For our fifth wedding anniversary we did a road trip to Big Sur and beyond to revisit some places we visited in 2012, Big Sur and Carmel California – Wedding, Hiking, Dining, and Driving (July 2-5 2012) and some new places. On Day 4 we stayed in Pacific Grove and explored Monterey Bay and Carmel. I took a picture of the bay from our window in the early morning. It was pretty gray outside, so we decided to have a slow start.
After having a late breakfast at Green Gables Inn we got ready to walk down to Monterey’s Cannery Row. This would be our last day before hitting the road to Russian River Valley to visit some wineries, and we decided to take it pretty easy. After doing Big Sur hikes two days in a row a half mile walk to Cannery Row sounded like taking it easy! While Jenny finished getting ready I took a few more pictures out our window at the inn. The slow start had paid off the skies and water were now blue as can be.
After crossing the street, I decided to get a picture of Green Gable Inn that showed our room. We were in a Gable room on the second floor that included a ladder in the room to climb up into the 3rd floor of the gable just to the left of the chimney.
Although it was a short walk it was gorgeous and interesting. The first bit of land that jutted out from the road had what looked like a bunker behind some rocks. I little research found it was the Hopkins Marine Station a research station for Stanford University.
Most people know of Cannery Row because of a few iconic images. The series of walkway/bridges for multiple historic canneries…
and the bronze Cannery Row Monument.
They also have an aquarium, shops, and restaurants worth checking out. We wandered through the shops for an hour or so, walked past the small beach area at the end of Cannery Row to the Sister City Park near the marina. There we found a nice grassy area under some shady trees to have a seat and rest.
It seemed like a great place to relax, and enjoy watching the people stroll and bike by.
Resting turned into a short nap opportunity, what lazy day doesn’t need a nap under a shade tree. By the time we finished our naps it was time for lunch. We walked back to Cannery Row and stopped at the first restaurant above the small beach The Fish Hopper.
We got a table by a window so we could enjoy the view of Monterey Bay while we ate. We certainly did not rush eating our lunch. We had Sailboats, sightseeing boats, paddleboards, and kayaks pass by while we ate.
But the coolest part of the view was the Seagull nest including a couple furry chicks, right outside the window.
For my sister Erin, who cares deeply about food, sorry I neither remember what we ate nor took pictures of it. I’m sure it was good though. I will try to make taking pictures of our food part of my routine. I will also try to catch up on my blogging so there might be a chance I remember what it tasted like!
After lunch we got more ambitious and walked back to the Inn, collected our car and took a drive to the South end of Carmel to drive along the Scenic Drive along the coast and through some spectacular neighborhoods. We parked in some diagonal parking near 8th Street on Scenic drive to take more time enjoying the view. We are used to beautiful ocean views in San Diego in La Jolla and Sunset Cliffs area, but this location is just spectacular.
Although it looks overcast in this picture, it was still a very nice day. We had the top down on the BMW and were really enjoying the drive.
What I don’t remember putting together in my head at the time, was how close we were to Pebble Beach golf course at this point. We had always come in to Pebble Beach on 17 mile drive from the Pacific Grove side and drove back the same way. But here on 8th Street and Scenic Drive in Carmel we were only 4 blocks from end of the Pebble Beach course. Not putting that together at the time, we drove back to Highway 1 and then back to Pacific Grove following the directions of Google Maps no doubt.
We watched the fireworks from Lover’s Point Park in Pacific Grove, then headed home for one more night in the Green Gable Inn before heading north toward San Francisco on Day 5 of our anniversary road trip.
More to come in the next couple posts including a nice long hike in Muir Woods on day 5 and a fun day wine tasting in Russian River Valley on Day 6.
Here's to a Full Life 