Last day in Monterey and we're making it a history day. Took a tour thru the oldest Catholic church in California, called the San Carlos Cathedral. It was founded as a mission by Father Junipero Serra in 1770. It is the oldest continuously functioning church in California as well as the state’s first stone church. 
An interesting fact we learned, Herbert Hoover was married there in 1899 (Hoover was Protestant, but as there was no Protestant minister available at the time, the parish priest was given a special dispensation to perform a civil ceremony). It's stunning and they've done a marvelous job and restoring it to it's mostly original structure. They had to retrofit it for earthquakes, which you'd never know. Also many years ago, it was in such disrepair, that you'd thought it would be easier to destroy vs. fix. However, the granddaughter to ??, saw the need to preserve history, and gave all the buildings and fixtures to the State. They've done a incredible job at preserving it.
If you ever get to this area, a must see.Our nephew Eric, arrived from San Diego around 4 with his boss Eileen Drake. They came to watch a Mazda race at Laguna Seca. We visited for about an 1 1/2 hrs, then went down to Cannery Row, where we had dinner at Fish Hopper Restaurant. It was delicious, I had Sanddabs and Bobby had a filet Mignon.
After dinner we walked around, I bought a pair of xmas socks, everyone bought nothing. We had a great time getting to know Eileen and visiting with Eric.
September 10, 2015
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| Moss Landing, CA |
Our next stop was Moss Landing, wanted to see if we could
see the whales, yes!!!! Not nearly as
good as yesterday, but you could definitely see their tails & blow holes!!!
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| Boardwalk in Santa Cruz, CA |
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| Surfing Museum in Santa Cruz |
Surf Museum is just up the road, so we headed there
next. It's an old lighthouse that
they've converted to a museum. Very attention-grabbing
to learn about this sport and how it started.
It actually came from some princes from the Hawaiian islands back in 1885 You get to read about the history and see
some of the old long boards that were used.
It was windy while we were out there, made for some great
photos. Also the surfers were trying
their best to ride the waves. Fascinating
to watch them, although you could tell they were not the pros we see on TV. |
| Surfers in Santa Cruz |
Looked around the town a little and then stopped at Taco
Bell for lunch. On the way back, we
stopped at 'The Whole Enchilada" fruit stand. What an astonishing place. They have every kind of fruit and vegetable
that's grown around this area, plus others.
Best thing, it was incredibly priced.
Love being in the farm valley!!!
Avocados and Artichokes were 7 for a dollar, just to name some of the
best deals we saw. Bought a bunch of
fruit and vegs.
Got home around 2:30, then went swimming. I was hot, even though the pool is not
heated, it felt good. I'd think it was
around 80. It's a large salt water
pool, about 1/3 bigger than ours in Havasu.
Tonight we might go over to the club and watch Thursday
football.
September 9, 2015 |
| Feeding Frenzy near Moss Landing, CA |
Took a whale watching tour out of Monterey Bay called Chris
Whale Watching. It's cost $34 a person
with a coupon we got at the visitors center.
Believe me, it was worth the price.
We traveled about 20 miles north to a town called Moss Landing, here
they have a submarine ledge, where the plankton and krill like to hang out, so
therefore the whales come to feed. Per
the captain, the wind, climate, etc. just have to be right, but this year it
is.
Within in seconds of arriving, we saw our first whales lunge
feeding. It was overwhelming seeing how
many of them were in this bay.
Everywhere we looked, we could see blow holes. Just breathtaking.  |
| Whales are lunge feeding on Krill |
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| This was about 75' off our boat |
Got back to Monterey around 1, looked around Fishermen's
wharf for an hour or so, then headed home.
The trip made us tired, as you're constantly trying to keep your
balance. Heaven forbid should we sit
down!!!!
If you ever get in this area, I'd certainly recommend this
company but you might want to look into a company that departs from Moss
Landing, that way you'd get more time viewing the whales, as we spent at least
1 1/2 of the 3 hrs traveling to get there.
September 8, 2015
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| View going south on hwy 1 |
Drove out hwy 1, heading to Big Sur. First stop was Point Lobos State Park (cost
$10 to get into). We had visited here
when we came in 2010. This time we
couldn't get out to the point, as the Harbor Seals are in there mating season
and they're being protected. We could
hear them, just couldn't see them.
However, Bobby spotted some whales out near the rocks. We watched them for about 30 min, then moved
on to our next stop. All we saw was
fins, but it was enough to make me a happy camper!
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| Pfleiffer Beach |
While traveling south, we stopped at the Bixby Creek
Bridge. It's 260 feet high and 700 feet
long and it's one of the world's highest single-span concrete bridges. It's hard to pull over in this area, as
everyone wants to take a pic, but Bobby found us a spot.
Wanted to see Point Sur Lightstation, but it's only open on
Wed, Sat & Sun. Next time!!! |
| Bixby Bridge |
Big Sur Village was not what I expected! I thought it would be like Seaside in
Oregon, but it's basically a few stores alongside the road, more like we'd see Camp
Sherman, OR. We did go thru the local
gallery and a few other shops.
Next stop was Pfeiffer Beach National Park (it's actually
not a Federal National Park, so our pass didn't work, however they do charge
$10. Believe me, these cost are worth
the views you get to see!!!! You have
to travel down this extremely narrow paved road for 2 miles, then you reach the
pay station. At times, we had to back up
to all the other car or dump truck to pass us.
When you turn onto this road from hwy 1, it's say no trailers or
motorhomes, believe it!!! |
| Pfleiffer Beach |
Our last stop was Nepenthe Restaurant, this log cabin was
built in 1925 by San Trotter. In 1944
Orson Wells bought it for his wife Rita Hayworth. They sold in in 1947 to Fassett family who
turned it into the Nepenthe restaurant, which was designed by Rowan Maiden,
apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. Mr
Wright is our favorite architecture to look at. We've seen many of his designs on our
travels.
Got home around 2, had lunch and then I went to over to the
mall, having problems with my phone.
Verizon folks fixed it....yeah!!!!
Also looked around a few of the stores while Bobby stayed home.
September 7, 2015
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| Pacific Groves, CA |
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| Pacific Groves, CA |
Found a place to park, so off to the shoreline we went. Tide was in, so couldn't really get to the
beach, but did manage to get some great shots.
The pebble beach area is next door, but we knew that since
this area was packed, we'd never find parking on the 17 mile drive. We thought about going to Carmel and Big
Sur, but rethought that idea also.
Ended up going to the town of Seaside to look around. Not much there but had fun exploring.
Tomorrow, we'll head to Big Sur.
September 6, 2015
Left Petaluma around 8:30 and arrived in Monterey around
1:30. Traffic was great going thru San
Fran, but once we got on 101, it certainly changed. We had stop and go all the way, in fact we
came off at exit 337, one short just to get out of it. I totally forgot that locals and visitors
would be going to the beach to get away for the last long weekend.
Once settled in, I went to the grocery store. Thought about going to visitors center, but
traffic is so bad down on the water front, will do it tomorrow. We'll do our sightseeing after tomorrow, as
hopefully most of the visitors will be leaving tomorrow. Believe me, town is backed, in fact we can
see a cruise ship in the harbor.
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