A Baltimore Visitor

One thing that is really wonderful about moving to California is that people want to come visit me here!

My most recent visitor is ex-Neighbor K.  Here’s a fun fact:  Remember ex-Neighbor C?  Neighbor K and Neighbor C are best friends from high school and were roommates on my old street in Baltimore.  They were trying to plan a trip together, but the timing just didn’t work out.  On the one hand I’m sad because I know that the three of us would have had a terrific time together, but selfishly I’m also kind of glad that I got to have two weekends of fun instead of just one!

Neighbor K. And yes, I do only have gorgeous friends!

Monterey

Neighbor K kindly agreed to go someplace other than Napa since I had just been there.  We decided to check out Monterey and Santa Cruz.

To be honest, I’m not sure if we really saw the best of Monterey.  Our strategy was just to wing it and trust that the Visitor Center would be able to direct us.  That strategy worked great when Neighbor C and I went to Napa (and it also worked great in Santa Cruz, but that’s a post for another day).  The Monterey Visitor Center helped us find a hotel room for the night, but beyond that they simply directed us to Cannery Row and the Aquarium.

Cannery Row

Cannery Row is full of souvenir shops, ice cream parlors, and other touristy stuff.  We wandered along the Row and along the waterfront.

These seals were fun:

And the shore was pretty:

And Neighbor K cracks me up:

…but beyond that I didn’t see Monterey as the kind of place I’d return to again and again.

Later that night a wonderful taxi driver gave us a tour and directed us to the fun spots downtown.  We ended the night at the Brittania Arms with a crowd that got younger and younger as the night wore on.  Funny how that happens these days.  Hanging out with the locals and the Naval Postgraduate School students was the best part of the trip.

Next Up: Santa Cruz