Monterey!

During this last week off from school (3 weeks for Christmas? What's up with that?) anyway Melody & I decided to take a couple of days and go to Monterey. We thought it might not be good weather, but we wanted to go, so we booked a room at Asilomar and took our chances. The photo on the left is the central valley when we left - the one on the right is what things looked like after we left I-5 and turned west toward the coast. Things were looking brighter...

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As soon as we got to downtown Monterey, we parked on Cannery Row (John Steinbeck wrote a book about this, remember?) and hit the beach. These two photos were taken right between two old canneries that are now restaurants. (see the photo on the bottom) The weather was not only clear, but warm.

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In town, Melody really wanted to see the old adobe buildings in the state historic park. Unfortunately, the park was closed due to lack of funds. Apparently, the state is spending their money elsewhere... But here are a few photos of fountains and the original Mexican government building and a cool passageway from the outer court to an inner piazza.

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We had a very "rustic" room at the Asilomar (no phone, no TV, no microwave, no mini fridge, no nothing - it even took us a while to find the heater). Very nice. The view from outside our door is as you see it below. To the left - the ocean and a coastal tree. To the right - a private Shinto Shrine on the property below us. Beautiful.

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In town Melody posed with an old man from the sea and one of the local B&B's. You guessed it: Melody "Ann" of Green Gables Inn. It was a fantastic looking place. Just down the street there was a place called "Seven Gables." All of these houses had big picture windows, and in the evening we drove down the street and looked at all of the brightly lit Christmas decorations inside the houses. It was cold by then, so we were glad to be in the car.

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The one of me on the left is with Father Serra at Mission San Juan Bautista; on the right is me getting ready to body board. It was a beautiful day and I spent about an hour and a half riding the waves in. The beach was very wide, so even though it took a long time to get out far enough to catch the waves, it was a long, exciting ride in. I nearly had it all to myself.

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It was getting late by the time we got to the little community of San Juan Bautista where the mission is. We didn't realize how late until we walked up to the entrance and saw the sign that said: Hours - 10am - 4:30pm. We got there just as it closed. No big deal we thought, so we walked around the outside and looked over the grounds - including the ancient cemetery. The photos below show the face of the old mission and the more recent fountain built in honor of - that's right - John the Baptist. (how did you guess?!?)

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It was getting pretty cold so we put on the matching, fleece-lined rain jackets we bought on Cannery Row (the last time we bought matching clothes was 28 years ago when we took the high school band to Victoria BC to march in a parade), then headed down a couple of blocks to main street to have a look around the really cute, quaint town.

Surprise! The whole place closes down at 4:30! There were lots, and LOTS of antique stores. I counted 8 in a three block span - 5 in a row on one block. There was also a wonderful looking bakery, and a very cool mini court with 2 shops (the only places still open, but only till 5pm) and a huge pepper tree. Everything else was closed down.

After we finished we got back in the car and drove back into the central valley and fog. It would have been an uneventful drive home if not for missing the exit to Stockton (no, I wasn't texting). But we made it home in good time and really enjoyed the overall trip.

Maybe tomorrow I'll post the photos from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.