Pebble Beach, Monterey

We were leaving San Francisco after breakfast and as luck would have it it was finally a beautiful day. We headed out on Highway 1 to our next destination which was Pebble Beach Golf Course near Monterey.

The drive is famously scenic, and just south of San Francisco we saw some beautiful coastal spots with high ochre cliffs and perfect beaches with white sand (see extra photo) I have been amazed at the bird life in California. This morning before leaving San Francisco I saw crested egrets, herons and even a hummingbird, the first time I have seen one. On the drive down we saw large colonies of brown Pelicans, Western gulls, and terns. The Pelicans were a treat to see.

Some parts of the journey were quite unattractive with the main road going through a boring outlet clustered with McDonalds, Burger King, donut shops and generally unhealthy take away venues. By necessity I got a coffee from Starbucks which I dislike intensely as their coffee is either watery or burnt or both! I enjoyed seeing the vast fields of fruit and vegetables and as the fruit pickers were bent over at work I was reminded of scenes from John Steinbeck's books. I saw artichoke fields for the first time, and the workers were hard at work picking the artichokes.

We got to Monterey at lunch time and went to Cannery Row. Being John Steinbeck country there is a statue erected to this great author in the centre of the town. We chose a seaside restaurant which had fabulous food and while we are there were whales playing in the bay outside. It was quite magical!

One of the treats of this trip is a round of golf at Pebble Beach for the boys and so we are staying there for 2 nights.  To get there we did the famous 17 mile drive which hugs the coastal road and had spectacular scenery of cliffs going into the sea, cypress trees hanging on to the cliff edge and sparkling blue water. Although it was sunny the fog was rolling in off the sea giving it an atmospheric feel. This made it quite cold and I am left wondering where the hot Californian climate is as I have not felt it yet!

Pebble Beach is rather special and the boys are looking forward to their round of golf tomorrow.

We decided not to eat supper at the lodge but instead went to a restaurant on a ranch that was owned by Clint Eastwood. As we have now come to expect, they do not take reservations and there was an hour's wait for a table! We drove around the town of Carmel-on-the-sea while waiting for our table. This town had Clint Eastwood as its mayor from 1986-88. Carmel is the most charming town I have ever seen, a little gem that is well worth a visit. It had some quaint laws like no high heels, no eating ice cream in public, no chain restaurants and no street addresses. The houses were all unique and exceptionally beautiful, some with wooden tiles that look like something out of The Hobbit.

After golf tomorrow we plan to go back to explore Carmel further and in the evening we are meeting up with Gavin's brother and his family who have come down from their home in Toronto to holiday in California.

This is a view of Pebble Beach and you can see the fog starting to roll in over the hills. I have added another photo of the famous lone Cypress tree on the 17 mile drive - it is over 250 years old and has survived many storms. It was almost shrouded in fog that came in off the sea.