Hilton Monterey

... Monterey Crepe Company. They make delicious crepes!! YUM!

We are going to try to get out of here tomorrow afternoon. We will catch the tail end of the storm that is blowing through right now, but if we don't leave there is another storm coming up on its heals that we will hit dead on. So hopefully if we leave Wednesday afternoon we will miss most of the weather for the current storm and ...

... t think it is reasonable to charge the full fee when practically the entire park is closed! It was no wonder that there were so many cars parked just outside the park as the Waterfall trail is not far from the entrance and would have easily been accessible from outside the park on foot. Oh well.... let’s just see it as our contribution towards the rebuilding of the park.

Waking up in the middle of the redwoods in the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park was really something else. We had a nice shady spot, and were greeted to streaks of sunlight peeking through the giant redwoods. Awesome!

We headed for brunch at Cafe Kevah, along Highway 1, which is also ...

... continued our drive carefully down California Highway 1, through the bends. It was not too bad.... it wasn't long before we moved further away from the edges of the cliffs, on to flatter roads. Our intended campgrounds were not much further, at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park.

Yeaaaayyy!!! They had tons of availability for the night... but at the hefty price of $35!!! Wow! That is really steep for primitive campgrounds in a state park! We contemplated the price for abit, as the ...

We went to Point Lobos State Reserve, not knowing much, except that there are plenty of sea lions in residence. However, we found out at the park entrance that sea otters are also in residence! So it became our mission to spot some sea otters.

We walked the Sea Lion trail, the trail at Whaler's Cove, the Cypress Grove trail and started the Bird Island Trail, without any luck. Shucks! I ...

... which is past the point of no return. I was horrified to see that parking was $1.50 per ½ hour, up to a maximum charge of $18 per day. We’d planned to leave the car there and walk around the town after the Aquarium!!! We parked regardless... what else could we do? We were already in! As we walked out of the parking structure, we saw some open parking areas opposite the “official” parking structure, and they were charging only $5 ...

... 1. What fabulous views of the coastline as the road hugs the cliff tops and each turn brings new breathtaking scenery. You don’t want to drive at more than 25 mph in case anything gets missed. There were eagles and condors enjoying the thermals and seals. Otters and other indeterminate sea life where splashing near the shore. It was worth coming just for this experience.

We ended the first day at a place called Big Sur that has little claim to fame other than it isn ...

Counting down to departure with fossil fuel free factoids.  #3: Whereas other industrial nations have reduced their consumption of fossil fuels in the past twenty years, the United States has stubbornly trudged forward, steadily increasing year after year.

... couple of blocks to the nearest laundrette. There's something satisfying about clean clothes. We came back to the room, got on the bike (my jeans were still warm, yummy!), and rode down to Cannery Row. We then walked up to Fisherman's Warf and found a place to have dinner. Very pretty place. We've got some really nice photo's from today. Unfortunately, I can't stay upright anymore, so I'm going to go to bed. Hopefully we can get pictures up tomorrow.

Starting off at San Simeon, we had a real long drive up to San Fran to complete today. Following the coastal highway all the way, we stopped off a couple of times, most notably in Monterey, were we wanted to stop off at the Aquarium. It was really impressive, a whole host of different marine life and lots to actually do as well as see. Sadly we didn't have the time to look around the rest of Monterey, as we had to get on to San Fran.