Down the Rabbit Hole

  Lone Cypress I have been to Monterey Bay with my family three times before. I visited Cannery Row's shopping district with Mommy and Daddy on my first visit. On my second visit, the whole family drove here on Christmas and had dinner at Carmel-by-the-Sea . On my third visit, we finally visited the aquarium (but Donan was asleep for most of our visit). Since we've seen the Cannery Row area several times, we decided to explore Pebble Beach on my fourth trip back. This community on the Monterey Peninsula is famous for its world-class golf courses. We had a Hawaiian fusion lunch at Roy Yamaguchi's restaurant at the Inn at Spanish Bay while admiring the view of the Monterey coastline. Then, we followed the 17-Mile Drive along the Carmel Bay coast, enjoying the view of the rocky outcroppings and the birds that call this place home. We also saw several sea lions swimming off the coast (Anna mistook them as dolphins). We stopped briefly to view the Lone Cypress, a Monterey Cypre...

A few years ago, I was walking through an exhibit about outbreaks at the Smithsonian Museum. Little did I know that my life (and the whole world) would drastically change because of SARS-CoV-2 (aka COVID-19). Aside from giving birth during the early part of the pandemic (and being indoors most of the time), my career shifted towards public health microbiology . The Smithsonian exhibit about outbreaks featured influenza and how easily it can be transmitted from various animals to humans. A strain called H5N1 is known as avian flu because it is found typically in domestic poultry in Asia. According to the exhibit, this strain is not known to be spread from person to person. Instead, humans usually get it from exposure to sick or dead birds. Epidemiologists are most concerned about H5N1 (or any other strain of avian flu) infecting another animal AND a flu strain from a human infecting the same animal. The flu strains' genetic material may recombine and become a brand-new strain that...

Spina Farms Pumpkin Patch appeared on my Instagram feed in early October. It's the perfect pumpkin patch for a child whose current favourites are dinosaur toys, pumpkins, and trains. Anna and Daddy wanted to see it, too, so we visited it on Indigenous People's Day. Just as the reviews promised, this pumpkin patch was packed! Students on a field trip, families on an excursion (like us), and friends on a day off trooped to what has become an annual tradition in the Morgan Hill region. It was an enjoyable trip: I wrote about what I liked about Spina Farms and what I didn't. The good Spina Farms has perfected the combination of interests that attracts children of all ages (and their parents or teachers) to visit annually; for example, it has animatronic dinosaurs, flying pumpkins, confusing corn mazes, colourful flowers, and sculptures of giant insects.  Godzilla was on hand to welcome guests of all ages, too! T he parking area is well-organised and can accommodate many visitor...