Pacific Grove, California

Pacific Grove is basically a continuation of Monterey on the Monterey Peninsula. The Monterey Bay Coastal Trail follows the coastline to Lover's Point Beach. The Harbor Seal Observation Area, which I included in my previous post, is in Pacific Grove. Between the observation area and the Monterey Bay Aquarium is the Hopkins Marine Station. This is the marine laboratory of Stanford University, named after Timothy Hopkins who founded the city of Palo Alto and was a supporter of Stanford University. As you continue along the trail there is so much beauty, wildlife statues and spots to stop and admire the view.

  

                                                               

The Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary at 250 Ridge Rd. is a special place. The butterflies migrate here around October and stay until March. It is such a thrill to see so many butterflies fluttering in the air and covering trees. The sanctuary is run by volunteers from the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. There is no charge to visit but donations are accepted. There is a short path to walk through the sanctuary which I did but mostly I just stood and watched. The trees became alive in a mesmerizing way. The butterflies massed in trees, giant clusters of color with the movement of their wings creating undulating shapes. It was a marvelous and wondrous sight.

 

When you leave the Butterfly Sanctuary, if you turn left onto Lighthouse Ave. and continue towards the ocean you will get to Point Pinos Lighthouse. It is the oldest continuously operating lighthouse on the west coast of the United States. I cannot tell you much because unfortunately when we were there it was closed. There is a gate and it was locked. I love lighthouses so this was a disappointment.

Moving on from the lighthouse, if you follow Ocean View Blvd. to the tip of the Monterey Peninsula, you will see a turnoff to the John Denver Memorial. He died in 1997 when the plane he was piloting crashed into Monterey Bay. 

17 Mile Drive is a scenic road that goes through Pacific Grove, cuts over to the coast and follows the coast to Carmel. There is a fee to travel on this road. It has five entrance gates, one being off of Lighthouse Ave. in Pacific Grove. The famous Pebble Beach Golf Course is one of the points of interest along this road. There are many scenic pull-offs where you can stop and admire the view. There is also a residential area.

Bird Rock

           

      

                                        

In conclusion, Pacific Grove is an interesting place with abundant beauty and so much to see. I had the good fortune to experience this area for 3 months. This post covers a small part of the sites to see. Stay tuned for the next post which will go a little more into living in Pacific Grove.

 

Monterey Bay, California Part 2

Coastal Trail, Cannery Row, Old Fisherman's Wharf

In the first part of this series on Monterey Bay, the subject was the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I would like to add one more bit about the aquarium. I mentioned the sea otters that you can spot in the water of the bay from the outside deck. But there are also sea otters inside the aquarium. There is a show a few times a day where the caretakers play with the otters. It is fun to watch.

When you leave the aquarium, turn right and go a few blocks on the Monterey Bay Coastal Trail and you will come to the Harbor Seal Observation Area. There is a chain link fence and if you look down at the beach you will see many, many harbor seals lying there. It is quite a sight. As we stood there viewing them a man on a bike came by and asked if anyone had questions about the seals. They actually have a Facebook Page - The Harbor Seals of Pacific Grove. They are protected by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the City of Pacific Grove. They even have certain restrictions during pupping season. They are nocturnal creatures, sleeping on the beach during the day, making for excellent viewing opportunities. 

The coastal trail runs through Pacific Grove with some nice viewing areas and parks along the way. If you travel in the other direction from the aquarium, into Monterey, Cannery Row is along the coast and the trail actually is on the inland side of it until the end of Cannery Row. Then it is along the coast again. The trail is 18 miles long from Pacific Grove to Castroville but I did not explore the whole length. In fact I only walked through Pacific Grove and to the end of Cannery Row in Monterey. But you can't beat it if you like to be near the ocean.

  

     

If you want more than nature and the outdoors, Cannery Row has shops and restaurants. It can get very busy on weekends. It is a cool place to visit just because of it's history and location. It is on the to-do list if you visit Monterey.

Next up is Old Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey. There is a good choice of restaurants with some great seafood. There are also other shops and of course a great view. It is nice to go there for an afternoon to have a meal, walk the wharf and take in the sea breeze. Below is a photo of the delicious food we had on our visit there.

              

There is so much to see and do in this region of California. I only covered the main areas.

Next time we will venture into Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach on the Monterey Peninsula. 

                    

     

Monterey Bay, California Part 1

I had the good fortune to visit this beautiful area of California for a few months in early 2023. It is at the top of my list of favorite places in the state of California.

We stayed in Pacific Grove, right at the Monterey city line. This area is very accessible by foot to the interesting places in that immediate area. 

#1 on the list is the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It sits at the one end of Cannery Row along Monterey Bay. I love this place! Since we would be there for about three months, we opted to get the membership since admission is a little pricey. By visiting multiple times it was a smart choice. You can see many strange and beautiful creatures up close. It was a great place to spend an afternoon and just roam through the many areas or just sit and watch. There is also a big deck area outside where you can spot the sea otters. 

Here are some of the beautiful and interesting creatures you can see there.

  

                                

   

   

                             

  

                                                                 

                                   

There is an area when you first enter the aquarium that tells the history of Hovden Cannery, which was the largest sardine cannery on Cannery Row. The aquarium was built on the site of this cannery. There are pictures and videos plus displays of cans with products from the cannery. Also there was a small area mentioning John Steinbeck, author of the novel Cannery Row and his friend Ed Ricketts.

The aquarium's mission is conservation of the ocean and they work hard and get the message out with many exhibits and educational materials. If you are ever in Monterey, I highly recommend visiting the aquarium. You won't regret it.

Coming soon -Part 2. It will cover some other interesting places in the area. 

 

A Quick Side Trip to Daytona Beach, Florida

A Quick Side Trip to Daytona Beach, Florida

In this post I will talk about a quick two day trip to Daytona Beach. We stopped there before making our way to the west coast of Florida. The photo below is the sunrise from our hotel room balcony.

But I am getting ahead of myself. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Resort Daytona Beach Oceanfront. We were upgraded to a suite which included a kitchen with full refrigerator, stovetop and microwave. It also had a sofa bed and dining table and chairs. There was a balcony overlooking the pool area with an ocean view. The room was quite nice. 

The negatives , in my opinion - 

1) No complimentary breakfast (there was a restaurant attached to the hotel where you could buy breakfast).

2) No dishes, utensils, pot & pans, dish towels, etc. (anything you wanted for use in the kitchen had to be requested). I did ask for a sharp knife to cut a pineapple and was told that they did not have any for safety reasons. They suggested I go to the restaurant and ask. I did and was told they would ask the chef to cut it for us. We decided it would be less hassle to take it with us to our next destination.

There are tons of motels and hotels in the area so lots of choices.

We had dinner at Hull's Seafood Restaurant in Ormond Beach. It was excellent. Good food, good service. I had grilled wahoo, Cuban black beans and hush puppies (very good).

The beach is nice and clean, but the sand is very hard. You can drive your vehicle onto the beach. Since we were there in early March it was a little chilly. The water was a bit too cold for me. There were some kids going in but not many adults.

We took a trip to Deland to the Volusia County Flea Market/Farmers Market. They are open on Wednesdays. They had GREAT deals on produce. That is where we got the above mentioned pineapple as well as many other fruits and vegetables. The prices were unbelievable.

Something to keep in mind if you visit during the spring -

Bike week was beginning on the day we left

Spring break

These events can make a big difference depending on what you want to do.

Dream Trip - Galapagos Islands Part 6

This post will be the conclusion of the Galapagos Islands travel log. As I said before, it was a once in a lifetime trip to a very unique location. The whole experience was great. We experienced a culture a bit different from what we were used to, got to try a variety of foods including lots of fresh fish and seafood and had a truly relaxing vacation. Even though we visited many wonderful places around the island, it was at a nice leisurely pace with plenty of time to truly enjoy everything.