Novato to Monterey

Our first day of our Pacific Coast Highway road trip, and we'd planned a leisurely drive from Novato to Monterey. The back of our car was loaded with all the suitcases, including two new ones, and the front was loaded with Almond Roca and the remaining Jelly Bellies.

Soon after we jumped on the freeway, we were stopped in traffic. Half an hour later, we reached the scene of a terrible accident. They were pulling people and Christmas presents out of a squashed car, and we had a strong reminder to drive carefully.

Silicon Valley

We crossed the Golden Gate for the last time, and headed to our first stop in Silicon Valley. I'd spent much time here in the past, and wanted to show the family some of the favourite haunts (such as Hobee's for some Blueberry Coffee Cake).

The girls were keen to swing by Apple headquarters in Cupertino (Number 1 Infinite Loop), the home of the devices they can't live without. I told them about how I dragged my wife to Apple headquarters on our honeymoon, 23 years ago. I'm not sure if it was me being such a geek that surprised them, or just the fact that Apple existed that long ago...

Santa Cruz

The drive down to Santa Cruz through the hills is lovely. You pass through beautiful redwoods forests, and its the sort of winding road you'd like to drive in a sports car (rather than the truck we were in). We got a second reminder to take care as we passed another black car that had been squashed only minutes beforehand...

We'd planned to have lunch at Santa Cruz (the home of Surfing, Skateboarding, and BMX), and made our way down to the wharf. The wharf itself is huge - it took a good 5 minutes to drive to the end and back, finding that the car park (on the wharf itself) was full. Fortunately in Santa Cruz they don't try to charge you for a car park drive through like they do at Bondi Beach; Americans would simply not stand for this. 

In the warmer months, this place is absolutely buzzing (I've been here a couple of times before), but today it was fairly quiet, both on the beach and at the beach-side amusement park (which you can see in the above photo). Having said that, this was the day after Christmas, and it was still warm enough for some beach volleyball. Got to love California! 

Having been awake for the entire drive so far, our youngest decided it was a good time for a sleep just as we'd entered town. So, we collectively decided we'd delay lunch, skip the famed Surfing Museum (I was out-voted 3 to 1; 1 was asleep, otherwise it would be 4 to 1), and to drive on to our destination. On the way out of town, we took this photo of a house covered in Christmas decorations.

Monterey

Monterey is pretty much a compulsory stop on any Pacific Coast Highway road trip. We'd booked ourselves at the Hotel Pacific, rather than one of the chains, just to get a different experience, and because the (very basic) breakfast buffet is included. It was acceptable, and certainly in the heart of things, but nothing too memorable.

Our first stop was Fisherman's Wharf, where you can sample a few clam chowders, and visit the many tourist shops. Its worth a visit, I guess, but its fairly small. Believe it or not, I once drove down to Monteray (from Palo Alto), had lunch on the wharf, and turned around not knowing there was anything more to Monteray...

This time, I'd done a bit more research, and we walked down the coast, past the many barking sea otters, to Cannery Row. This is where the old sardine canning factories once stood, and the smell will never leave the place. It certainly proved to be a lot more than the 5 minutes walk our hotel had advised us, and we were wishing we had driven.

All 5 of us queued up at the Aquarium, and I purchased 2 tickets for my wife and youngest daughter. Leaving the ticket counter, we found ourselves inside the aquarium foyer, and we could have all wandered in to see the aquarium. We were feeling honest, so the remaining 3 of us headed to the exit, and went to explorer the tourist strip.

Our youngest daughter really enjoyed the Aquarium, and its a must see for the kids.

Cannery Row is lined with plenty of souvenir stores, restaurants, arts and crafts stores (we particularly liked the candle carving), and candy stores. This collection of 50 odd flavours of Saltwater Taffy was particularly impressive.

Reunited, we realised we'd unintentionally managed to go all day without lunch, and it was now getting dark, so we really had to find something. I remembered we'd passed a Mexican place on the way, so we headed back to El Torito. Its a pretty large place, but we still had to wait 15 minutes to get a table. The food was nothing spectacular, but we were all too hungry to notice. If you can get a table by the windows, the view across the bay is spectacular.