal investigator f0r -- he was going to need someone to pick up the slack while he was on paternity leave. "You know, you'd have to go to Monterey once a month between now and August," he said, as if this would in some way be a burden. "Um, sure, I'll do it," was my outwardly calm reply, calm in part because the project itself is not so exciting, but inwardly I believe my response was something like "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" I have all kinds of positive associations with the Monterey area -- for one, it's home to N-ka and L-chik, close friends from the Russian expat circle I used to hang with in Oakland who I have barely gotten to see since I moved away. Just a few miles inland (ok, like 40, but in California terms that's nothing) is where I spent one of the best weeks of my life at that zen and yoga retreat last August, which is where I met Zen Boy -- it would have been one of the best weeks of my life even if I hadn't met him there, although pictures like this one, of us on CalTrain last November, do suggest that our time together made me radiantly happy, despite my strong anti-facial hair stance (many of you may never have seen me looking like this, which says a lot, I realize -- and not in a good way).
Always one to maximize, I started my trip with a weekend in San Francisco hanging out with Stovielet, who really is one of my favorite people and possibly would be even if he wasn't my brother. Highlights included an above-my-level half-day yoga workshop that kind of wiped me out, followed by a food run in a fellow yogi's fume-ridden paint van --
--the fumes apparently a bit stronger for those of us riding in back;
lots and lots of tasty food (why is it that when Mexicans immigrate to California, the food they cook is so much tastier than in states east of the Mississippi?); hanging with some East Bay friends from grad school; entertaining (if incomprehensible) graffiti;
and watching pigeons commuting on the BART despite the best efforts of transportation planners.
The city of Monterey is filled with lovely flora,
and maritime vignettes,
and adorable children at play in historic settings,
but it is also home to really quite a lot of tourist tackiness. A-ka, who is nearly 6 now, is still fascinated by the same tacky wharf souvenir shops that she was the last time I saw her, several years ago. N-ka, in general one of my most stylish friends, almost talked me into buying matching outfits,
but I somehow managed to resist. More tempting were sample keychains that had been handled so much that their eyeballs had popped out -- scarier even than little orphan Annie.
Which reminds me, a brief aside here, that I am now a little obsessed with/collecting pictures of scary menu chefs, although I seem to almost never have my camera when I encounter them. Here's one from outside a kosher seafood restaurant in Flatbush -- everything about this guy says "kosher seafood", no? (I highly recommend clicking in on the picture to enlarge it and get the full effect.)
And this guy is outside a chalet-type restaurant that sits in the middle of a Dutch forest -- sadly, I left town a few days before the grand swinging wild diner, but I bet it was great.
Back in Monterey, I found myself frightened by many of the culinary offerings, including this one in particular.
But I found solace from all the madness in early-morning seal watching at the beach just next to the wharf, which looks way less tacky when you can't see storefronts. The seals usually spend much of the day sleeping on the rocks just off the beach that's to the west of the wharf, but in the mornings and evenings they swim awfully close to shore.
(This is the zoomed-in view.)
The last morning I was there was especially gray, and the gray seals looked a bit ghostly set against the gray sky and gray sea.
Look how close they come to shore! Next time I'm going to have to bring binoculars.
I can't wait to go back at the beginning of May.
Always one to maximize, I started my trip with a weekend in San Francisco hanging out with Stovielet, who really is one of my favorite people and possibly would be even if he wasn't my brother. Highlights included an above-my-level half-day yoga workshop that kind of wiped me out, followed by a food run in a fellow yogi's fume-ridden paint van --
--the fumes apparently a bit stronger for those of us riding in back;
lots and lots of tasty food (why is it that when Mexicans immigrate to California, the food they cook is so much tastier than in states east of the Mississippi?); hanging with some East Bay friends from grad school; entertaining (if incomprehensible) graffiti;
and watching pigeons commuting on the BART despite the best efforts of transportation planners.
The city of Monterey is filled with lovely flora,
and maritime vignettes,
and adorable children at play in historic settings,
but it is also home to really quite a lot of tourist tackiness. A-ka, who is nearly 6 now, is still fascinated by the same tacky wharf souvenir shops that she was the last time I saw her, several years ago. N-ka, in general one of my most stylish friends, almost talked me into buying matching outfits,
but I somehow managed to resist. More tempting were sample keychains that had been handled so much that their eyeballs had popped out -- scarier even than little orphan Annie.
Which reminds me, a brief aside here, that I am now a little obsessed with/collecting pictures of scary menu chefs, although I seem to almost never have my camera when I encounter them. Here's one from outside a kosher seafood restaurant in Flatbush -- everything about this guy says "kosher seafood", no? (I highly recommend clicking in on the picture to enlarge it and get the full effect.)
And this guy is outside a chalet-type restaurant that sits in the middle of a Dutch forest -- sadly, I left town a few days before the grand swinging wild diner, but I bet it was great.
Back in Monterey, I found myself frightened by many of the culinary offerings, including this one in particular.
But I found solace from all the madness in early-morning seal watching at the beach just next to the wharf, which looks way less tacky when you can't see storefronts. The seals usually spend much of the day sleeping on the rocks just off the beach that's to the west of the wharf, but in the mornings and evenings they swim awfully close to shore.
(This is the zoomed-in view.)
The last morning I was there was especially gray, and the gray seals looked a bit ghostly set against the gray sky and gray sea.
Look how close they come to shore! Next time I'm going to have to bring binoculars.
I can't wait to go back at the beginning of May.
posted by Pangea at 9:38 AM
2 Comments:
Lance and I once did a camping vacation in the Monterey area. For some reason we were really tired and parked our car near the water and napped. From the car we had a view of sea lions sleeping on the rocks. Lance remarked how boring it was to watch those sea lions, who just seemed to sleep on the rocks all day. I guessed that they must have thought the same about watching us.
You and Lance probably also looked absurdly cute when napping, surely also raising a little flipper up in the air and yawning with an absurdly pink mouth. I can picture it now.
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