Sept 19th
Another gorgeous day! No clouds and it’s expected to get up
to 85. A working day for me. After spending the morning getting our photos
arranged and uploaded I put in two hours on the blog. Next was a good wash for the car and vacuum inside, wash the
bikes and get them set up for riding and a little tlc for the coach. Tina spent
the morning relaxing with her book while I was outside. There’s not much else
to do at this particular RV Park.
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| The Start of 17 Mile Drive - Shepherd's Knoll |
Around 2:00 PM, when I came in and took a quick shower, we
decided to take a drive and visit the Monarch Butterfly Research Station in
Pacific Grove. So we grabbed the dogs and their leashes and left for the
afternoon. Tina had been online and decided to get to Pacific Grove (just west
of Monterey) by taking the 17 Mile Drive, a privately owned road (Pebble Beach
Corporation) that winds through the Monterey Peninsula.
Basically a loop road running
between Carmel and Pacific Grove, 17 Mile Drive is one of the best know things
to do in this area. We made our entrance just north of Carmel at the junction
of Hwy 1 and Hwy 68. About a mile from Hwy 1 we came to an entrance gate where
we paid an entrance fee and received a map of the area and guide book showing
21 points of interest ranging from a sweeping view of Monterey Bay from
Shephard’s Knoll to the Lodge at Pebble Beach.
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| Headed for the Monarch Grove |
Our drive took us along the inner,
wooded portion of the drive through many private communities and past several
golf courses. We exited near the lighthouse at Monterey Bay in Pacific Grove.
With Tina navigating we found the Monarch Grove Sanctuary (http://www.ci.pg.ca.us/monarchs/default.htm)
and parked in the shade, no dogs allowed. The grove of large Cyprus trees is
home to over 25,000 Monarch Butterflys while they overwinter on their journey
from Mexico into central and northern US and back again. Unfortunately we are
too early by about a month and the sanctuary was closed to the public.
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| Downtown Pacific Grove |
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| Looking towards Monterey |
Darn! Okay, well since we’re in
PG, let’s drive through town and work our way down to the shoreline drive. PG
has created a continuous bicycle/walkway, basically a strip park along the
shore that wraps around the entire water side of the city and is accessible at
numerous points. We parked at the eastern end of the park and took the dogs out
for a walk. Tina took some pictures then we continued west along the shoreline
and around the point until we picked up the next leg of the 17 Mile Drive.
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| This is Seal Rock - Home to Sea Lions, Harbor Seals and all maner of sea birds |
We actually made about 15
different pullouts to stop and take photos, this is a very rugged and beautiful
shoreline with lots of wildlife. One of our stops was at Seal Rock, home to a
huge population of California Sea Lions and Harbor Seals. Located about a
quarter mile off shore, seal Rock rises about 75 feet above the sea and was
covered all the way to the top with these large animals. The sound of that many
seals congregated in such a small area was truly loud.
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| Capturing photos of Sea Otters |
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| This is really relaxed dining! |
Right next to Seal Rock was Bird
Rock, a smaller version of volcanic stone that is home to large populations of
Cormorants, Gulls and Brown Pellicans. And yes, they are noisy too. While we
were watching the sea lions splash about in the water just off Seal Rock, Tina
spotted some sea otters cavorting in the water just off shore. We took our time
and climbed down over the rocks from the parking area to the beach to get
closer. The otters were probably less than 100 feet from us. We stood there and
watched them for half an hour as they would disappear from the surface, go to
the bottom for a bite to eat, return to the surface, roll over on their backs
and daintily devour their snack.
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| One of the Holes at Pebble Beach |
Returning to the car we were back on route passing Spyglass
Hill Golf Course, and another half dozen unique points of interest including the
famous Pebble Beach Golf Course. By now it was starting to get late. We
continued to the end of the drive and exited into the north side of Carmel a
block away from where we had been three days ago. Deciding to stop for dinner
we went into town and parked just off Ocean Blvd and walked to Le St Tropes, a
marvelous little French Café (http://www.lesttropez.com/).
Tina started with a fresh watermelon salad while I had a
Caesar Salad. This was followed by a Veal
Osso Buco (Brazed Veal Shank) on a bed of Risotto with steamed vegetables for
Tina while I had Blue Crab and Spinach on Linguine with Pesto sauce. Wow! The
presentations were stunning and the food delicious! We were too full for desert
but would recommend the place to anyone.
By now its after 7:00 PM and the kids haven’t had their
dinner so we headed home and got there in fifteen minutes flat. With the kids fed and
walked Tina set to with the cameras to download and edit photos while I read
and watched tv. Another great day on the road with Mike and Tina!
To see all our photos go to:
http://picasaweb.google.com/mjdolanski
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