A Virtual Monterey Vacation

Enjoy a rehearsal of your actual vacation to Monterey when COVID-19 leaves us for good with a virtual Monterey vacation by visiting your favorite spots while enjoying the comfort of home in your PJs.

Enjoy Monterey Aquarium Live Cams Ahead of Reopening Next Month
July 13 for the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Members and Donors events on July 9

The world-renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium (MBA) was closed to the public last March in order to limit the spread of COVID-19 but the nice folks at the aquarium set up live cams to stream the fascinating life and activities of various animals who live there and who had no plans of leaving their beautiful environment. The reopening next month will bring changes for visitors with fewer people allowed in the building at a time, with your favorite mask covering your face and following strict one-way paths though the galleries. Those of you who would like to be among the first visitors may consider applying for the museum’s membership at $75 and up. Social media and the online experience allow us to stay connected virtually, but there is no substitute for connecting with the animals in real life. Just to see a leopard shark glide through the water in the huge kelp water tank, or the playful otters right in front of your eyes or to touch a starfish is worth the trip to Monterey.

Information
montereybayaquarium.org
Monterey Bay Aquarium
886 Cannery Row in Monterey

Photo courtesy of MBA and Getty Images

Stroll Down Cannery Row

The best way to prepare for your next stroll down Cannery Row in Monterey is to introduce yourself to the Cannery Row audiobook. Narrated by Jerry Farden, this Penguin Audio Production is available via audiobook membership in most independent Bay Area book stores or through Audible for $7. The movie version of Steinbeck’s tale – the 1982 Cannery Row with actor Nick Nolte and Debra Winger – is a wonderful movie featuring historical Monterey, California. John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row spotlights Monterey’s legendary district during its fishing industry boom, but the street’s story begins long before canneries lined the former Ocean View Avenue. On your next visit, look for the sites and structures that played a role in this neighborhood’s extraordinary evolution. Did you know that your favorite photos can be made into a puzzle by Shutterfly and similar photo sites? Next time you visit Cannery Row, take a few photos and make it into a puzzle to occupy yourself while listening to the audio book. Make it a family project by creating puzzles of any size. I am not trying to say that the pandemic home encampment is fun, but it brings your family together around your dining room table not just for dinner but also for assembling 500 – 1000 piece puzzles. There is a communal delight in working on a 520-piece puzzle prepared from your favorite photo by Shutterfly for $58 plus shipping.

Information
Sites like Im-a-Puzzle.com and TheJigsawPuzzles.com will help you to make one

Photo courtesy of seemonterey.com

Monterey Jazz Festival

The 2020 Monterey Jazz Festival may have been cancelled, but you can jazz up your cocooning time at home by doing a festival-inspired happy hour to kick things off – with a bottle of Scheid sauvignon blanc and some great tunes to set the dreamy mood by finding the festival’s Spotify playlist and the Sands Box web series. I recommend a Spotify playlist from pianist Christian Sands, the festival’s artist-in-residence and host of the new Welcome to the Sands Box web series. The Jazz Festival which is now scheduled for September 24 – 26, 2021. It will run for three days, but its jazz educations program goes year-round. It’s a great opportunity to enjoy and learn and maybe (with intensive practice) prepare to be invited to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival. It may wake up your hidden talent. You may also try to cook a romantic dinner showcasing the Monterey Bay seafood to the lovely sounds of Jazz… it may just lead to a proposal. Just in case, have a beautiful engagement ring ready.

Information
montereyjazzfestival.org
Photo courtesy of SF Jazz

National Steinbeck Center in Salinas

The virtual tour of the International Steinbeck Center will pave the way for a future vacation in Monterey. Located in Salinas, only 18 miles distance from Monterey, it is a must-visit museum dedicated to one of the most famous writers whose novels depicted life in California. John Steinbeck was born in Salinas in 1902, in a stately home on Central Ave (now open as a popular luncheon spot). John Steinbeck III was an American writer who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, and the novella Of Mice and Men, published in 1937. In all, he wrote twenty-five books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and several collections of short stories. Most of his novels were made into movies starring the most famous Hollywood actors. The movie based on his classic novel about Cannery Row in Monterey was brought to life with stellar performances. Oscar and Golden Globe-nominee Nick Nolte portrays a former baseball player who falls for a Skid Row hooker, played by Oscar-nominee Debra Winger. The film is narrated by the great director John Huston and directed by Oscar-winning writer David S. Ward. In 1962, Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature. His most notable books: Of Mice and Men; East of Eden; The Grapes of Wrath; Cannery Row; The Red Pony; Tortilla Flat. You can actually learn a lot about John Steinbeck while taking a virtual tour of his International Steinbeck Museum.

Information
Steinberg.org

Photo courtesy of the John Steinbeck Center in Salinas

Lina Broydo immigrated from Russia, then the Soviet Union, to Israel where she was educated and got married. After working at the University in Birmingham, England, she and her husband immigrated to the United States. She lives in Los Altos Hills, CA and writes about travel, art, style, entertainment, and sports. She hardly cooks or bakes, with no borsch or piroshky on her home cooking menu. Therefore, she makes reservations and enjoys dining out, mostly sushi.