Despite it being ridiculously cold and windy (a trend that would continue for the rest of the day), I managed to get a pretty long sleep in, and we were a little later getting up and out than we had anticipated. We got our stuff together...it always astounds me how much a suitcase worth of stuff can spread out over three days, and headed out in search of crazy hipster coffee again (Blue Bottle), and after some adventures with the Amtrak tracks that run right through the docks, we managed to find it, but not parking, so I sent EK tucking and rolling out of the car for my morning fix and other sundries. It took two more turns around the block before I snagged a space, and was able to actually fix my coffee and we were on the road again, heading down 880 to 92-West, which took us across the Bay and joined us up with Hwy 1, the Coastal Highway, in Half Moon Bay.
It's sort of a miracle that we actually made it to Monterey at all, considering that we stopped at least 5 times along Hwy 1 to admire the scenery and snap something like a billion pictures. We eventually made it down to Santa Cruz, where we stopped to eat around 3pm at a place called Mission, where obtained the largest burritos that EK and I had ever seen. We agreed that we really should have just split one, but we figure hey, at least we have lunch for tomorrow worked out. On our way to Santa Cruz, we passed several farms, at least one of which had something completely insane like "Strawberries, 1 basket for $2" and it was then we decided that we needed to restock the cash reserves. That being said, we might now have three pounds or so of fresh and delicious cherries.
By the time we finally made it to Monterey, it was almost 5, and the aquarium, which we had been planning on going to, closed at 6, so we checked into our hostel for the night--this time it was Hostels International, which seems to be pretty awesome so far, and then headed a little further south towards Carmel and the 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. If we had stopped a lot on Hwy 1, that was nothing in comparison to the 17 mile drive. Every time we would stop, it seemed that the ocean just got more majestic, and the beaches and rock formations kept getting more and more amazing. It was well after 8 before we got out of there.
Back in Monterey, we realized that we had left the rest of our SLC beer in Beth's fridge, so clearly the solution was to go out and get a beer before we headed back to the hostel. We were in luck, and definitely found a treasure in the Cannery Row Brewing Company. A beer turned into beers and an appetizer, then beers and a burger topped with avocado and pico de gallo that was to die for. I had one of their house brews, the Madam Flora's red light district, as well as a Speakeasy Prohibition beer, both very good. EK got the Eye of the Hawk, and a Rasputin. Excellent food, excellent beer, excellent service and music.
Tomorrow, we're going to hit the aquarium nice and early, maybe get breakfast or lunch, and then it's on to San Luis Obispo.
Day 6, mostly:
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