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| "I see sparkly stuff" was the cry from the passenger seat, and so we stopped in Felton. First was a little gem shop filled with bargains, and the sparkly shop had lots of 'mystical' type stuff in it. We were there for a wee while, checking out the shiny things. Santana convinced the owner to take a trip to Wolf Mountain someday too. We carried on our journey towards Monterey (and the Lighthouse) and hit the coast road at Santa Cruz. Relatively uneventful coastal journey till we reached Monterey and Pacific Grove in the evening. |
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| We Stopped at the sea-side where Suzanne and Santana made some colourful art from bits of plant-life and things that were on the rocks. I found hundereds of hermit crabs and other wildlife in pools after scaling some rocks. We hung about enjoying the ocean until the sun dropped down behind the horizon. Then we went to look for somewhere to rest our weary heads. |
| Monterey proved to be a bit pricey for a couple of beds, but after some enquiries and passing by Pebble Beach, we ended up at the 'Carmel Mission Inn' about 10 minutes before the kitchens closed. Dinner was OK, but the long day meant that we never hung about too long so went up to bed straight after. We had breakfast overlooking the pool, and then set off for a little look at Carmel. Suzanne was Clint spotting and I was Doris spotting (we both knew the odds were well stacked against us). First stop though was the Mission San Carlos. |
| It was quite interesting to see, some of the old relics, hand-crafted cloth and glass etc. Inside the courtyard they had various types of trees and plantlife, lemons, pears, bamboo(!). The sun made it better I think as everything looked and smelled fresh and sweet. Strangely with all the tourists about, it is also a working school, and had we wanted we could have gatecrashed a geography lesson or two. We spent a good couple of hours there, but we felt it only proper that we have a good look at Carmel the town, so got back in the car and moved on. |
| Carmel is a quaint little place, with lots of unique shops which draw on various cultures for inspiration and sales opportunities. The sweetie shop for example were importers of 'finest English chocolate'. There was a Scottish store too, and lots of designer clothes type places. Suzanne managed to get a fantastic hat from a cool hat-shop. I resisted the temptation to buy a stetson.There is a shopping centre / mall too, with a Saks Fifth Avenue and places of that nature. Suzanne got a lovely little embroidered cardi and Santana did her bit for bird kind by helping to try to get a hummingbird out from a store in which it was trapped. We walked past Cypress Inn (co-owned by Miss Day) which was as close as I got to her. Three hours after we parked, we left again to re-join the coast road towards Big Sur and Cambria. |