Saturday January 11 - Pacific Grove to Carmel (17 mile drive)

Yesterday was a fairly quiet day, lunch at Google did not happen as Nigel's plane was delayed out of Las Vegas. No worries as things happen! So drop offs at/pick ups from school, shopping and so on. As i am now returning to Cupertino after Sacramento I am leaving a few things here that I know I definitely will not need! I finished a borrowed book - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - and have started the second one - The Girl who played with Fire. Good reading!

The sun doing its best!

Today, we headed off to the south to follow 17 Mile Drive from the Pacific Grove end to the Carmel gate. Pacific Grove is an interesting place with lots of small old fashioned shops and some slightly different cafes. We travelled via the Point Pinos Lighthouse but it was not open until later on so we only saw it for the entrance. Construction work is being carried out there. The weather was cloudy and the sea mist kept rolling in and then rolling back again although the sun did try to peep through!

We stopped first at Point Joe to watch the restless sea which is the unique offshore turbulence created by the underwater terrain. Due to this, many early mariners foundered on the hidden rocks as they thought it was the entrance to Monterey harbour! Then it was on to Bird Rock, where the smell and sound of the sea lions was strong and never ending. There is also a variety of bird life and ground squirrels seem to have no fear of humans.The wind was quite cold when we arrived but it dropped off and the temperature was almost mild!! We a spent some time exploring the beach of beautiful white sand and came away with a variety of different coloured shells.

We then stopped at Seal Point picnic area for lunch, this was followed by more exploration of yet another beautiful sandy beach. The waves here were fascinating and watching them was quite compulsive! There were quite a few seals sleeping on the rock and it sure was a lot quieter. So it was on to the Lone Cypress for some photos and the views up the coast. 


By this stage we were all ready to move on so we headed to the Carmel gate and in to Carmel itself. A very up-market, expensive place to live where Dogs rule the roost!! We headed to a bakery for cake and coffee and then down to the beach. Here the children,with Dad's help, built a sand castle worthy of the name. However, once it had been viewed from all angles and photographed, the children had great fun destroying it!!

So it was back to Cupertino, approximately an hour and a half drive, a quiet drive home with some tired people aboard after a great day out. Tomorrow, I head to Sacramento and the family to Squaw Valley via Sacramento, so lucky to be dropped off at my hotel!!