Blogs from Monterey, California, United States, North America - page 10

I got up in the morning, ate a breakfast of cheese and fruit then decided to look for a place to rent kayaks at my friend (also met through LOTRO) Matt's recommendation. Headed down to cannery row and found a place right by the breakwater, Adventures By the Sea, $30 all day deal, I went out for a few hours and pretty much decided I wanted to go as far as I was allowed which was to the big point on Monterey bay - the northern most part of that land area, so probably about a 7 mile trip total, casual. I stopped for a while pretty often and let myself drift back southeast taking pictures of sea lions and relaxing enjoying the scenery. The area was actually called the Sea Otter Preserve something or other ... read more

How wonderful to meet up with Al and Lou in LA after a long flight and four films later!! I left on Tuesday afternoon and arrived on Tuesday morning , this international date line thing is doing my head in! But no rest for me , we took off in our hired 4 wheel drive - Al was conned into taking a much bigger car than we needed , they said we needed more luggage space - can you believe it! We headed for Santa Monica and it was like Blackpool , and it rained , and Al was driving, and it took us ages to get there , LA is a devil to navigate , few road signs and no sat nav. But still we had a grand late lunch and what made Lou's day ... read more

EXCERPT FROM MY BOOK: OUR SUMMER IN CARMEL, AMAZON.COM The square mile incorporated city of Carmel-by-the-Sea, in addition to the 120 galleries and art studios, also claims two stage theaters, the internationally acclaimed Bach Festival, the equally renowned Shakespeare Festival, a music society, and an annual art festival among its more prominent cultural events. This focus on the arts is not a recent Chamber of Commerce effort to boost tourism. Unlike other California real estate developments around the turn of the 19th Century, from the onset Carmel was a settlement of artists. The original inspiration for developing Carmel came from the neighboring town of Pacific Grove. In that small seaside community during the 1880’s, a group of people representing the Methodist Church established a summer retreat. A retreat that attracted adherents to the Chautauqua Movement, a ... read more

Day 156 (Wednesday 23/09/09, NJJ) Delicioso breakfast at hotel. After an hour or so by the pool, during which time we were entertained by John's antics shouting 'yabba dabba doo' and doing a running jump into the pool, we drove on to Monterey. When we arrived the whole area seemed shrouded in sea mist. We had lush dinner at the Black Bear Diner. Had the usual accomodation issues and then checked into a Ramada for three nights. Then some pool and jacuzzi time. After showering we went out for food, we drove passed Fisherman's Wharf and eventually stopped at Cannery Row for cocktails and very tasty food at Bubba Gumps.... read more

The highway n°1 is nice ride but apparently very frequented by the bald and the beautiful... every second car was a Porsche... now explain me why you ride such a great car on a street where you can't drive over 35 mph due to the curves and the speed limits ... I feel sorry for the poor boxster motors... We stopped in Monterey for lunch and found out the the Californian coast must be the new Côte d'Azur or Rimini with all the Frenchies and Italians squirming around. In the late afternoon we entered splendid San Francisco!! The last stop on our road.... read more