Tuesday morning we did a load of laundry, and while it was in the dryer we went with my grandfather to Denny’s. I hadn’t been there in a while (ten years?) and was pleasantly surprised. One of my biggest gripes about it used to be that you couldn’t make substitutions. Now there’s a new Grand Slam where you can choose any four things. Instead of sharing like we should have, Tricia and I each ordered our own. Between the two of us, we had four wheat pancakes, two bowls of fruit, a buttermilk biscuit, a turkey sausage, a bowl of granola with milk, hash browns, and yogurt that the waitress accidentally brought because she tried to remember our entire ridiculous order without writing it down. We also ordered blueberry and white chocolate pancake puppies and a mango smoothie. We may never eat again.
 |
| Pretty Pacific Ocean |
At about 10 we gathered our laundry and the previous night’s leftover pizza and set off down the Pacific Coast Highway. The views were amazing, and we again took tons and tons of pictures. Enjoy the sun and the sky and the water. J We certainly did. I once again drove well under the speed limit to take in the sights while drivers passed me on all sides. Tricia took over halfway to Monterey because she enjoys dangerous curvy roads far more than I do, and I took pictures.
 |
| Basking |
In Monterey we set off in search of the information center advertised on several signs, but the center had temporarily moved to a new location. We tried to memorize the map and follow the directions, but failed to find it. Signs eventually began advertising a different information center, so we began the search anew, but soon gave it up as futile. We ended up parking by the bay and basking in the sun for a while. As we sat there, I looked up the visitor’s center on the iPad, and decided it was near the aquarium and that we could walk there in 10 minutes. So we set off again - this being a matter of principle at this point. Once we reached the aquarium, we went inside to ask for directions. Back out on the street, we set off again the way we came, wandering around a bit before finally finding the “old cannery” where the visitor center supposedly was. This was actually an entire mall, and we wandered through there a while too before winding up at the small sad table set up with brochures. We gleaned absolutely nothing from the visitor’s center, and wandered back out into the sunshine.
Cannery Row had been reviewed online as both “the best part of Monterey” and “the worst tourist trap ever”. Monterey was made famous by John Steinbeck back when it was nothing but a smelly old sardine town. They are proud that Steinbeck described them in exclusively negative adjectives, and Cannery Row is made up of the abandoned canneries, abandoned because the sardines had been over-fished into near-non-existence. (How do you like that run-on word?) The walk was nice, and we weaved in and out of bicycle paths and tree-lined streets and alternately were right by the water or would curve a street inland. We stopped at an antique store for a bit, and I saw the same kayak rental place and Mexican restaurant where I’d stopped on my last trip to Monterey 5 years ago. I felt nostalgic, so we went into the restaurant and tried a fish taco ($1.99 each - I thought they were pretty good, and one of the only cheaper restaurants in Monterey). We ended up on the wharf, where every restaurant was offering samples of clam chowder. After 7 samples each, we decided we didn’t actually need to purchase a bowl of our own, and went into a bar instead, lured there by the promise of $3 mango margaritas and long islands. Unfortunately, the bartender carded us. Apparently, between not wearing any makeup, not doing my hair, and the braces, I look 19. And I had grabbed only my credit card and my camera from the car. So the drinks didn’t happen then.
We decided to head to the other side of Monterey in the car to catch the sunset over the pacific, and I once again took a ton of pictures. Forgive me - I’ve always lived in the east, and don’t tend to get up early enough to catch the sunrise. Plus, the camera also does a great job of catching the sunset. It’s the one thing that the eye has trouble with, since you’re not really supposed to look directly at the sun. The camera does not have that particular limitation.
We then went to 17 mile drive to see if we could find the Bagpipes by the Bay, which play a half hour before sunset. (Yes, we had already seen the sun set…..) The drive was closed because the Open (no adjective needed) was going on, but we tried to get the gate guard to let us in anyway. It was 5:50, and he told us we’d missed the bagpipes because “they start at 5:30 and only play for an hour”. Tricia tried to convince him that this meant we still had 40 minutes, but he apparently didn’t believe her math. However, he could let us on the drive if we were going to the restaurant. Um…..well, we’re going to drive down there and check out the prices……. By this time there were quite a few cars behind us, and the guard gave up and let us in (without charging the $9.50 toll). He was right with his “math” - we had missed the bagpipes.
We decided to go back to the wharf and the mango margaritas, this time with ID’s in tow. We had literally the worst mango margarita and long island iced tea ever. It was all sugary-syrupy mix and no alcohol. At the wharf in Monterey, skip the mango margaritas advertised at “$2.99 all day, every day”. We consoled ourselves by going to a different bar, one where the kid offering clam chowder samples had been really trying to entice us inside with dinner specials and promises of $4 margaritas. When we went into the bar, there were about 8 guys there, all of whom apparently worked there and all of whom greeted us warmly, as if surprised to get any customers at all. We had raspberry and strawberry frozen margaritas there, which were infinitely better than the originals. We also got to sign our names on the cork ceiling. Then we went off to bed.
No comments:
Post a Comment