Sunday, October 11, 2015

Maitlands Go West: Carmel-by-the-Sea & Monterey Bay

After visiting the zoo in San Diego and a quick trip to Hollywood, we spent a couple days driving along beautiful Highway 1.


We stayed in Monterey and ventured over to the Pacific Ocean to dip our toes in the chilly water one morning.  This was Chris' first encounter with the Pacific and its temperature gave him quite the shock!  Thankfully, he managed to hold on to our video camera when that first wave creeped up on him.


After our experience with the ocean, we made our way to Carmel-by-the-Sea - a quaint little town.  We found a bakery and managed to try some wine and olive oil dips before settling on a fun restaurant where we shared a fresh-baked pizza!  Yum!




Cannery Row, where we spent some time that afternoon, was quite a treat as well!  It is definitely a tourist trap, but still worth a look.  We walked along the main drag taking photos and imagining what life in that area must have been like back when they were canning sardines for a living.  Some of John Steinbeck's work is based on the time he spend in Monterey so we made sure to check out the statues dedicated to him in this area before we left for the day.




The most exciting part of possibly the entire trip came in the form of our meal at Shake's Old Fisherman's Grotto.  It was easily one of the most tasty meals I have ever experienced!  And we weren't the only table raving about the dishes here. We considered going back the second night...it was THAT good!!  Chris had the surf and turf while I stuck to fish with a couple mammoth shrimp on the side.  Seriously, we are still dreaming about the food at this place!!


Along the wharf where the magically delicious restaurant can be found, there is a bit of a carnival atmosphere.  I enjoyed watching them make salt water taffy.  Wish we would had more time to really explore this area.  Monterey definitely gets two thumbs up from the Maitlands!


Have you ever driven Hwy 1 on the California coast?
Where did you stop along the way?

Andrea :)

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