California!

I recently spent 9 days in California, where I was an invited speaker at a Fungal Genetics conference on the Monterey peninsula, near Pacific Grove, CA. It was a great meeting, with lots of time to catch up with colleagues that I met during my PhD, but that I haven't seen in almost 4 years. But, as you can see, science meetings do not make pretty pictures. Having your brother and niece fly out and meet up with you after the conference does make for significantly better photos!

Chad and Ella picked me up and we immediately headed to the beach, where the surf was so incredible, likely because the moon was so close to earth last month. I had been in CA a week already, but I needed Ella's peer pressure to take my shoes and socks off and chase the waves while dodging the huge kelp piles. We didn't let the cold (California) weather stop us either, we drove along Hwy 1 as close as we could get to Big Sur (and then turned around where the highway fell into the ocean.) and found a protected beach that was warm and the surf was impressive. From here we saw whales! Then we saw and touched sea creatures at the Monterey aquarium, and watched their scuba team feed the fish. We saw hundreds, hundreds, of dolphins swimming around in Monterey Bay. They were coming and going for as far as we could see, from the mouth of the bay towards the aquarium (ironically) and back again. We then ventured out on a whale watching tour, thinking that if the sea life was this good from the side of the road it would be awesome from a boat...but, the waves were choppy and the wind was cold...luckily, we all managed to keep our breakfast down and we eventually saw a breach grey whale close up. Once back on land we ate clam chowder and popcorn shrimp on the wharf and had front row seats to a sea lion slumber party! Ella was thrilled, and I think she'll remember this more than the whale tour;) We stayed with good friends, at a funky motel still set in the 1970s, and with our cousin Tim and his family. Ella and cousin Bennie got along great, reading, playing and working on Bennie's numbers. I'm embarrassed to say that I only snapped one photo as we were leaving their place, and it's the one outside by their lemon tree!

I loved our hikes on the coast, our drive from Carmel up into the mountains for amazing local organic food, our jaunt through San Francisco's Chinatown, Golden Gate park, driving over the GG bridge and taking pictures out the sunroof, and hiking through the redwoods of Muir Woods. I especially love that I got to experience these places through the eyes of a seven year old and that we got to meet up and travel together in a place that isn't home to any of us. I'll remember this trip for a very long time and I hope Ella does too.