We spent most of today exploring the coast south of Monterey, with Bryan showing me a lot of his favourite places. We drove 17 Mile Drive, including Point Pinos Lighthouse, Pebble Beach Golf Course, Carmel and Point Lobos – gorgeous scenery, really beautiful. And lots of wildlife! We saw sea otters in the surf, and seals covering a rock out in the bay in one place, and covering the beach in another. I know we have seals in NSW, but I’ve never seen them, and I’m pretty sure they’re in much more remote locations than this – those seals on the beach were directly below a row of houses!
We then drove to Point Lobos. Another beautiful place – and I even had enough energy to have a walk around for the second time today- my health is doing well. I don’t know whether it’s being on holidays, lack of stress or some physical change in the environment (maybe I’m reacting to something back in Sydney?), but my health’s been much better this last few weeks than is has been for months at home – I’m doing more, but I’ve got no pain and much less exhaustion.
We drove through Carmel (of Clint Eastwood as mayor fame) but didn’t really stop. Cute little place, but seemed like it was very upper-class-touristy and shopping, without much soul. Cannery row, however, has much more spirit to it, even though it’s also very tourist-oriented. Funny how they can be so similar to describe, and yet so different in actuality.
Maybe it’s just my descriptions that are a bit lacking! Honestly, I’m running out of words. There’s only so many ways you can describe all this – and it’s all so stunningly beautiful I feel like I’m getting repetitive. But still, you’ll just have to put up with it…
During the afternoon we stopped in to do some wine tasting. They had a bunch of great reds – very different to those in Australia, despite using many of the same (or very similar) grape varietals. We got talking to the staff, discussing how the soil and climate can really change the taste of the wine. It seems that over the years I’ve developed a palate that isn’t half bad – thank you, Vincent! Eventually an older member of staff appeared from out the back, apparently attracted by the talk of Australia and the accent. He explained how he’d been living in Kings Cross in Sydney (for the non-Aussie readers, Kings Cross is the red light district) not long after WWII, and had fond memories of the old diggers (ex-soldiers) who’d taken him home to meet their 18yo daughters. In appreciation of those diggers, he gave me a bottle of wine free of charge!
Bryan has been promising me a good steak dinner since before I left Australia, as we’d had a few good steaks when he was in Sydney in 2008. Well, tonight was our chance. We found a good restaurant inland from Carmel (recommended by the winery) and had a terrific steak. And they even cooked it blue for me!
We headed back to Monterey for the night, and stopped in Cannery Row to take a few photos and have a look at the place at night. Bryan very politely put up with me reading all the signs and plaques, trying to remember the relevant bits of a book I haven’t read in at least 2 decades. We found an alleyway leading down to the ocean between the (current) Intercontinental hotel (converted from one of the old canneries) and the old Western Biological Institute (which features in the book). Right there you’ve got the huge contrast in this place – swanky 5-star hotel right next to a run-down old building that’s been preserved because it was mentioned in a book. But fascinating all around. When we got back to the hotel, I crawled into bed and read some more, trying to refresh my memory. Two minutes later, I was chortling to myself at a bunch of the descriptions – the next page I read was set in that very same alleyway! Strange feeling to be reading that only minutes after being there – yet another version of that feeling I’ve had all these weeks of walking into my TV set, movies, or in this case, a book.