I love Monterey! The last time I was there was 1993, and it was only a day trip from San Francisco. During that trip, I was so excited to go there that I was inspired to read John Steinbeck's, "Cannery Row." This year, as I was planning my trip, I was sharing that tidbit with a friend and she suggested I read "Sweet Tuesday." Unfortunately, never did since I don't make the time for reading that I should, but I did start to pick up "East of Eden," which had fallen by the wayside a while back. Maybe I'll actually finish it before the end of summer!
As I was saying, I love Monterey! Since I was headed to Northern California, I decided that Monterey was a must. After my first visit to Monterey I kept saying that someday I'd go back and spend more time there. I didn't spend that much more time there on this trip, but at least I stayed overnight this time. I left Paso Robles at around 10 a.m., and it took about 2 hours to drive to Monterey. I was amazed at how easy it was to follow Mapquest's directions. This was a slightly complicated drive in the sense that I had to travel on a lot of different roadways, and a lot of the roads transitioned into different street names.
On the way there, I drove through Salinas, an agricultural town that serves as the locale of many of Steinbeck's books. There's a John Steinbeck Museum there that I considered visiting, but I decided I wanted to spend my time in Monterey, which was a good decision for me. I just love the feel of Monterey. It's such a nice, quaint place, busy enough to keep you occupied, but quiet enough to make you feel calm and give you a sense of inner peace.
I arrived at my hotel, the Monterey Bay Inn, and my room wasn't ready, so I walked down the street to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I didn't have to wait long to buy a ticket, but once I got into the aquarium, my first thought was, "what recession???" It was packed! I intentionally left Paso Robles a little later in the morning partly to avoid the "June Gloom" (fog) and partly because everything I read said the aquarium is usually crowded in the morning when they open and tends to be less busy in the afternoon. I asked a cashier in one of the shops if it's always that busy and she said it usually is, partly because school is out.
I spent a couple hours at the aquarium looking at the various exhibits and spending a lot of time outside at all of the different lookout area
s. I took a number of pictures, although the crowds made it difficult to get some of the shots I wanted. After I was satisfied that I had seen what I wanted to see, I went on the hunt for lunch. I passed a number of restaurants during my walk to the aquarium, and noticed the Fish Hopper, a place I read about on review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. I decided to give it a try.
It was right on the water, so it was nice to be able to look at the ocean during lunch. I decided to start with a cup of clam chowder, which was okay. Not bad, not
the best either, but satisfactory. It was tough choosing an entree, but I decided to select something different that I wouldn't find at home. I selected a dish with abalone, prawns, and scallops in a buerre blanc sauce, served over veggies and mashed potatoes. I completely loved the first few bites, but after a while, I felt like there was some kind of taste that was overpowering the seafood, particularly the scallops. Maybe they were just slightly too browned, I'm not sure. I'd give them another chance, but I did feel it was slightly overrated based on the comments I read.
After lunch I headed back to the hotel to check in to my room. The hotel was pretty convenient, right on Cannery Row and on the ocean, but it was just a tad isolated from where most of the action was. However, it was the closest hotel to the Fisherman's Wharf, and near a beach where there were a lot of sea lions. La Bellasera set the standard pretty high and was the best
of my trip, so Monterey Bay Inn was a slight let-down, but it was still pretty nice, particularly with the ocean view. I was a little surprised that it had exterior hallways which gave it more of a motel feel, and there was a strange congregation of flies right outside my room for no apparent reason. There's also no restaurant in the hotel, although they offered room service from the restaurant in a nearby hotel. But other than that, it was fine.
After I settled in, I headed out for a walk, this time in the other direction toward Fisherman's Wharf. At the hotel, I could hear seals from my room, but couldn't quite see them. During my walk, I discovered TONS of them lounging on the rocks across the little inlet from my hotel by the harbor. I also saw
a number of starfish there. I continued my walk all the way into part of Downtown Monterey before turning around. There were so many great little things to explore and take pictures of, and I noticed in Monterey that there were a lot of pretty flowers everywhere. Who knows, some of them might have been weeds, but they were still really pretty!
My last place to explore for the day was Fisherman's Wharf. There were quite a few shops and restaurants here, and I thought it was interesting how ALL of the restaurants had carts set up outside serving samples of their clam
chowder! If I wasn't still full from lunch, I probably could've made a meal out of samples! After the wharf, I took my time walking back toward the hotel, stopping to take pictures and watching sea life. I was disappointed that there weren't more otters around, but was happy that I was able to see two of them frolicking in the water on my walk back.
Because of the lack of a hotel restaurant and the distance between the hotel and the rest of civilization, I decided to go in search of dinner even though I wasn't really hungry yet. I started to head back toward the aquarium, but didn't see anything that caught my eye, so I turned around back toward the hotel. On the walk back, I looked out on the water a
nd saw a couple of stand up paddlers! Although I knew it wasn't just a Hawaii thing, it still took me a little by surprise. After this, I discovered a little Mexican take-out place almost right across the street from my hotel. Perfect! I could just take it back to my room.
The menu had a lot to offer, and it seemed really authentic. I mean, the gu
y cooking didn't even speak English, so I figured it had to be good, right?? I ended up ordering a combo plate with a cheese enchilada and chile relleno. The plate was served with rice and beans. I also picked up a watermelon soda, just because it looked good. I got it back to my room and decided to dine on my balcony overlooking the water. I took a couple of bites of the food and quickly assessed that it was like eating oil. That's the only way I can de
scribe it. There didn't seem to be any flavor in anything except for the watermelon soda. I was pretty disappointed - in fact, probably the most disappointing meal of the trip, especially because I had gotten my hopes up because of the non-English speaking cook. Oh well, one not-so-good meal out of two weeks worth of eating out really isn't bad! And at least the view was perfect.
Next up: drive down the Pacific Coast Highway.
As I was saying, I love Monterey! Since I was headed to Northern California, I decided that Monterey was a must. After my first visit to Monterey I kept saying that someday I'd go back and spend more time there. I didn't spend that much more time there on this trip, but at least I stayed overnight this time. I left Paso Robles at around 10 a.m., and it took about 2 hours to drive to Monterey. I was amazed at how easy it was to follow Mapquest's directions. This was a slightly complicated drive in the sense that I had to travel on a lot of different roadways, and a lot of the roads transitioned into different street names.
On the way there, I drove through Salinas, an agricultural town that serves as the locale of many of Steinbeck's books. There's a John Steinbeck Museum there that I considered visiting, but I decided I wanted to spend my time in Monterey, which was a good decision for me. I just love the feel of Monterey. It's such a nice, quaint place, busy enough to keep you occupied, but quiet enough to make you feel calm and give you a sense of inner peace.
I arrived at my hotel, the Monterey Bay Inn, and my room wasn't ready, so I walked down the street to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I didn't have to wait long to buy a ticket, but once I got into the aquarium, my first thought was, "what recession???" It was packed! I intentionally left Paso Robles a little later in the morning partly to avoid the "June Gloom" (fog) and partly because everything I read said the aquarium is usually crowded in the morning when they open and tends to be less busy in the afternoon. I asked a cashier in one of the shops if it's always that busy and she said it usually is, partly because school is out.
I spent a couple hours at the aquarium looking at the various exhibits and spending a lot of time outside at all of the different lookout area
s. I took a number of pictures, although the crowds made it difficult to get some of the shots I wanted. After I was satisfied that I had seen what I wanted to see, I went on the hunt for lunch. I passed a number of restaurants during my walk to the aquarium, and noticed the Fish Hopper, a place I read about on review sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. I decided to give it a try.It was right on the water, so it was nice to be able to look at the ocean during lunch. I decided to start with a cup of clam chowder, which was okay. Not bad, not
the best either, but satisfactory. It was tough choosing an entree, but I decided to select something different that I wouldn't find at home. I selected a dish with abalone, prawns, and scallops in a buerre blanc sauce, served over veggies and mashed potatoes. I completely loved the first few bites, but after a while, I felt like there was some kind of taste that was overpowering the seafood, particularly the scallops. Maybe they were just slightly too browned, I'm not sure. I'd give them another chance, but I did feel it was slightly overrated based on the comments I read.
After lunch I headed back to the hotel to check in to my room. The hotel was pretty convenient, right on Cannery Row and on the ocean, but it was just a tad isolated from where most of the action was. However, it was the closest hotel to the Fisherman's Wharf, and near a beach where there were a lot of sea lions. La Bellasera set the standard pretty high and was the best
of my trip, so Monterey Bay Inn was a slight let-down, but it was still pretty nice, particularly with the ocean view. I was a little surprised that it had exterior hallways which gave it more of a motel feel, and there was a strange congregation of flies right outside my room for no apparent reason. There's also no restaurant in the hotel, although they offered room service from the restaurant in a nearby hotel. But other than that, it was fine.
After I settled in, I headed out for a walk, this time in the other direction toward Fisherman's Wharf. At the hotel, I could hear seals from my room, but couldn't quite see them. During my walk, I discovered TONS of them lounging on the rocks across the little inlet from my hotel by the harbor. I also saw
a number of starfish there. I continued my walk all the way into part of Downtown Monterey before turning around. There were so many great little things to explore and take pictures of, and I noticed in Monterey that there were a lot of pretty flowers everywhere. Who knows, some of them might have been weeds, but they were still really pretty!
My last place to explore for the day was Fisherman's Wharf. There were quite a few shops and restaurants here, and I thought it was interesting how ALL of the restaurants had carts set up outside serving samples of their clam
chowder! If I wasn't still full from lunch, I probably could've made a meal out of samples! After the wharf, I took my time walking back toward the hotel, stopping to take pictures and watching sea life. I was disappointed that there weren't more otters around, but was happy that I was able to see two of them frolicking in the water on my walk back.
Because of the lack of a hotel restaurant and the distance between the hotel and the rest of civilization, I decided to go in search of dinner even though I wasn't really hungry yet. I started to head back toward the aquarium, but didn't see anything that caught my eye, so I turned around back toward the hotel. On the walk back, I looked out on the water a
nd saw a couple of stand up paddlers! Although I knew it wasn't just a Hawaii thing, it still took me a little by surprise. After this, I discovered a little Mexican take-out place almost right across the street from my hotel. Perfect! I could just take it back to my room.The menu had a lot to offer, and it seemed really authentic. I mean, the gu
y cooking didn't even speak English, so I figured it had to be good, right?? I ended up ordering a combo plate with a cheese enchilada and chile relleno. The plate was served with rice and beans. I also picked up a watermelon soda, just because it looked good. I got it back to my room and decided to dine on my balcony overlooking the water. I took a couple of bites of the food and quickly assessed that it was like eating oil. That's the only way I can de
scribe it. There didn't seem to be any flavor in anything except for the watermelon soda. I was pretty disappointed - in fact, probably the most disappointing meal of the trip, especially because I had gotten my hopes up because of the non-English speaking cook. Oh well, one not-so-good meal out of two weeks worth of eating out really isn't bad! And at least the view was perfect.Next up: drive down the Pacific Coast Highway.
No comments:
Post a Comment