Finally...... a real trip away

This last weekend we finally made it for a desperately needed weekend getaway. Our dog sitter was nice enough to provide the woosie dog Atilla a warm place to stay while we were away... Thanks Kevin!

We set our sights on Monterey and headed down the freeway for warmer climates and oh yes.. it was warm. Saturday the weather was so nice... no wind, temperature in the 60's... yes... 60's in December........ah so nice. We checked in at our quaint little hotel, The Knights Inn, which had great reviews online and didn't look too bad. After entering the room it looked very nice, newly remodeled.. not bad at all............but.....

After checking in, we took a drive down the coast (Hwy 1) towards the Big Sur area and made a few stops along the way. The weather was perfect for taking pictures and we did........we took pictures... oh did we take pictures.

This photo is of the Bixby Bridge (built back in 1932) and of the coastline around the bridge. If you look carefully, you can see a home on the left near the point but what you cannot see is the wooden stairs that used to go down to the sea which appear to have been lost in a previous storm. Sorry but you couldn't have forced either of us down "those" stairs!

We continued south to Julia Pfeiffer State Park south of Big Sur and took in the sights and sounds of this waterfall that dumps into the ocean. By now it was approaching sunset and Chris was clicking away with her camera and caught these stunning photos. (I'm so proud)

Just as we were gathering to leave Chris told me to look behind me and wow, what a sight ... what a great finish to a beautiful day.

After the sun finally set we hopped back in the truck and headed north.. back to Monterey. If you have never been to Monterey, is partly a quaint city with great history along the bay and part tourist trap. It was founded back in the 1700's and since I could never do its' history justice, read all about it here:http://www.monterey.org/museum/history.html. The city has a beautiful shoreline with trails for walking and some great golf courses, most notably "Pebble Beach".

Saturday night was as not as much "fun" as the day had been. We found out that even though the room looked pretty decent, it let in all types of sounds which include the non-stop traffic and our neighbors. Most of the affordable hotels in Monterey are along a couple strips and are just above "dive" in quality and they all face the busy streets so you will have noise. Visiting in the winter in the best time in our opinion because not only is there less traffic, the hotels prices are 1/4 to 1/3 of the summer prices!! Oh yeah, back to our hotel..... The best part of the whole hotel.. was the floor! Yes.. the floor was the most entertaining thing. During the hotel remodeling they put in marble or marble-like tiling in the bathroom area. Invisible to our naked eye however, these tiles were cooled with 0 Kelvin cooling systems that made you either wear shoes or hop around like a idiot and since shoes would just be silly.......

Sunday rolled around after a long night in a noisy hotel and we hit the road again. Heading back South again on Hwy 1 we had to stop near Carmel (again a quaint little sea side town known best for architecture of local homes). But back to the story.... we had to stop at the Black Bear Diner for breakfast......if you have never been to one........ go there (enough said).

Sunday we stopped at Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and walked through the red woods and snapped a couple photos Pfeiffer waterfall. This is one of our favorites from the location.

Our last stop before heading home was a quick visit to Point Lobos State Preserve. This area along the coast was set aside back in the early 1900's due in part to its' unique trees, the Monterey Cypress, found nowhere else in the world. The preserve is as much an underwater preserve as well, popular for scuba divers and other recreationalists. My favorite part is the rocks on the West end of the park where the seals hang out and bark like my dog Atilla!!! he he he

Happy Tripping!!!!