By Lina Broydo
A Virtual Monterey Vacation
Have a rehearsal to your actual vacation to Monterey when the COVID-19 decides to leave us for good. So for now let’s have a virtual Monterey vacation by visiting your favorite spots while enjoying the comfort of your home wearing your PJs.
Monterey Bay Aquarium is Opening its Doors Next Month July 13 for Public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and with a Members and Donors events on July 9th.
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 streaming 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 less people allowed in the building at a time, with your favorite mask covering your face and follow the strict one-way paths itinerary through 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 touch the star fish is worth the trip to Monterey.
Information
montereybayaquarium.org
Monterey Bay Aquarium
886 Cannery Row in Monterey
Photo courtesy of MBA and Getty Images
Down the Cannery Row
The best way to prepare for your next stroll down the Cannery Row in Monterey is to introduce yourself to the “Cannery Row” audiobook. Narrated by Jerry Farden, this Penguin Audio Production is available via autobook membership in most of the Bay Area independent book stores or through Audible owned by Amazon at $7.
The movie version of Steinbeck’s tale – the 1982 “Cannery Row” with actor Nick Nolte and Debra Winger – is a wonderful movie featuring this historical town in 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 in creating the puzzles 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’s table not just for dinner but also for assembling 500 – 1000 pieces puzzle projects.
There is a communal delight to work on the real-life size 520-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
The Canery Row DVD is available for sale on Google at $5.95
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 Sandis, the festival’s artist-in-residence and host of the new Welcome to the Sandis Box web series. The Jazz Festival which is now scheduled for September 24 – 26, 2021 runs for three days, but its jazz educations program go all year round.
Great opportunity to enjoy and learn and maybe be with intensive practice ready to be invited to perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival. It may wake up your hidden talent. You may also try to cook your romantic dinner showcasing the Monterey Bay Seafood to the lovely sounds of Jazz music, it just may lead to a proposal. Just in case have the 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 your 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 whos 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 the Cannery Row in Monterey brought to life with stellar performances. Oscar and Golden Globe-nominee Nick Nolte (“The Prince of Tides,” “Affliction”) portrays a former baseball player who falls for a Skid Row hooker, played by Oscar-nominee Debra Winger (“Terms of Endearment,” “An Officer and a Gentleman”). Narrated by the great director John Huston (“The African Queen ,” “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre”) and directed by Oscar-winning writer David S. Ward (“The Sting,” “Sleepless in Seattle”) 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.orgPhoto courtesy of the John Steinbeck Center in Salinas
