Day 7: money money money, must be funny in a rich man’s world

We woke up by 7 and spent a bit of time mapping out our day. After a while we got hungry so we cleaned up and went to hit up the continental breakfast our motel promised us. Oh the choices!! A whopping coffee or tea ಠ_ಠ

So we desperately went seeking for a breakfast place. On our way, we drove by a Tesla dealership, so obviously we had to stop, especially considering Justin was drooling over the newly announced Roadster that earlier in the morning. Unfortunately there were no Model 3s, let alone Roadsters on site, so I made do with the children’s Tesla car they have for $800. This car has an aux plug in, a battery, lights, turn signals, 2 speed settings; the whole shebang. I, obviously, couldn’t resist climbing into small spaces so I got in. Good times.

We continued our way downtown Monterey to find food and Justin led us to a Parisian bakery. We grabbed a quiche and a sandwich to go and wandered up the fisherman’s wharf. This one was all commercial wholesale and floating dead jellyfish. The sea lions were going mad, people were fishing, and the seagulls were ruthless. We walked by a breakfast place with a patio where a guy was sitting with, I kid you not, a pancake the size of a Large pizza (it was overhanging a regular dinner plate) and was about an inch thick with a cube of butter on top.

We then found the OLD fisherman’s wharf which was the touristy side with a gazillion shops and restaurants. It was absolutely buzzing but we noticed the restaurants had signs saying no strollers, no booster chairs, no high chairs, and went on about how children are disruptive to other guests so they’re not allowed on the premises! We’ve never seen anything like it! And they were situated BESIDE A GIANT CANDY STORE. And it wasn’t just one restaurant!

We drooled over all the fresh seafood but with bellies full and it being 10am, it was a little early.

We figured we can put a check mark for having walking the Cannery Row - what this city is notorious for (it’s the oldest settlement on the west coast and is where the Spanish landed in 1602? Or whatever year. It has the FIRST government house and is where the state formed. The cannery row is where the fisherman made their living and this turned into the sardine capital of the world until they fished the ocean dry. It has since been restored but that’s how the street got its name.

Turns out what we thought was the cannery row was the old fisherman’s wharf so we were sad we were leaving the city without seeing the main attraction. We were out of time for more downtown sight seeing as we wanted to hit the 17 mile drive - one of the most scenic drives in the world through Pebble Beach in a prestigious gated community with one of the hardest golf courses in the world. Justin was in heaven and we had to stop to eat and have a drink at the Lodge overseeing the 18h hole. There was a competition going on so it was quite active and definitely something to see.

We continued on with an hour left until sunset so we stopped at the beach in Carmel-by-the-Sea, the most ideal spot to watch the sunset. Just the water and the horizon. It took SECONDS to see the sun disappear, it was unreal.

There was a couple with a border collie watching the sunset so I threw the stick for him. So cute! The owner laughed when the dog lay down and I said “we both know you’re not actually tired”. He barked in reply and threw the stick at me. He literally threw it at me with his mouth.

The drive to Big Sur is supposed to be the highlight of the pacific highway so driving it in the dark wasn’t an option. Carmel hotels were $400 by the prestigious gated community, so we double backed 15 min to Monterey and stayed at a motel on Cannery Row! We spent the evening eating sushi and bar hopping. We ended at Sly McFly’s listening to a Ray Charles look alike and his incredible band. People were dancing and it was quite a sport people watching. We had a few rounds before we headed home and sat by the fireplace in our room.