Monterey Trip Part III

Posted Wed Mar 3, 2010 in Travel

Thursday and Friday were good days. The weather on Thursday was so much better. The sun was out and there were a few high clouds, but it was not raining and there wasn’t a lot of wind — only the sea breeze.

Wife and I rose a little late. I had a pretty bad night Wednesday night, with fever rising and falling as my body’s immune system worked against my infection. So, I wasn’t exactly spry when I rose. But, I got moving, got showered, and took Wife to breakfast at a diner that works for us — Toasties. Breakfast was good and it was good to be feeling better.

On our way back to pick up Young Son, I stopped at the Monarch Refuge and Habitat. I didn’t know whether there would be many butterflies, but I decided to check. Wife and I walked through the small park, looking at the eucalyptus trees, enjoying the coolness of the morning. We nearly had the place to ourselves. We wandered from the uphill side to the downhill terminus of the walking path, then returned. A New Zealand couple passed used and we exchanged greetings. A couple of older men (older than me) passed us and paused — “How many did you see this morning?” one asked.

“A few,” I responded. They continued down the hill, nodding in response. Wife and I continued walking back to the car, chatting about the looks of the place. Pacific Grove is a beautiful small California town. As much as I despise California politics, there are some beautiful places here… and some decent people. It’s the cities that I have real problems with. But, I digress…

We drove along the coast on the way back to the hotel, stopping now and again to look over the Pacific. The Pacific is my favorite ocean. You can have the Atlantic and the Gulf — I’ll take the Pacific Ocean for a beautiful place to be.

We retrieved Young Son, who was up and about and set out to find some food. We drove down Asilomar Drive and stopped at the Fishwife, a local seafood restaurant. The food was OK — not great, but not awful either. Wife and I had fish & chips; Young Son got the steak he wanted.

We headed off to see the Point Piños Lighthouse to do the self-guided tour. The image at the beginning of this essay is one I made of the lighthouse. It’s another fascinating place. I love this kind of historic setting, because it gives me a sense of what was and a point of reference for where we’ve come. Perhaps I’m just getting old, but I sometimes think we have not made progress in many areas. There was a sense of duty that seemed palpable in that lighthouse. The lives of others counted on that burning light and the sounding foghorn during poor weather. Those who manned the station took that duty seriously and no shipwreck was attributable to a tender error.

With that, we decided to return to the hotel and call it a day. I think we were all a little tired, but wanted to see the outside stuff before the forecast Friday rains arrived.

Friday morning came and we rose and performed our morning ablutions. Young Son continued to sleep when Wife and I left to find some breakfast. We returned after, however, to pick him up. We decided to drive down to Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey and poke around before the rains came.

The day was windy with a promise of rain. The load on the wharf was light and parking was easy, but we had to walk a bit. We could hear seals barking in the distance. Wife really wanted to see a seal. I was hoping for an otter too. As we walked the wharf, restaurant managers plied us with chowder to tempt us in. The place was really light.

The lee of the restaurant at the end of the wharf was welcome. We watched the seabirds and saw a pair of seals working in the harbor. Wife made a few images of them. She would whoop excitedly when she captured one. The gulls and pelicans teased her by flying low over her head, but she was never quite ready to capture them in flight. They are a challenge.

Tired and cold, we returned to the car, but didn’t go back to the hotel; we drove along the perimeter road. I was enjoying the marina and the water — plus I had a feeling I could find a site where there were more seals.

Luck! I found a group of them lolling about on some rocks. I pulled the car into the parking area and we played around for an hour, just chattering and watching the animals — who were watching us. Without a doubt they were as amused as we were. Silly tourists!

When the fun waned, we drove back to cannery row and found Luigi’s where I thought we could get some chowder and Young Son a pizza. As we munched, the rains came. It wasn’t a heavy rain, but heavy enough I didn’t want to be in it. On the way back to the car we stopped to pick up some chocolate to fortify us for the afternoon.

Although I had fun, I was also tired. The bronchitis was working on me still. The evening in the hotel was good and we turned on the fireplace to take a bit of the chill off.