Animal magic

We are getting later and later risers, 8am for breakfast this morning. It was basically bread, boiled eggs, fruit, cheese and meat. And watery porridge which I had. Ian went for the full German. 


We layered up, because to be honest it's been a bit chilly so far, and took a walk around the Monterey Historic State Park. Handily our hotel was in it! We followed plaques set into the pavement which led us around all the buildings that were around when Monterey was capital of California.

We arrived back at the hotel and jumped in the car for a trip around 17mile drive. We stopped off to just look at the sea a couple of times en route, then at lovers point where we lunched outside a cafe with the best view. 

17mile drive is a private road around Monterey peninsula where it's hard to choose whether to look at the sea or the houses, some of which are literally palaces. We stopped off loads of times to watch the waves. We also spotted seals and sea lions, a vulture, ground squirrels, and spent ages looking at a clump of seaweed trying to decide if it was a sea otter. Surprisingly it was really quiet with plenty of spaces for us to park whenever we wanted. 

We then carried on past Clint Eastwoods town, Carmel, to point Lobos national Park.  This was another promontory with lots of little trails around the coast. We were looking down into acive when we spotted two sea otters (definitely this time) really close up, laying on their backs bashing shells with a rock! It was amazing, they were so cute and playful. We also saw seals and sea lions again, a quail chasing a rabbit, deer, a vole, ground squirrels, a lizard, and a big fat caterpillar. 

Back at the hotel we freshened up and strolled across to fishermans wharf for dinner, choosing a restaurant right on the end with great views over the bay. We had swordfish, sand dabs and rockfish between us. As the sun set the sea otters came out to play in the harbour, there were loads of them. It was a magical end to a wonderful day. 

Hotel watch

I had a bath today which was very pleasant. Breakfast was ok, not brilliant. The room was good and the hotel in a great location. Better value for money than San Fran. So 6/10

Song for the day

Seaside - the kooks