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I just got back from spending New Year's Weekend in Monterey with Michelle. It was a wonderful trip. We drove up Saturday, and stopped in Morro Bay to have a picnic lunch and look at the eponymous rock. We got into Monterey in the early evening, just as it was getting dark. We were staying in the Pacific Grove Inn, which is a cute little bed & breakfast in Pacific Grove about a mile from the Monterey Aquarium. That night we had a good dinner at Passionfish, where I particularly liked the pear bread pudding dessert. They also had a very nice wine list, we had French Viogner "Cave des Chante-Perdix". It was a short walk through downtown Pacific Grove, which was fun because the Christmas lights were all still up.
On Sunday we got up for the breakfast, which very reasonably lasted until 10 AM. Then we walked down along the coast trail to the aquarium, stopping to go out to Lovers' Point, which was right where our street met the trail. We saw lots of neat stuff at the aquarium, I think my favorite exhibit was the jellyfish, although the sea otters and the great white shark were also both quite neat. We had split some Thai soup for lunch, then walked back, stopping to mess about with some tide pools. They didn't have a wide variety of life, but they were filled with hermit crabs. After relaxing some, we had tea at 4. We tried to go see the monarch butterflies in a preserve they have, but it wasn't a very impressive preserve and had no butterflies.
For dinner, we drove down to a restaurant on the harbor called Fresh Cream. We had a bit of an adventure getting there because of the First Night celebratory traffic. However, it was well worth it. The view out over the harbor was nice, the service was excellent, and the food was superb. Michelle had local crabcakes and a fillet minion with portabella mushrooms, I had lobster bisque and an amazing rack of lamb with a mustard coating that was almost like a light breading. We split a plate of truffle mashed potatoes and a bottle of Shiraz. Dessert was wonderful, we had an apple tart with a beautiful spread of sauces around it, some hard-glazed strawberries, and the "sac au chocolat" which was a hard chocolate shell in the form of a shopping bag with a delicious mocha milkshake inside. After dinner we walked around the pier a bit before driving back to the hotel and staying up to toast the new year with Rose Sauvage champagne.
Today, we went to George Washington park, where there were a ton of butterflies. Then we had a nice drive down Route 1, stopping at the scenic outlooks and Big Sur national park. We had lunch in tiny Lucia, in a little inn with a great view of the Pacific.
On Sunday we got up for the breakfast, which very reasonably lasted until 10 AM. Then we walked down along the coast trail to the aquarium, stopping to go out to Lovers' Point, which was right where our street met the trail. We saw lots of neat stuff at the aquarium, I think my favorite exhibit was the jellyfish, although the sea otters and the great white shark were also both quite neat. We had split some Thai soup for lunch, then walked back, stopping to mess about with some tide pools. They didn't have a wide variety of life, but they were filled with hermit crabs. After relaxing some, we had tea at 4. We tried to go see the monarch butterflies in a preserve they have, but it wasn't a very impressive preserve and had no butterflies.
For dinner, we drove down to a restaurant on the harbor called Fresh Cream. We had a bit of an adventure getting there because of the First Night celebratory traffic. However, it was well worth it. The view out over the harbor was nice, the service was excellent, and the food was superb. Michelle had local crabcakes and a fillet minion with portabella mushrooms, I had lobster bisque and an amazing rack of lamb with a mustard coating that was almost like a light breading. We split a plate of truffle mashed potatoes and a bottle of Shiraz. Dessert was wonderful, we had an apple tart with a beautiful spread of sauces around it, some hard-glazed strawberries, and the "sac au chocolat" which was a hard chocolate shell in the form of a shopping bag with a delicious mocha milkshake inside. After dinner we walked around the pier a bit before driving back to the hotel and staying up to toast the new year with Rose Sauvage champagne.
Today, we went to George Washington park, where there were a ton of butterflies. Then we had a nice drive down Route 1, stopping at the scenic outlooks and Big Sur national park. We had lunch in tiny Lucia, in a little inn with a great view of the Pacific.