Monterey, California

Today, I flew out to Monterey, California. I'm attending a safeguards policy course at the Monterey Institute of International Studies - which should be a pretty different experience from the technical stuff I'm used to. I got here around 3PM today, so I went and walked around town some.

I have no idea what this flower is called, but I've never seen one like it.

First I found where the course will be held - which is only about a block from my hotel. On my way to the beach, I found a subway and a jamba juice also within a block of my hotel. I eventually got to the beach, and gathered a selection of shells and other interesting bits to bring home while watching kiddies and birds.


There weren't very many shells (especially along the section close to the parking lot where I guess the kiddies had already picked them all up). Maybe sea shells are less common on the west coast than they are on the east? There were, however, lots and lots of ladybugs (tiny red things below).


Its hard to tell there, but that's the part of the beach where its still wet, but most of the waves don't reach it. I didn't see any ladybugs on the dry sand (or in the ocean, for that matter), but there were tons of them along the edge of where the water reaches. There were also plenty of neat rocks with lots of very circular holes through them. I picked one of those up too, and will try to remember to put a picture of it up later.

This is the first time I can think of that I've walked around somewhere I was unfamiliar with bymyself. Maybe a little late for that - but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was not terrified and in fact had a pretty enjoyable afternoon. Perhaps I will take a longer walk out to the aquarium tomorrow - they have penguins!