California: Pacific Grove & Monterey

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Foggy Pacific Grove Coast
Finding an affordable motel for a holiday weekend in the Monterey area is not easy. That's how little sister and I ended up in Pacific Grove in a motel with paper thin walls/ceilings. Nothing a bottle of wine can't fix! Pacific Grove still ended up being a fine jumping off point for a day driving around Big Sur. Housing options are incredibly limited in Big Sur proper.

Pacific Grove is a quaint little golf town on the coast, as evidenced by the fact that we couldn't actually find any bars, just restaurants and a couple wine-bars-slash-gelaterias. Or maybe why we passed a barbershop with a live band playing in it on Pacific Grove's main street. There's a decent selection of restaurants, though, and in the morning we were able to walk along the foggy coastal trail to our afternoon tea appointment at the White Hart which we'd strolled past the night before. After our very Victorian lunch, we headed to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Canery Row. For such a tourist trap (i.e., it had a Bubba Gump Shrimp Co), we were shocked to find no walk-up place to buy french fries from! Where're two ladies supposed to get an afternoon snack?!

I really enjoyed the animal feedings at the aquarium, and the kelp forest & deep sea exhibits were really lovely, but at its current ticket price, I might hold off on revisiting anytime soon.

Foggy Pacific Grove Coast
Foggy Pacific Grove Coast
Foggy Pacific Grove Coast
Foggy Pacific Grove Coast
Foggy Pacific Grove Coast
Surfers
White Hart Teahouse Afternoon Tea
Monterey Cannery Row
Kelp Forest
Fish in a Hamster Ring
Anemone
Jellyfish

4 comments:

Amy said...

Such lovely photos! Thanks for allowing me to do a bit of traveling--without price of admission, and before I head for work. :)

Emmylou said...

Oh my! Pacific Grove looks like such an amazing place! But wait....no place to buy french fries though? Ack! :D

Elle Sees said...

i haven't been there in nearly a decade!! time for a trip back!!

rooth said...

Next time, I'm definitely spending more time in Carmel. I didn't get to visit one winery while we were there!