Extra Helping of Squid 7.15.13: Trolley Off-Track...

Trolley Off-Track…Squid recently took the Squidlet on an Pacific Grove/Cannery Row adventure—a wild rumpus involving Happy Girl Kitchen pickles, the revamped Lovers Point Childrens Pool (note: Both admission and the salmon-burger-slinging snack bar take cash only. Doh!), a squirt of froyo and a jellyfish wiggle through the Aquarium. Toddler tentacles can only go so far without a lift, though, and Squid was counting on the free MST trolley for a ride back to the submarine parked in P.G.

Only problem: The trolley no longer goes through P.G., not since the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District grant covering the service for the past two years dried up. Instead, the P.G. Chamber hired Adventures by the Sea to run a shuttle from Cannery Row through downtown P.G. every half hour from 11am-6pm, Thursday to Sunday.

Wish Squid had known that during Squid’s wild rumpus, but the P.G. Chamber sure doesn’t make it easy to find out. The young man staffing the Visitor Information Center on Lighthouse, asked about a trolley service, just shrugged and mumbled something about the nearest stop being at the Aquarium. So Squid and the Squidlet waited at the trolley stop, and an Adventures by the Sea van pulled up—with no visible signage about a P.G. loop. The driver jumped out and asked, “Everybody here waiting for the trolley? It’ll be here in about five minutes.” Then he jumped back in and drove off, leaving Squid and Squidlet to take the MST trolley loop through downtown Monterey and Cannery Row (just for fun), then disembark and hike back into P.G.

Advice for the chamber? If you’re going to replace lost trolley service with a kayaking adventures van, at least make it fairly obvious to tourists and bumbling Squid.