California Adventure, Part 1
After giving my talk in the third time slot on the first day of the International Congress on Rheology was in Monterey, CA, last week, I had plenty of time to kick back and relax. Apparently, back home in Columbia, it got up to 102 degrees on the Wednesday. In Monterey, on the other hand, the high was only 63. I can see why people have conferences here. And also why the swag includes a hooded sweatshirt. Here's the view from the hotel.
Monday night featured a reception at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was pretty cool. They were the first aquarium to keep a living kelp forest. They are the only aquarium that regularly has great white sharks, but apparently they had to release the one they had a couple of weeks ago because it started to eat its tankmates. I also found it very interesting that an aquarium would feature an exhibit about the process of canning fish. The aquarium is in fact housed in a former cannery that was part of Cannery Row back in the sardine fishing boom in the mid-1930s and the bust that followed in the mid-40s.
On Wednesday afternoon, the conference took a break for organized excursions. I chose the Big Sur tour down CA-1.
About six weeks before my trip, dry lightning started the largest wildfire in California history in the Big Sur area. Some places were evacuated for three weeks, and the parks in the area were just starting to reopen their trails.
But, not everything was burned. Redwood tree bark is thick enough to protect the living inside of the tree from the average fire. Of course, if there is enough undergrowth to fuel the fire to a high enough temperature, the tree trunk explodes. Thus, if the tree is still standing after the fire, it will most likely be fine.
In other Monterey news, it was where California officially became a state. In this building in fact. In the park in front of it is a coastal redwood tree called the "Moon Tree" because it was grown from a seed carried to the moon by Major Stuart Roosa, Command Module Pilot of Apollo 14 in 1971. It grew for 5 years in a lab before being planted here in a 1976 bicentennial celebration.
Monday night featured a reception at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It was pretty cool. They were the first aquarium to keep a living kelp forest. They are the only aquarium that regularly has great white sharks, but apparently they had to release the one they had a couple of weeks ago because it started to eat its tankmates. I also found it very interesting that an aquarium would feature an exhibit about the process of canning fish. The aquarium is in fact housed in a former cannery that was part of Cannery Row back in the sardine fishing boom in the mid-1930s and the bust that followed in the mid-40s.
On Wednesday afternoon, the conference took a break for organized excursions. I chose the Big Sur tour down CA-1.
| While the tour was a little more on the "relaxing" side than I expected with stops emphasizing the unique gift shops. There were some good things to see, though, and I have say, I would not mind return trip. One stop was at the Big Sur River Inn, where they keep some relaxing Adirondack chairs in the middle of the river. |  |
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About six weeks before my trip, dry lightning started the largest wildfire in California history in the Big Sur area. Some places were evacuated for three weeks, and the parks in the area were just starting to reopen their trails.
But, not everything was burned. Redwood tree bark is thick enough to protect the living inside of the tree from the average fire. Of course, if there is enough undergrowth to fuel the fire to a high enough temperature, the tree trunk explodes. Thus, if the tree is still standing after the fire, it will most likely be fine.
In other Monterey news, it was where California officially became a state. In this building in fact. In the park in front of it is a coastal redwood tree called the "Moon Tree" because it was grown from a seed carried to the moon by Major Stuart Roosa, Command Module Pilot of Apollo 14 in 1971. It grew for 5 years in a lab before being planted here in a 1976 bicentennial celebration.
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