Lucia and Stella's Adventures: Monterey Trip (part 1)

We had a great road-trip over the last 5 days. The map below gives you some idea of where we went. We learnt several things: a) California is a big place and takes some time to get around b) the wide central depression (San Joaquin valley) that runs along the length of the state is one HUGE vegetable and fruit garden.Vegetables, citrus and grapes are grown on a truly impressive, industrial and efficient scale. No wonder that just this valley is responsible for 12.8% of the US economy in $ terms. But probably the most impressive aspect of the trip was the Monterey aquarium, the drive down the Big Sur coast and the trip through the Santa Lucia range and into the high Salinas valley.

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Monterey Aquarium: This was an absolute standout. We spent the whole day there and still missed a few exhibits. Having seen the Melbourne and Sydney aquaria over the last few year we realise now why Monterey is still the standard by which all others are judged. It is situated right on the shoreline in building that housed a large cannery. The inner workings have been preserved and form exhibits that tell the story of how the northern sardine and anchovy fisheries were wiped out. Extensive additions have created several distinct systems: shallow reef, sandy shores, kelp forest and open ocean. There are many more but these were the standouts for us. Its incredibly difficult to convey the sheer scale and ingenuity of the exhibits. Each one has been designed to maximise accessibility for kids. Technology was used intuitively and did not overwhelm the intended message. Our only criticism (that was backed up by some of the staff there) was that the climate change/ocean acidification story was not presented as cohesively as the plastic pollution story was, for example. Overall, we were totally exhausted physically and emotionally after 9hrs there, but it was worth it!