In October we got together with Susie, Marla’s Delta Gamma pledge daughter from college, for a two night fun escape in Monterey and Carmel. It has been years since we’ve visited this area so we were excited to return! Our Northern California trip was one of connection with family, and friends.

On the way down we stopped for a fabulous lunch with college friends, Gretchen & Jim, at Steamers Grillhouse in Los Gatos.  

After checking in we settled into our rooms at the fabulous Monterey Plaza Hotel . Many of the rooms look out on picturesque Monterey Bay. The Monterey Plaza is a gem of a hotel and one I can totally recommend! The staff at every level is very friendly and accommodating. If Monterey is on your travel map, don’t look anywhere else!

On our first night we were invited for dinner at Jane and Roger’s, more friends from college. They have a beautiful home high in the hills in Carmel Valley. We love their collection of fascinating plein air paintings!

The cabinet displays some of Roger’s collection of 19th century bottles. Roger and his good friend Ric ignited my interest in digging up antique bottles from  Northern California when we were in college. We traveled throughout the Mother Load region looking  for historic treasure. It may have been mundane antique bottles and artifacts from old town dumps, but it was treasure to me. I felt like a poor man’s archaeologist!  The thrill of the hunt in those early days assisted me throughout my career at Wesco Fabrics. I am a “hunter-gatherer” at heart.

Jane set a very beautiful table!

Wonderful aromas emanated  from the kitchen while Roger cut the steak he had marinated for days. Roger left the pharmacy business then owned a few commercial fishing boats. He and Jane now own an assisted living facility.

Ric and Susie had plenty to talk about as it turned out they went to the same high school as well as  college Ric retired from dentistry and now follows his passion by selling and collecting antique books on California.

We had a blast with this totally fun group! Ric and Bengta live close by.

I sat on our deck at 7 AM with a coffee and the sounds of sea lions and shore birds. A few minutes later I yelled at Marla to come quickly to see a pod of whales in the distance.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a short walk from the hotel. We passed restored buildings on Cannery Row.

A statue of John Steinbeck is featured in a neighboring park by the water. I’ve loved everything he has ever written and “Cannery Row” is a favorite. 

“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses. Its inhabitant are, as the man once said, “whores, pimps, gamblers and sons of bitches,” by which he meant Everybody. Had the man looked through another peephole he might have said, “Saints and angels and martyrs and holymen” and he would have meant the same thing.” 
― John Steinbeck, Cannery Row

We walked by the old Pacific Biological Laboratories once owned by Steinbeck’s close friend, Ed “Doc” Ricketts. Doc was featured in “Cannery Row.” Tourists often walk oblivious by Doc Rickett’s lab . 

Picturesque ruins of an ancient sardine cannery.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is a must on any visit! They have done a marvelous job integrating architectural elements of the old sardine canneries.

Feeding time is a huge hit with the fish and visitors alike!

We loved watching this giant sea bass slowly swim around the kelp beds.

We had a wonderful day!

For our final dinner we chose Schooners Coastal Kitchen at our hotel for dinner. Superb in every way with sea otters playing nearby.

We awoke to a fabulous sunrise and a symphony of sea lions.

The drive on the famous “17 Mile Drive” to Carmel is spectacular. This is the Asilomar State Marine Reserve.

I had a flood of memories of coming here with my Mom and Dad years ago.

The iconic “Cypress Point Lookout” never fails to seduce you with the view.

I had to include this glamour shot of Marla!

Lunch at “La Bicyclette” in Carmel was great!

“Conway of Asia” is a treasure trove of fabulous Asian antiques we have visited many times in its 52 years.. 

Marla and Susie reflect on our Monterey and Carmel escape. It was wonderful to connect with old friends and rediscover this area of California together.

Photo credits: Dick Gentry