It happened in Monterey....!

After a sunny arrival in Monterey, we had some dinner and made an early start only to find that the fog had rolled in over night and there was no sign of sunshine.  We had planned to walk from our hotel on the beach to the Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery, but decided against it in favour of a drive to Carmel by the sea and the 17 Mile Drive through exclusive estates with stunning views of the quite dramatic coastline.

Carmel by the sea looked like the sort of place one could easily spend a lot of money quickly in the cute boutiques and the beach itself looked like it would be most picturesque if the sun was shining, but as it wasn't we didn't even take a photo.  Instead, headed for the entrance way to the 17 Mile Drive, paid our fee and explored all the things there were to see, but luckily the first place we happened upon was the Pebble Beach Golf Club which this year was host to the US Open, with cafe open to the public (i.e. rif raf like us!) so we stopped for breakfast.    I decided to try the 'Huevos Rancheros' as I'm quite a fan of mexican food and although I was a little uncertain about whether I was ready for refried beans, guacamole, and chilli sauce so early in the day, I decided that 'when in Rome' you have to try these things and I was blooming glad I did!  Probably not my choice for an every day breakfast as it really was a bit early for all those flavours, but definitely very interesting and very very tasty. 

Once we were fed, we continued on to see some beautiful scenery, birds and sea lions which were a treat I wasn't expecting and took some photos which perhaps looked even better for the fact that it wasn't gloriously sunny! 

Cannery Row in Monterey itself was an interesting and very touristy place, lots of restaurants and

souvenir shops but still looking as it must have done when it was the centre for fish canning in the town.  Under the walkways were the huge concrete containers which were designed especially to bring the fish from the boats to the factory buildings.  Due to our late and large breakfast we weren't ready for lunch despite the attempts to draw us in, however, most restaurants offered us small cups of Clam Chowder to taste.  Now I had never tasted it before, I haven't been brave enough as I'm not a huge fan of fish but given the opportunity to taste a small cup full, I gave it a shot - it was an instant hit!  So after a couple of small pots of that, I was set up for the rest of the day!!  Yum!

We needed to find a glass of water and a 'restroom' and ended up in a wine bar where they were offering wine tasting for $10 so we each got a bottle of water for free and I got to have a taste of 6 wines made by the Sheid winery in the Monterey region.  Dad who was driving stuck with the water!  I was quite pleased to give it a go and see if I agreed with the descriptions of the wines, I'm never very good at discerning the flavours in wine myself but with the details in front of me, it was easier.  And whatsmore, I bought a bottle of wine and the $10 wine tasting fee was waived!  Bargain!

Onwards then to Fisherman's Wharf, another very touristy place which also had restaurants offering clam chowder tasters which kept us going until dinner time, and then at the end there was a higher level viewing platform where we got another treat, a group of sea lions directly below us sun bathing on a rib, very cute!  We spent quite a long time watching as they lay there, then all got in the water for a dip before fighting over who was going to go where when they all got back on!  Very entertaining.

It was a full and interesting day, and I was so pleased that we had taken the time to see the 17 Mile Drive for so many reasons.  When we got back the cloud hadn't lifted at the beach, but it was just lovely to be right on the water and listen to the ocean crashing onto the sand, very soothing to fall asleep to.

Coming up, San Francisco!