The Monterey Hotel

Finally left the noisy dorm room yay. Saw some massive waves along the coast towards Monterey. Stopped off in Santa Cruz, not much going on in Fall! Apparently it's wooden rollercoaster is a national monument! Got to Monterey and found a visitor centre for a map. Hotel man upgraded us to a deluxe king, had a microwave and a fridge! Watched lots of TV ...

... are a bad hiking shoe. I think we just underestimate the terrain. We took the hike up, passing a sign for quarantined area and beware of mountain cats. The hike had great valley views and lots of twists and turns as it ascended the mountain. The Redwoods were ginormously tall but still no compare to their sister Sequoias. The climb over to the waterfall was a nice one and we ventured past the path to explore where water falls to ...

04/11/2009 - Woke up in the morning, had our usual breakfast (cereal in our room out of paper bowls!), and checked out of the hotel. We picked up the car from the backstreet car park (it was still there, with all its wheels on, thank god) and headed south on Highway 1. We had initially planned to travel seventy miles or so and stay in Santa Cruz, but the reviews on tripadvisor.com said it was past its best and a ...

... yelling about where we parked, Matt about turning around to chase Lola that just drove past...madness..<br><br>By the time I figure out what Ryan yelled, they were all halfway up the hill and...BAM...realization on my part...<br><br>"I'M SORRY!!" - me, shouting to them from the bottom of the hill where I stopped immediately at the time of my realization, "IT'S NOT LOLA!!"<br><br>They all continue up the hill and I figure I should catch up now. I'm well behind them as they curve the ...

... Robert Louis Stevenson as saying it's "the greatest meeting of land and sea in the world". <br><br>We managed a surprisingly early start - everyone was assembled in front of the B&amp;B by just after 8am, and we were off. The objective was to reach Carmel for breakfast. Unfortunately getting out of San Francisco took longer than planned, so hunger forced us to stop at Santa Cruz, a quiet seaside town just off the PCH. We drove into a ...

... rate for the day!!! So we decided to pay the ½ hour charge and move the car to the $5 parking. Lucky us.... the person manning the ticket booth was not there, and we managed to get out of the extortionate parking structure for free!!! <br><br>Monterey Bay Aquarium is FANTASTIC!!! Their exhibits were really well presented. We enjoyed looking at the various fishes, jellyfishese, sea horses, eels, sharks, penguins etc. We even managed to catch the ...

... t a place at all just 10 buildings spread over a couple of miles of road. Nonetheless we experienced our first Motel: plastic, noisy, cold and expensive. Grudgingly, I have to admit to a special moment whilst taking luncheon when a beautiful humming bird returned time and again to sup nectar from flowers surrounding our table. It was surprisingly difficult to photograph as you may see!<br><br>The following morning started off brighter than all the other mornings so far. We brunched ...

Counting down with 15 Freakishly Fabulous Factoids about Fuel #4: Algae is one of the most promising forms of biofuel. Continental flew its first plane fueled by a 50-50 blend in January. According to a Boeing strategist, the biodiesel, "does not freeze at high altitude temperatures, delivers the same power to the engines, and is lighter." More here

... from the beach where we had lunch. Turns out the building it's in is one of the oldest buildings in the area- built in 1924! It was adorable, and the food was quite good. Since there was really nothing to do there, we hopped straight back on the bike and headed down to Monterey. After another 40 miles, we arrived in Monterey and checked into the motel. First things first, we dumped everything on the bed, gathered all the dirty clothes and walked ...

... life is like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get...And this time he was asked to pose looking ridiculous...) P.P.S. How sad is it that Martijn's real shoes are as big as the fake shoes, which are meant to fit people's feet WEARING shoes?! Oh... P.P.P.S (heheheheh) Monty is NOT a souvenir for anyone... Monty is Trude's :D (Now to see if she can resist getting more cute stuffed animals for the rest of the trip :P)