Monterey

Deciding where to go on the trip is sometimes an easy decision, but mostly it is a toss up of "what do we pick" out of all the amazing possibilities! It really isn't easy even with the great suggestions from many people - and in the end it comes to what we are feeling like at that point, how it fits into our next leg of the trip, and sometimes even just a good ole coin toss!

Our next destination was Monterey. We drove into town, checked out the marina, historic fisherman's wharf, Cannery Row immortalized by Steinbeck and the local scene.


We had read about the great food on the wharf there and so had to check it out.

It wasn't what we expected at all - but after walking down the wharf trying all the free samples of the chowders each restaurant made. They use this to lure tourists in. And so we picked our favourite chowder. We were a little worried of the typical tourist restaurants but we enjoyed some of the freshest calimari we've ever had - and one big Dungeness crab!

It wasn't fancy - but it was fresh! So we got our fix...

From there we drove along the coast for a while and stopped along the way, once to see a sea lion frolicking in the tide catching a fish and then bobbing on his back to gobble it up - I wish I could catch that on camera - but he was too quick!

We did brave the cold to briefly to dip our toes in the bracing ocean and watch a few surfers challenge the waves. It really is all something to experience - it can't fully be translated to words or pictures.


Then after deliberation, a bit of changing direction in our driving, and several pull overs to contemplate our next move, we settled on Paso Robles for the night...and off we went.