Monterey, CA
Saturday morning, we left Merced heading for Monterey. The Merced Best Western is used as a jumping off place for Yosemite, so there were a lot of families in the parking lot heading for the hills. We instead drove south to La Grange where we stopped at our favorite pistachio farm - Buchanan Hollow, to pick up some pistachios. It's not far from Merced and a short drive through lots of nut tree farms - almond, pistachio, and walnut - just wish I knew how to tell the difference.
Continued our drive on back roads through the San Joaquin Valley and had breakfast at Eddie's Cafe in Los Banos. Great small town restaurant with excellent food. Leaving Los Banos (I think I have explained the name origin in previous blogs, but essentially it comes from the fact that there used to be a hot spring there, hence the name The Bath). In today's vernacular, los banos means the bathroom, so it's not a fun name for a place where you want to live :-).
The closest we came to an interstate was when we crossed I-5 and climbed into the coastal range, past San Luis Reservoir and into the San Juan valley. Along the way in both valleys were numerous farms with crops in various stages - from being plowed and tilled to harvesting. Our pet peeve is that the fields are not identified - good project for the FFA or 4H! The only crop which has a sign that we continually see in the valley on our travels is Cilantro. We plan on stopping at one of the farm stands on our way back - prices are way better than back home.
Ran into some traffic between Hollister and Rte 101, but it kind of smoothed out when we turned off on CA 1 which runs into Monterey along the coastline. We were down to the last disc on our audio book so the timing was perfect. With a short detour to Walmart in Marina, CA, we finished the disc as we drove into Monterey.
Met Paul at the entrance to Herrmann (no, I didn't add extra consonants to that name). On our previous blogs, I have talked about the US Navy taking over the old Del Monte resort prior to WWII. The Navy gets some things done well. Beautiful facility and it's used as the Navy's Post Graduate Institute. Paul teaches there, hence our trip over. Several years ago we finally came to the realization that our wedding anniversaries are a week apart in July and ever since we have celebrated our anniversaries together in Monterey. Why not when the temperature as we arrived was in the mid-60's, having left 100 in the San Joaquin Valley and Reno. That marine layer does a good job of keeping the temperature cool.
Perhaps in the next day or so, I'll send some pictures of the Navy facility. Suffice it to say for now that it is a beautiful old building with great facilities. It's now part of the Navy Inns and Gateway Suites and one of the best facilities we have had the privilege of staying in. Paul was going to pick up Sandy as we checked in. They had invited us to join them on Saturday evening at a bar-b-que at one of his co-workers home in the Monterey hills. Beautiful home in the hills with sweeping views of the countryside no matter which way you looked. One way you looked out at Monterey Bay, another way into the Salinas valley, and the third was looking into the hills behind the home. I took a photo of Vi and Sandy on the patio.
Great evening with lots of good food, excellent wine, and friendly conversation. It was good to meet the varied group of people with whom Paul shares his time in Monterey. Many of us have long careers in the military (most of them in the Navy) and thus have common bonds even though our backgrounds are very different.
Sunday Paul and I are going to play golf at Corral de Tierra (www.corraldetierra.com) which is supposed to be a great little course. Vi and Sandy are going to check out the local area. More on the Navy facility and our Sunday adventures when next I write.
Continued our drive on back roads through the San Joaquin Valley and had breakfast at Eddie's Cafe in Los Banos. Great small town restaurant with excellent food. Leaving Los Banos (I think I have explained the name origin in previous blogs, but essentially it comes from the fact that there used to be a hot spring there, hence the name The Bath). In today's vernacular, los banos means the bathroom, so it's not a fun name for a place where you want to live :-).
The closest we came to an interstate was when we crossed I-5 and climbed into the coastal range, past San Luis Reservoir and into the San Juan valley. Along the way in both valleys were numerous farms with crops in various stages - from being plowed and tilled to harvesting. Our pet peeve is that the fields are not identified - good project for the FFA or 4H! The only crop which has a sign that we continually see in the valley on our travels is Cilantro. We plan on stopping at one of the farm stands on our way back - prices are way better than back home.
Ran into some traffic between Hollister and Rte 101, but it kind of smoothed out when we turned off on CA 1 which runs into Monterey along the coastline. We were down to the last disc on our audio book so the timing was perfect. With a short detour to Walmart in Marina, CA, we finished the disc as we drove into Monterey.
Met Paul at the entrance to Herrmann (no, I didn't add extra consonants to that name). On our previous blogs, I have talked about the US Navy taking over the old Del Monte resort prior to WWII. The Navy gets some things done well. Beautiful facility and it's used as the Navy's Post Graduate Institute. Paul teaches there, hence our trip over. Several years ago we finally came to the realization that our wedding anniversaries are a week apart in July and ever since we have celebrated our anniversaries together in Monterey. Why not when the temperature as we arrived was in the mid-60's, having left 100 in the San Joaquin Valley and Reno. That marine layer does a good job of keeping the temperature cool.
Perhaps in the next day or so, I'll send some pictures of the Navy facility. Suffice it to say for now that it is a beautiful old building with great facilities. It's now part of the Navy Inns and Gateway Suites and one of the best facilities we have had the privilege of staying in. Paul was going to pick up Sandy as we checked in. They had invited us to join them on Saturday evening at a bar-b-que at one of his co-workers home in the Monterey hills. Beautiful home in the hills with sweeping views of the countryside no matter which way you looked. One way you looked out at Monterey Bay, another way into the Salinas valley, and the third was looking into the hills behind the home. I took a photo of Vi and Sandy on the patio.
Great evening with lots of good food, excellent wine, and friendly conversation. It was good to meet the varied group of people with whom Paul shares his time in Monterey. Many of us have long careers in the military (most of them in the Navy) and thus have common bonds even though our backgrounds are very different.
Sunday Paul and I are going to play golf at Corral de Tierra (www.corraldetierra.com) which is supposed to be a great little course. Vi and Sandy are going to check out the local area. More on the Navy facility and our Sunday adventures when next I write.
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