Our Day as a Couple
Cate again offered to take Alan for the day on Friday. Actually, she offered to take him for a couple of days, but we wanted to also spend a day with her and Jim. So, we took Alan to her on Friday morning. After hugging her, we left quite soon. She and Alan had plans to go to the Exploratorium in San Francisco.
Don and I took the highway through the mountains to the top of the Monterey peninsula. We were soon through the mountains, which reminded us both of British Columbia secondary roads. Most of it was a narrow, two-lane highway. I do not like sharp drops but I did enjoy the trees and some of the views.
The beach town of Capitola was the first stop. We bought coffees and went out onto the boardwalk by the restaurant to just sit in the pleasant sunshine and relax for a bit. The buildings beside the shore are painted in many different bright colors. They reminded me of photos I have seen of some European beachside buildings and some I have seen in Mexico in any town. We drove next down to Monterey. I was reminded of two friends, one an online friend of many years, who said she was in naval post-graduate school there. We passed by the school a couple of times. Hi, Tammy! Another friend, who I have met three or four times in real life but who I also know primarily through e-mail, said she grew up there. Hi, Terry! We strolled by the waterside and ate a delicious lunch in a floating restaurant many people must miss because there are steep stairs down to dockside. I do love to be by the water and love to watch the boats and people coming and going. Most of the boats were at anchor on a Friday. One woman came down and sat sunning herself on her boat, which is what I would do if I owned one and wasn't thinking of actually taking it out on the bay.
After lunch, we took the Seventeen Mile Drive toll road along the coast to Carmel. We had done this route once before in January in the fog and damp. It is spectacular in the sunshine. Don stopped a couple of times to admire the view. Golfers would love the area. Bill, Jim's brother, told me on Sunday that there are five courses there and he has had the experience of watching passing whales while he golfed. Probably those were grey whales migrating to and from Baja.
We parked in Carmel on a side street. Carmel is full of tourists' shops and galleries. We strolled around for a couple of hours, admiring things, but mostly not shopping. We just strolled by and in and out of some shops. I'm glad we stopped there. It is a pretty town, but now I have seen it. The time before, we just passed right on through, going on the hunt to find the monarch butterflies we know winter there in the trees. We didn't see any in the dense fog. Some monarchs overwinter nearer to our home and this winter I think I will try to go see them when it is a partly sunny day.
We decided to drive back to Monterey to Cannery Row. We parked the car and walked up through cannery row to a beachside spot. We were fascinated to see sea lions in the bay doing what Don called porpoising. They would go by in lines, leaping out of the water and breathing and then back down, over and over. I think they were chasing dinner. We watched them for quite a while. Neither of us felt hungry. We talked about going back up the coast but I did not want to go back through the mountains in the dark. We cut back to the 101 freeway, watching out for that 55 mph stretch around Salinas, staying in the slow lane. We didn't want to get picked off again for exceeding the speed limit, although the traffic was passing us by.
Once we got back to San Carlos, we talked with Cate and Alan who had had a lovely time at the Exploratorium and eaten a late lunch. Then Cate took Alan to shop for his preferred supper foods at Whole Foods. He was having a great time. Since Jim was working overnight, we felt fine about leaving Alan with Cate. Don and I went to supper at Izzy's which was crowded with noisy people. It is a Zagat rated restaurant with good food. It was also convenient because we simply walked across the parking lot to get to it. It was a good end to a fun day for us. We like to remember that we are a couple and it was kind of Cate to give us this time.
Cate again offered to take Alan for the day on Friday. Actually, she offered to take him for a couple of days, but we wanted to also spend a day with her and Jim. So, we took Alan to her on Friday morning. After hugging her, we left quite soon. She and Alan had plans to go to the Exploratorium in San Francisco.
Don and I took the highway through the mountains to the top of the Monterey peninsula. We were soon through the mountains, which reminded us both of British Columbia secondary roads. Most of it was a narrow, two-lane highway. I do not like sharp drops but I did enjoy the trees and some of the views.
The beach town of Capitola was the first stop. We bought coffees and went out onto the boardwalk by the restaurant to just sit in the pleasant sunshine and relax for a bit. The buildings beside the shore are painted in many different bright colors. They reminded me of photos I have seen of some European beachside buildings and some I have seen in Mexico in any town. We drove next down to Monterey. I was reminded of two friends, one an online friend of many years, who said she was in naval post-graduate school there. We passed by the school a couple of times. Hi, Tammy! Another friend, who I have met three or four times in real life but who I also know primarily through e-mail, said she grew up there. Hi, Terry! We strolled by the waterside and ate a delicious lunch in a floating restaurant many people must miss because there are steep stairs down to dockside. I do love to be by the water and love to watch the boats and people coming and going. Most of the boats were at anchor on a Friday. One woman came down and sat sunning herself on her boat, which is what I would do if I owned one and wasn't thinking of actually taking it out on the bay.
After lunch, we took the Seventeen Mile Drive toll road along the coast to Carmel. We had done this route once before in January in the fog and damp. It is spectacular in the sunshine. Don stopped a couple of times to admire the view. Golfers would love the area. Bill, Jim's brother, told me on Sunday that there are five courses there and he has had the experience of watching passing whales while he golfed. Probably those were grey whales migrating to and from Baja.
We parked in Carmel on a side street. Carmel is full of tourists' shops and galleries. We strolled around for a couple of hours, admiring things, but mostly not shopping. We just strolled by and in and out of some shops. I'm glad we stopped there. It is a pretty town, but now I have seen it. The time before, we just passed right on through, going on the hunt to find the monarch butterflies we know winter there in the trees. We didn't see any in the dense fog. Some monarchs overwinter nearer to our home and this winter I think I will try to go see them when it is a partly sunny day.
We decided to drive back to Monterey to Cannery Row. We parked the car and walked up through cannery row to a beachside spot. We were fascinated to see sea lions in the bay doing what Don called porpoising. They would go by in lines, leaping out of the water and breathing and then back down, over and over. I think they were chasing dinner. We watched them for quite a while. Neither of us felt hungry. We talked about going back up the coast but I did not want to go back through the mountains in the dark. We cut back to the 101 freeway, watching out for that 55 mph stretch around Salinas, staying in the slow lane. We didn't want to get picked off again for exceeding the speed limit, although the traffic was passing us by.
Once we got back to San Carlos, we talked with Cate and Alan who had had a lovely time at the Exploratorium and eaten a late lunch. Then Cate took Alan to shop for his preferred supper foods at Whole Foods. He was having a great time. Since Jim was working overnight, we felt fine about leaving Alan with Cate. Don and I went to supper at Izzy's which was crowded with noisy people. It is a Zagat rated restaurant with good food. It was also convenient because we simply walked across the parking lot to get to it. It was a good end to a fun day for us. We like to remember that we are a couple and it was kind of Cate to give us this time.
posted by Mary at 8:33 PM
2 Comments:
Sounds wonderful. And would beat the heck out of the cold, rainy day we're having.
Hi, Mary, Monterey is beautiful. You passed by the house we rented too. We lived on Sunset Drive, right off of Seventeen Mile Drive. The area has bittersweet memories though because that is where we lived when we started getting Pamela diagnosed. We read books by Temple Grandin and Charles Hart and getting frantic about the future.
Post a Comment
<< Home