The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever. ~ Jacques Yves Cousteau

So, I have been doing a bit of a farewell California tour the last couple of months. Preparing for my move in February and my subsequent Appalachian Trail hike. If you want to read more about my last hike, my book Appalachian Trail Happiness is on sale on Amazon. Hopefully the next trip will provide me with enough adventures and stories to do another book.

This past weekend my apartment complex was doing some repair work on our parking lot so I decided to split Thursday night and head to Monterey for the weekend. Returning to where I started my California Community College career back in 2002. After having visited in 1988 I fell in love with Monterey and promised myself I’d live there someday, that day came in 2002. I really loved my time in the area, living and working in Salinas. The students I had in the MESA program at Hartnell were the best students I’d ever worked with and I had a lot of success at that college including winning a national award.

Living in the Monterey Bay area was fantastic, I love Pacific Grove, the bay, Elkhorn Slough and the Monterey Bay Aquarium is one of my favorite places. I got to spend a lot of time near and on the ocean while living there. It’s one of the more specific natural environments on Earth.

Whale watching was also really easy to access and I did a whale-watch this past weekend. It was a great day, we saw over 30 humpback whales, dozens of Risso Dolphins, Pacific Whiteside Dolphins and even a really rare bird, the Black-footed Albatross. It was wonderful and I got this video of a forty foot humpback whale doing a full-body breach.

It’s nice to visit old places as long as you don’t get too mired in nostalgia. I did the whale-watch, walked around, ate lots of great seafood and generally was just happy to be in such an amazing place. No real wisdom tonight beyond reminding you to do things and go to places that feed your sale and give you happier days my friends. ~ Rev Kane