Monterey Bay

Barb and I decided we could retire in Monterey, California. What's not to like?

It has the climate - I just checked the temperature (at about 4pm) and it's 61 degrees. By contrast, here in Austin it is 104 degrees. One should bear in mind, however that it can get as low as 42 degrees in the winter,

It has a rich heritage as the seat of the Spanish government in the New World; it was the capital of California from 1777 to 1849, under the flags of Spain and Mexico.

It has character - read Steinbeck's "Cannery Row" and Tortilla Flats." Once a whaling center, it became the home of a flourishing sardine industry - until the fish played out. Robert Louis Stevenson walked these beaches and it is said received inspiration for "Treasure Island."

It has soul - the Monterey Jazz Festival is one of the longest-running music festivals of its kind. It is easier to name who hasn't appeared here than who has.

Adjacent to Cannery Row is the Fisherman's Wharf, lined with seafood restaurants ranging from casual, open-air clam bars, to formal indoor dining with views of the bay. Interspersed are gift shops, jewelry stores, art galleries, candy shops, etc. Whale watching tours and fishing trips leave from the wharf, and sea lions abound.

And it has the Monterey Bay Aquarium - arguably, one of the best aquariums in the world.

The Outer Bay exhibit features one of the world's largest single-paned windows -  actually five panes seamlessly bonded -  54 feet long, 17 feet high and 13 inches thick. You can view it from three levels.

At 28 feet, the Kelp Forest is one of the tallest aquarium exhibits in the world. The plants grow an average of four inches a day and require weekly underwater gardening; the surge machine which keeps the water in motion in the tank was built in part by David Packard (of Hewlett-Packard fame)  - who also provided the initial endowment for the aquarium.

The aquarium is built at the very end of Cannery Row (on the site of the Hovden Cannery, the last cannery on the Row to close in 1973, after sardine fishing collapsed). Part of the cannery is maintained as an active exhibit in the aquarium.

So, here's the deal on retiring there. If we become docents at the aquarium, we'll have shelter, access to restrooms, etc. When we get tired of docenting, we can just hang out on the wharf with the sea lions. Meals are simple. Every restaurant and clam bar on the wharf offers samples of their clam chowder to entice diners in for a bread bowl of chowder.  A simple sample-stroll should be quite filling. The only thing I haven't figured out is a place to sleep. You got to figure that if Pebble Beach Golf course is next door, the rent aint cheap. Maybe a little boat in the harbor. Who would notice? I'll get back to you on that part.