Eats, Writes, and Leaves

My publisher is running a promotion for California this week, complete with prize drawings for a guidebook (not mine) and tickets for two to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Come check out the website and enter the drawing for those tix! I totally would if it were ethical. The Aquarium isn’t cheap, but it is absolutely one of my favorite California Coast attractions. And winter afternoons are as close as this beloved local favorite ever comes to an off season. Beware of rampaging hordes of schoolchildren if you choose a weekday for your visit. They bus ‘em in from all over Northern California.

Rumor has it that they let my favorite giant tuna back out into the ocean from the deep-water tank (I think the poor beleaguered hammerhead sharks may have put forward a petition for amnesty). But they’ve still got jellyfish, starfish, seahorses, rays, birds, and sharks by the score. With a focus on local ecology, the Aquarium seeks to inform as it entertains. But don’t worry–plenty of souvenir mini-shops hawk stuffed sea-critters and fleece sweatshirts. Which can be handy if you’re a travel writer who forgot to bring a jacket to Monterey in October.

Which brings me back to…www.moon.com! Check it out–I’ve got a blog there too. So do some other awesome writers who’ve got guidebooks out for places all over the world.