charismatic megafauna since 1985

University Tours: Santa Barbara and Monterey, CA

Tess is going to be applying to grad school for F2009 and was checking out programs in marine science and policy at UCSB and Cal State at Monterey Bay. In both cases, the buildings that Tess would be studying in were new and well-architected, and both programs are well-regarded. However, CSUMB’s academic philosophy is much closer to Hampshire’s, and I thought Monterey was a much nicer town.

We stayed outside SB at Gavoita State Park. The ranger there told us that it got pretty windy at night and where to find some sandbags to anchor the tents. We didn’t think too much of it, but put some sandbags on the corners of the tents just in case. When we got back after visiting the college and having a beer in town, the wind was so fierce that it was blowing the car around on the highway; no small feat with three people and all of our clothes, food, and other belongings. At the campsite, my tent wasn’t doing too badly since it’s pretty aerodynamic. Arlen’s tent was not faring as nicely. The wind had obviously been buffeting it for a while. Most of the stakes had been pulled out, so the tent was just bouncing around in the wind. If we hadn’t gotten there when we did, it very would have blown away. The next time we set up that tent, I noticed that the wind had even bent a couple of the poles. Arlen quickly decided that she wasn’t going to spend the night there, so we pulled the air mattress out and shuffled what was left in the car around so that she could sleep in the back. From inside my smaller tent, the wind was still pretty strong; the sides of the tent were periodically pushed into Tess or me pretty much all night.

In Monterey, we checked out the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Like the San Diego Zoo it was a bit pricey, but definitely worth it. They’ve got an open-ocean tank, penguins and sea otters. What’s not to like? We’d originally planned to stay in a hostel that’s right near Cannery Row, but it only had two beds so we wandered up the hill to Veteran’s Memorial Campground. It was pretty crowded, but we found a pretty secluded spot in the back for our tent. T & A cooked some pasta and sauce for dinner. While Tess and I were off doing some dishes, a racoon came up by Arlen and tried to eat our garbage!

We went into downtown Monterey later to explore a bit and for a drink. After walking down the main drag in downtown, we ended up at a little club called Monterey Live. There was some woman playing folk songs in the club but we just sat by the bar and had a couple pints.