Hottest!!!

Today was the most miserable day of all for most of the state. Fortunately, we spent most of the day in the car where the air conditioning was working perfectly. And when we were done with our trip, we were on the coast, in the fog. Yes! I have never been so happy to see fog.

Our day began again with George and Donna cooking us up another wonderful breakfast and then some sad goodbyes. Dan had left quite early in the morning because the air-conditioning in his truck has stopped working.

We only had to stop once or twice for gas or to stretch a bit. Even the dogs were eager to jump back in the car as soon as possible. It took us about four hours to finally make it to the coast. Our destination was the town of Pacific Grove, and we were paying a return visit to the Bide-a-Wee motel.

A lot had changed about this place since we were there many, many years ago. It has been completely renovated, and while all the plumbing and heating works now it has lost of bit of the funkiness that we liked. The grouchy white people who used to run it have apparently retired and been replaced by a polite Korean man. I heard several of the guests speaking Korean, too. I suppose they’re here to play golf.

We took a walk down to the beach. We had only gone a few feet when John spotted deer.

Fortunately, Edie was on her leash. She loves to chase deer. I suspect if she ever caught up with one she’d be sorry, however. Bambi can be brutal!

We took a stroll on Asilomar State Beach and stopped for a snap shot or two.

We had a fairly forgettable meal at Fishwife, a local spot with good ratings on UrbanSpoon. After that, we drove around a bit. It was near sunset, and this one was indeed what David Lean called a “golden hour.”

From there we went to downtown Monterey. We stopped at the 1827 Customs House and a couple other historic buildings near the shore.

From there we walked out on to the Wharf. Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey may be even cheesier than its cousin in San Francisco. What makes all of the midway honky tonk bearable on both is the sometimes unexpected presence of the sea. As the dog were walking around they hear a load noise nearby and had to check it out.