Thursday, January 10th 2013
San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Monterey
We were up pretty early, had breakfast
and left the house around 7.32 am. We had to stop by hospital to pick
up parking pass. The traffic was horrible, as was the drive through
half of the campus. Really nice start of our trip. We had to drive to
Santa Cruz, to pick up Monterey Aquarium passes. The standard
admission is 34.95. Luckily for us, the family had membership and we
could use their passes. We had quick breakfast (bagels and cheese)
and then stopped by the lab, where she was working. It was small
research company working on some rare skin disease. We got the tour
and explanation, we even saw lab mice. That was really cool (after
they asked us, if we were Peta). Funny. After that, we drove along
the coast and did “drive by” tour of Santa Cruz.
At one point, we had to leave the coast
and get on highway number 1. We were heading to Monterey, which was
less then hour away. We left the highway and wanted to see ocean. We
were driving between strawberry fields, just to find the end of the
road (and no ocean). On the way out, we made quick stop, I took
picture of strawberries and picked up few of them. For some reason,
there was smaller field with mature plants with berries. We did not
want to get caught trespassing, so we drove away quickly. The berries
tasted so good.
PICKING UP STRAWBERRIES IN JANUARY!!!
Moss Landing was our next stop. It was
tiny village with the bay. We parked and found bunch of sea otters
swimming there. They were pretty close, so it was great. It was
somewhat windy and cold on the beach. From the highway, we turned
into the parking lot of restaurant, where was small observation deck.
There was over hundred of sea lions lying on the dock. So close …
it was incredible.
We stopped few times along the road and
arrived around two o'clock. J. was really tired (as she switched from
the night shift and did not sleep well). We checked into the motel
and drove through the town to the lighthouse. It was small house
(really more like house). We went inside, unfortunately the top was
not open to the public. So … really nice old house. It was still
pretty windy and cold. That was north end of Pebble beach and 17 mile
road area. Really nice.
From the lighthouse, we were slowly
driving back, planning to make few stops on the coast. We as well
drove a bit into Pacific Growth (town, or part of Monterey) and
wanted to see Monarch butterflies. We were not very optimistic,
because it was relatively cold and Monarchs do not like cold. It was
small hidden park and the only butterfly we saw, was this one:
On the way to the famous Cannery row,
we followed the coast. It would be nice to live in those houses (the
view). The coast was incredible and wind was creating really amazing
picture. On the other hand, it was a bit cold. I guess, you can never
win.
We parked afterward at the Cannery row.
Not many people (around 4.30 pm). It was that famous tourist trap.
Bunch of restaurants and shops, but … Hard to say. J. was almost
falling asleep walking, so we decided to grab dinner (fish and
chips), it was pretty good. On the way back to the motel, we stopped
by grocery store, so I would have some breakfast food and pretty much
ended our day.
