Monterey Bay

28 June 2014

This is going to be an exciting weekend! After weeks of slaving at work, it's time to call for a break. Today, we're heading south to Monterey Bay & Carmel. Enjoying the sunny weather with some gusty wind. Driving along the scenic 17 mile drive along the pacific coast. Excited! Excited! Excited!

First of all, indulge in a sugar rushed breakfast

Heading further south from San Francisco we passed through miles of rolling golden hills.

Unlike the hills back at home filled with trees and tall bushes, the hills here have hardly any trees. Even the grass covering the hills looked like someone had just mowed them perfectly.

We were driving for almost 2 hours and finally we reached Monterey Bay. The sun was shining bright but we were wrapped up from the cold chill from the bay.




Monterey Bay exudes a warm coastal charm. Walking down the iconic buildings in Cannery Row which was once filled with fishermen and canning workers during the boom of the fish canning industry dating back to the 1900s.

OK, to be honest, I thought the huge shoe was cute and took a picture with it. I wasn't even thinking why there's a Forrest Gump quote next to me. I was at Bubba Gump in Santa Monica beach but I didn't even bother about the "Run Forest Run" sign. Someone told me that a scene from Forrest Gump was shot in Bubba Gump. Curious to know the exact Bubba Gump location where Forrest Gump was shot, made a little research that led me to nowhere. That's when I found ... Forrest Gump was a THEME for Bubba Gump restaurants. Duhhhhh.... (well did ya'll learn something today?)

The center of the town lies a large fountain with statues depicting the lives of the town back in the 1900s

Flowers were in full bloom under the summer weather

I was particularly drawn towards this lovely shop. Look at those red bougainvilleas twining the shop just bursting with color!  

Here we are at the bay. Fishy smell filled the air. I was about to make a comment when Aunt Sharon said "Ahh...I love this smell!!!"

The bay was bursting with life! Harbour seals & whatever sea birds were seen basking under the sun. 

Read the sign

With the smell of the ocean, stomach started to growl longing for food.

Wasn't really "sea food" but I can't help that the pasta is bow shaped. 

The slight elevation of the restaurant gave a nice view of the beach. 

I was mesmerized by the multi colored waters. The darker spots are from the sea kelps rising from the sea bed. 

See?

Time to go...

So, we haven't reach the scenic 17 mile drive but the drive there was so scenic itself! I had to ask Uncle Stan to drop me off just to snap these beauties. Perhaps I had one too many shots (to be clear it's photo-related shots). Trust me, these are just a few of my favorites. I probably have a few hundred more. 

Remember those forwarded life quote messages where you read them when you were still young but now you just delete them cause you're really too old to be wasting your time reading them?

This bench reminds me of a picture used in one of the messages. 

Found another one and what better things to do than ...

.., to pose with it or if you'd like, sit & ponder at those life quotes from the forwarded message. 

Next up, we're so close...