After another slow start in the morning we managed to move over to the Monterey Bay Aquarium around 11am.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is located in the former premises of Hovden Cannery, a sardine canning company founded by the Norwegian Knut Hovden in 1916.

Knut arrived in Monterey in 1905 and was a very smart guy (he left Norway and moved to Monterey, already a sign of intelligence). He revolutionized the sardine canning industry. Where they would previously weld the cans shut by hand, Knut invented a welding machine. He invented a machine that automatically cut the heads and tails off the sardines. As if that was not enough he also installed a system with pipes that would suck sardines straight out of the boats and into the factory. Since he needed more sardines feeding all these efficient machines he also made the fishermen use stronger nets that could fish faster.

This all seemed like a very good idea until the sardines started disappearing around 1950. An investigation was started to find out where all the sardines had gone. The conclusion was famously worded as “They’re in cans.” The canning companies started canning squid while they waited for the sardines to come back. They never did, the damage was permanent and the sardine population has never managed to return in any great numbers. Hovden Cannery was the last canning company to shut its doors and did so in 1973.

Sorry about that. What was I talking about again. Oh yeah, we had to stand in line for about 20 minutes to get tickets to the aquarium. Many people had recommended the aquarium to us and I was really hoping it was worth the wait and the small detour. We were not disappointed.

The aquarium was gorgeous and very well adapted to kids of all ages. We ended up staying for almost 5 hours and even took a behind-the-scenes tour with one of the employees as our guide.

This is actually a seahorse. The boys wondered wether Peter Jackson got inspired by them when he made the talking trees in “The Lord of the Rings”:

There was even a pool for petting the rays. This is Viktor saying hello to one.

There were also lots of good exhibits about climate change and some very orginal ways of drawing the attention of the kids. One exhibit was a kitchen, where there were screens inside the cupboards and in one of the frying pans. The presenters on those screens spoke about how different foods affect the environment. If all American families avoid eating meat one day a week it will have the same effect as removing 20 million cars from the road.

It was a good reminder of what we are doing to the planet and a good opportunity to talk with the kids about this important subject. We have taken our own measures at home and the kids are aware of them and glad we are doing something.

We did not bring up the subject that we are traveling around the world using airplanes…

We were quite tired after having walked around the aquarium for so long. Time for some ice cream before continuing.

It was already after 4pm and we needed to hit the road to make sure we had daylight during our trip through Carmel Valley. Our good friend Haavard had recommended going through the valley and we were not disappointed, We discovered a magnificent landscape of hills covered with trees and yellow dry grass only interrupted by lush green vineyards. A treat to the eye.

After a very nice 90 minute drive we reached our destination for the day, King City. We were all hungry and quickly checked out the local eating options. Mc Donalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Denny’s Diner. All the chains were here. A bit hidden at the end of a road we found V’s Diner, a local place. We checked out the parking lot. Plenty of cars. A good sign. Dinner was more than adequate and the servings could have fed another family and their horse.

Another Inn with a good Wifi connection. I have  a feeling we might miss that during other parts of the trip. Well, at least for the time being I can transfer lots of pictures for you readers to enjoy. See you around.

Eirik

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P.S. Irony of ironies. Just as I finished the last part above the internet connection went down. After 3 calls to the front desk and 2 calls to a technical support line it came back up again after 40 minutes. It is extremely frustrating to be knowledgable about these things and talk to someone who is convinced you are not.

• “Have you tried turning your computer off and back on again?”
• “Listen, I have tested with two different laptops and an iPhone, I have turned AirPort on and off multiple times. THERE IS NO WIFI SIGNAL IN THE AIR”
• “Can you please turn your computer off and on again, sir?”

Sigh.