We had three-days long weekend for President's Day last month and we vacated in Monterey Peninsula. In fact, that was our second visit there. The first visit was in 2006, right before Christmas. We spent there two nights.
First Visit, Day-1:
We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on the first day and spent the whole day there. Just recently, I've read the news that the aquarium has put the city on the map as it's regarded as one of the largest aquariums in the world. Perhaps we've seen it enough so we didn't feel that it was so special or unique.
However, we did see some unique fishes which we had never seen before. I love the anchovies there. And those torchlight fishes? I could not remember the name exactly but they glow in the dark and it was amazing to see and learn that there got such kind of fishes in the world.
First Visit, Day-2:
On second day, we drove up to San Simeon along Highway1 to visit Hearst Castle. Believe it or not! We could not get any ticket since all were sold out. We waited for there like hours in the hope of getting some tickets but it ended up nothing and had to head back to Monterey empty-handed.
Consequently, we spent time at Pedras Blancas to watch the Elephant Seals which was just on the way back.
And we spent the rest of the day at Carmel which was the hometown of Clint Eastwood. And we walked on the Carmel beach as well.
First Visit, Day-3:
On the third day, we drove along 17-mile scenic drive and stopped at each of the scenic point. The scenes were so spectacular as we could view the Pacific ocean from different angles and perspectives.
I still remember that it was the Christmas evening when we got back home. As we were so tired from the trip, we didn't feel like cooking and went out the dinner to have at the restaurant. But we had no luck as all restaurants were closed. Yes, it was Christmas day. What were we thinking then?
So, this time is to compensate for the Hearst Castle visit which was missed out during our first visit. As I learnt from the experience, I made sure to get the tickets in advance by buying them online. Visiting Hearst Castle was my main intent of this second visit and here we come again, Monterey!
With the kids, we had decided not to rush and just take our time and go with the flow. Well, I'm that kind of person who always like to visit and see all famous landmarks as much as I can when I'm visiting a place. So, in order to fulfill my wish, I always plan everything so tight for each day so that I would be able to visit all places. That's why he always jokes me that going a vacation with me is not relaxing and it's so tiring instead. Ever since I got the kids, I've changed that perspective of my life. And I've learnt to arrange a very ample schedule with less places for each day.
Second Visit, Day-1:
We set off around 9:30am. The weather forecast said it would be raining on that day. But surprisingly when we woke up, the weather was so nice. It was sunny with the blue sky. Knowing the fact that it would not much deviate from what the weather forecast had to say, I was just really hoping and praying that it could hold onto that nice for the rest of the day.
It was not much to my surprise, we started to see the dark sky when we were on the bridge near Davis. Actually the blue sky was on my left and the black cloud were on my right. It was so funny to see two different colors of cloud at each side. Shortly after that the rain started pouring. We stopped around Gilroy area for our lunch.
It took about nearly 4 hours and finally we were welcomed by Monterey and the Pacific ocean.
We had decided to go and see monarch butterflies first. It was supposed to be having showers but it poured much more than that. But it was not the heavy rain either. We thought that we would be able to see the butterflies regardless but we were so surprised to learn that we didn't see any.
With some sort of disappointments on mind,we headed to Pacific Grove. We stopped at the Point Pions lighthouse but the rain was getting heavier after we had parked our car in the parking lot. With kids and without umbrella had discouraged us not to get out of the car.
Then we resumed our journey to Pacific Grove. It was not that the first time we saw it but we were "Wow" by this spectacular view. Even though there was having some showers, we had decided to come out and get a closer look. There was a seagull resting on one of the rocks and Sophie said she wanted a snapshot with the seagull and the ocean.
After spending a little bit more time there and we drove along the coast and briefly stopped at Asilomar Sate Beach. Then we had decided to head back to the hotel and called it a day.
For the dinner, I had a good impression about the Chinese buffet in downtown and we went out looking for it as both of us barely remember the location. After making a couple of rounds around the area, we finally found it. But the owner had changed and the food was an average Chinese food and we were somewhat disappointed.
Second Visit, Day-2:
The next morning, we set off around 8:45am after having the breakfast at the hotel. Our tickets our Hearst castle was at 11:00am so the time was kind of tight. Having driven the mountainous, winding and curvy Highway1 the last time, we knew that it would be hard to make there at 11:00 sharp if not a bit earlier. Unlike the first time, we had decided not to stop at any of the vista point due to the tight schedule.
By the way, he was doing really good on driving along very winding HWY1. I saw some drivers pulled over or was driving at much reduced speed as the road was so much winding. He really deserves my credits for his good performance of driving. I used to be really fearless for any type of road challenges but even I felt a bit nervous while I was sitting on the lover seat. Perhaps this is the aging sign I guess, LOL :P
We were late for about 15 minutes when we got there. Luckily, they arranged for us and we were able to board 11:30am shuttle bus with very minimal wait. On the other hand, I felt so glad that I bought the ticket in advance via online as if we were to buy the tickets there on-arrival then the only available ones are for 2:00pm. It was about 15 to 20 minutes drive from the visitor center to the castle. I already felt amazed to Mr Hearst who owned such a big land.
Our tour guide Bill welcomed us while we were alighting the bus. And the tour had begun. There got three different castles and our tour was for "Casa Grande" castle. It started out with the "Casa Del Sol" which was the guest house with 18 bedrooms if I remember correctly.
From the Casa Del Sol's courtyard, we were able to enjoy the amazing view of Pacific Ocean under blue sky. It was a really beautiful Sunday by the way. Oh, it was all about "Location... Location...". No wonder he picked this place to build his mansion. What could I say?
Then, we visited to the famous Naptune outdoor pool. Mr Heasrst is such a big fan of marble sculptures, paintings, cravings, architecture and all difffernt kind of art works.
I noticed that for some of the paintings hanging on the wall of his living room, it was a set: one is the literally reversed or mirror image of each other. We visited to the living room, a couple of bed rooms, dining room, in-house theater and so on.
From Casa Del Sol to Casa Grande, we talked through Esplanade and Gardens. It was such a huge garden with amazing views where one could enjoy mountains and ocean at the same time.
Finally, we got out of the castle and walked a bit to get to the indoor swimming pool which was a really huge one. And it was the end of our tour and the shuttle bus which we came was waiting right outside of the pool to bring us back to the visitor center. In my opinion, it definitely worth a visit there.
On the way back to Monterey, we stopped at a couple of scenic spots along the way. Firstly, we stopped at W.R Hearst Memorial State Beach which was right across from the Hearst Castle state park.
The next stop was at Pedras Blancas where elephant seals were. I love seeing them. All of them are so big but some are really huge. They were just resting on the beach ignoring the big crowd from the viewing deck.
Then, we briefly stopped at a vista point along the Pacific coast while the girls were asleep in the car. It was such a beautiful day with blue sky and ocean, the red and brown mountains, the green patches of grasses and yes, with my lovely family. What else could has been better than this? Of course, I missed my late parents and wish they were with us and it would be absolutely perfect.
Another stop was at Michelle Peiffer Big Sur State Park. He loves the tall red wood trees so we went inside the park. But it seemed that the park was mainly intended for hikers and our car could not proceed any further at one point. I asked him to take a stroll while I would be waiting for the girls as they were still resting in the car. But he didn't want to leave us alone in the car ourselves and it was also late in the afternoon so he turned around and resumed our journey back to Monterey.
Our last stop was at the famous Brixby bridge of Big Sur. The girls were well awake at that time and they enjoyed hanging out there and posing a couple of pictures there.
After such a long day, we had decided to pamper ourselves with a good and delicious food. He said that coming to Monterey and left it without having to taste its fresh seafood would be meaningless. As he asked me to pick a restaurant, I was flipping the pages of the guide of restaurants book provided by the hotel. I was betting between Bubba Gump, Old Sardine Factory and Old Fisherman's Grotto. As they all are reputable ones for fine dining, it all were equally appealing to me. Ugh... It was so difficult to make a call. But I was leaning towards Old Fisherman's Grotoo as I love the clam chowder and they lock in No1 place almost every year. Well, having the coupon of a free appetizer there helped my decision better of course. P
We headed to Old Fisherman's Wharf where the restaurant was located. It was a paid parking but it was kind of hard to find a parking there. We ended up parking at a lot which was a bit far from the restaurant.
When we got there, the restaurant was fully packed and we were told that there would be about 45 minute waiting time. It was very daunting and I was even thinking to go somewhere else since we all were so starving but he said we would just wait so we stayed.
The good thing was that they got somebody to let people try of their clam chowder for free right outside of the restaurant. It turned out that the girls really loved them. And the place was vibrant even during late evening: there got all sorts of restaurnts, some candies shop, the souvenir shops to name a few on both sides of the path. Therefore we had decided to look around while waiting and the light got turned green and beeped for the pager in my hand. Yay, finally it was our dinner time.
It was because we were so hungry or it was because the food were just so tasty and fresh, all were so good to me. I loved their calamari appetizer. As the kiddo like the clam chowder, we ordered a big bowl and even he liked it. Normally he is not a big fan of calm chowder. He got the Fisherman Wharf's Platter which came with 1/2 Dungeness Crab, grilled shrimp, scallops and crab Cake, served with saffron rice and seasonal vegetables. I got the fish & chips as kiddo love the chips.
It was a nice ambient and our table was next to the glass door where we could see the wharf and water. Too bad it was dark already so we could hardly see anything outside to enjoy the view. We all were so full and didn't even have any room for dessert.
They had a big selection of desserts which they put on the big tray and came and showed you and could be picked anything from there. It was so enticing but too much food already and we just had to skip them. Well, not we; only me and the girls. He's not a dessert fan anyway.
Second Visit, Day-3:
The next day, we first went to the butterfly sanctuary to see the monarch butterflies again. The weather was cooperating by then and no rain so we would give a second shot. When we got there, still no butterflies. Huh? I know that it was almost the end of the season but we should see at least some if not all, yeah?
But then we found someone who was using his binocular looking up so high to those red wood trees. We asked him and then realized that those little shy ones were resting on the branches of those big tall trees. No wonder we saw nothing right at our eye level. I thought that they all were be flying around us when we got there. All wrong! It was so nice of that man and he even lend his binocular to us.
I was able to use my camera to zoom them in and got their snapshots. Most of them were white and saw a couple of colorful orange ones. I felt relieved that when a lot of people were just like us, not being able to spot them right away. Well, it was not just us at least, right? :P
Next, we went to Point Pinos lighthouse again as it was not raining but it was closed. Oh, of course it was President's Day. Then, we drove along the Pacific Grove again.
From there we headed to Point Lobos State Reserve. The landscape artist Francis McComas quoted it as “greatest meeting of land and water in the world”.
It was undeniably beautiful but I bet that Highway1 might not have been developed by then and he had not seen the other parts of the similar fantastic views from there. To me, they all look amazingly and equally gorgeous. They all are just very similar views, just looking from different locations and angels. Anyway, we all enjoyed there and did quite a bit of walk.
We started out with Sand Hill trail. I saw some big pebbles embedded in the big rock. The nature is just so amazing.
Then, we went up along the trail to Sealion Point trail. We had decided not to pursue all the way down to get a closer look of the sea creatures: sea lions and southern sea otters.
We saw the sea lion cove right above the higher slope of the mountain. The water looked so clear and blue and we witnessed about 4 sea lions. Or they could be sea otters. It was not really clear from where we were.
The girls were so tired at this point due to the long walk. And the stroller would not work on that rough bumpy road so we decided to get back on the car. While he went back to drive the car to pick us up, I brought the girls to the parking lot near the Cypress Grove trail. I wanted to walk further to have a closer look of cypress trees but it would be almost impossible with them as they were so tired already and gave up the idea.
Then we drove to the Whaler's cabin. And we climbed the stairs up to get to the top.
Again, we got the fabulous view and he was pointing and explaining to me that this was what and that was Carmel, blah blah blah... Along the way, we saw the warning about the poison oaks and I had been really careful with it for the girls.
By the time the noon had well pasted and our stomachs started gave us the warnings despite the heavy lunch at hotel in the morning. We had decided to settle our lunch at Hog Breath's Inn which were formerly co-owned by Clint Eastwood.
Parking at the Carmel downtown was a pain and after making a couple of rounds we finally locked in a spot. The restaurant has the indoor and outdoor seatings and we picked the indoor seating near the fireplace to keep ourselves warm. Outdoor seating would be perfect for summer.
Sophie felt so chilled and she just enjoyed standing next to the fireplace. He ordered the tri-tip sandwich (which I could not really remember the actual name on the menu) and I got the Dirty Harry burger. The service was a little bit slow but the food was good. Let's see how dirty the burger could be. In fact, it was so good; the bread was nicely done and it seemed like their homemade or something like that and was crispy on the surface. The girls loved the onion rings and the veggie soup.
Carmel downtown was small but it was very lively, vibrant and packed with visitors. There got all sorts of small little shops and it was a very nice ambient to walk around to see them. There got plenty of art shops: pottery, paintings, etc. The first time when we visited here it was way more packed but it was relatively less crowded this time.
We went to the Carmel beach afterward. They both were so excited to see the beach. They were running ahead of me, especially Sophie and I could not keep up with her. She took her jacket off, rolled up her sleeves and pants and running on the soft white sand.
It was so daring of her and she even dash toward the water to touch and feel the water. It was partly cloudy on that day and was pretty chilly. I had a thick jacket but even then I was jumping to keep myself warm. The one who was complaning that she felt so cold and stood next to the fireplace constantly now took her jacket off and touched the freakingly cold water and everything looked so fine to her.
Michelle joined her sister and they started sitting and playing on the sand to build the sand castle. The beaches never disappoint them. As I could not wait any longer due to the freak chill, I kept asking them to go back to the car but it only worked after several times of my attempts and patient waiting.
Finally, we all got into the car and on the way to home-sweet-home! They quickly fell into asleep not long after moving the car. It was a really nice break to spend our time in Monterey Peninsula and around. We all had enjoyed, had a lot of fun and had a good family time there. When we got around Vacaville, they both eventually woke up and Michelle kept asking us to go back to the hotel. Okay, sweetie pie, there will be more coming along the way and hang on there til the next fun trip. More nice getaways will be coming up. Stay tuned!
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