Drove into Monterey for a relaxing and extended weekend after being on the road nearly fulltime the whole fortnight. Other than the Monterey attractions, the only two things I have planned is a visit Big Sur and to Carmel. No detours, no strenous hikes or anything which involves moving even a toe. Just plain and simple sight-seeing.

I had originally planned to stay at the Ventana Inn 7 Spa in Big Sur, but I shelved that after deciding that it would be too much for an extended weekend so close to home. Besides, most of the weekend I plan to spend in the vicinity of Cannery Row and maybe some time on the beaches. So it would be best to select one of these quaint Monterey hotels, almost all of which claim to be historic. Guess the town must be really, really old. Anyway, after some poking around for a bit on Fremont St, I bumped into the Sand Dollar Inn on 755 Abrego St, which seemed to be close enough to the sand, and didn't seem likely to con me out of all my dollars. The parking lot was nearly empty, and the grounds small enough to look more like a Highway gas station. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I was kinda starting to miss New York's tall monster buildings.

From the inside, its a bit more impressive, with a heated outdoor swimming pool and a spa. The rooms weren't bad either. Actually, better than I had hoped for, after the rather unimpressive exterior. Room was spacious, large flowery bed, creamy walls, bright lamps, cool enough and a balcony and fireplace too. The fireplace was really not necessary, but it does makes you feel good. And considering that it was within walking distance to Cannery Row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Fisherman's Wharf, it was a decent enough deal for $142.

First thing tomorrow is a visit to Carmel, particularly the Carmel Mission, about which i've heard so much. Big Sur I don't really know, so we'll just have to play it by ear. But first, after making good use of the Sand Dollar's Inn's free internet and their dining facilities, I'm off to check out the aquatic wonders of the Monterey bay Aquarium. Best part is that from the hotel to the Aquarium, you get to stroll along the length of Cannery Row. But that'll have to wait for another update. Later.

    Well, I am exactly 5 days away from embarking on my long overdue honeymoon with my honey … aww! How overdue? About 3 years overdue and if Jerrold would have had his way we would still be waiting to go somewhere. He is, as I can best describe him, a sea otter. Completely happy to float on his back, and play in the waves, drifting from one adventure to the next, wherever the sea tells him to go. As long as there is fresh food to be had, and a cozy place to sleep at night, he is as happy as a clam. Well not exactly a clam, as they are very much a part of the otter diet. So, happy as a clam can be who is not about to be eaten. Ha!

Our Timeline:

1991 �" 1992 - Jerrold and I were schoolmates at Ley Va Jr. High in San Jose, CA. He says that he remembers me, but I can’t seem to remember anything other then a strange kid with hair that flowed down to his butt. To this date we still have a bunch of friends in common from the Bulldog years.

1993-1997 �" It appears that the majority of the Ley Va class was split into 2 local high schools. Either you attended Silver Creek High (SCH) or Overfelt High (OH) and it turns out that Jerrold and I were split right down the middle. He attended OH and I SCH. We didn’t have any interactions with each other during our high school years, but still maintained common friends.

Fast Forward to the Year 2000 �" 3 years later Jerrold and I were reintroduced to each other by a common friend, Christine Lansang. You see, Christine was interested in Rocky, Jerrold’s BFF and later Bestman. One evening she called me close to 11 pm that summer and begged me to attend a party at Rocky’s house. I, being the good girl that I was, was already in bed and about to doze off to sleep, so there was significant debate as to whether I was going to attend or not. Seeing how I knew how much Rocky had sparked Christine’s interest, and I wanted to be a good friend, I filled the role as her wingman or should I say, wingwoman and went along to his party.

Of course, what does Christine do as soon as we walk through the door? “Nikki, this is Jerrold, Jerrold this is Nikki. You guys went to Ley Va together… I’ll be right back.” Those famous last words, "I’ll be right back", how may times have the wingman herd that before? Needless to say she didn’t come right back and I was stuck in the backyard of a house that I didn’t know, at midnight, with a bunch of guys, who might I say were NOT sober, specifically with a guy whom I have no knowledge or recollection of, named Jerrold.

On first sight, I completely wrote Jerrold off. There was no chemistry at all. So I took my butt over to the couch and sat down to wait out Christine’s return, you know, cause she’s gunna be right back. Jerrold followed me to the couch and sat so close to me that he pretty much sat on my right leg. Seeing how I was at the end of the couch with no room to scoot over, that is how we stayed. The both of us sitting in silence watching this guy named Alex, a now great friend and later Groomsman, sit on a wall with his hands and both feet in the air, singing, “I’m flying! I’m flying!” Oh, boy what did I get myself into? Jerrold must have seen the look on my face and decided to strike up a conversation with “have you ever felt a dead finger?” Great.

Time ticked on, Jerrold was rambling on about something and it was getting quite cold out. I must have shivered because Jerrold jumped up and went and grabbed a blanket and flung it over me. At first I was very grateful as I was cold, but then I felt all kinds of grit, like wet sand all over me. I pulled back the blanket, and just like I thought, there was wet sand all over me, ewe! “Oh, umm, we went to the beach today” was all that Jerrold could muster.

Another hour had passed, and though I have no idea how Jerrold and I ended up back in a completely pitch black house, in front of a big screen TV that showed crazy patterns of swirling colors and shapes, with wild raver music playing, and I massaging his hands with a fruity smelling lotion. OK, time to go … “Christine I’m leaving!”

With that Chris and I left the party. She rambled on about Rocky, and I rambled on about what a dork Jerrold was! How his pick up line was about a dead finger, how he threw sand all over me, and how could she leave me with him like that … and questioning when the next time we were going to hang out with them would be.

For the next few weeks Christine, Rocky, Jerrold and I hung out almost everyday at 11 pm finding all sorts of ways to get into trouble, from breaking into Raging Waters and running from the police who were called in response to noise from us riding down the slides to sitting on the beach in Santa Cruz in the wee hours of the morning… Jerrold grew on me, and I on him.

Fast Forward to the Year 2005 �" 5 years later Jerrold and I were married at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach, CA on February 19th with almost 250 of our closest friends and family in attendance. As I stated earlier, Jerrold is an otter, and if it weren’t for me asking him to marry me, we would probably be drifting together on the same wave today for God knows how long. He says that he would have gotten round to it…eventually.
 
Anyways, it was the wedding of my dreams… like a movie! Our colors were burgundy and white, we had a twinkle light display (looked like stars) behind the wedding party table, our initials dancing along the dance floor in lights, the top of the room was cast in a tranquil blue lighting to resemble the sky, an awesome buffet (that people still talk about today) complete with a full espresso / smoothie bar and a DJ that was amazing! He was an old white guy, but he knew how to get people up and dancing! It was perfect, even down to the bouquet toss… there was a rumble and ladies went down!

Fast Forward to the Year 2008 �"Married for 3 years, together for a total of 8 years, still just as happy and we are about to take off for our overdue honeymoon! We didn’t go right after the wedding as life just got in the way. I was just starting a new position as well as Jerrold, we were not financially ready on a big trip as we still had student loans to pay off and, and, and so here we are.

Berlin - Budapest:

This will be our second trip to Europe. We went previously, back in 2003ish for a Euro Sampler. We visited England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and France. Then I went on to visit Prague w/o Jerrold as he had family obligations to attend to in Las Vegas. We had such a great time on the first trip, we decided to go back, only to see the eastern block … you know where the Dollar is strong. This time we will be visiting Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. We will be there for a total of 12 days touring on a royal coach with hopefully a bunch of cool people close to our age looking for a good time. Of course Jerrold and I will have our alone time together, but we are ultimately looking to meet some great new friends, eat and drink some awesome local foods and if we happen to learn something along the way, hallelujah!

General Itinerary Plans:
Day 1: Depart from SFO September 26, 2008

Day 2: Arrive Berlin
Explore and meet Tour Manager and fellow travelers for dinner.

Day 3 - 4 Berlin
      Two days to explore the German capital. Sightseeing tour through both East and West Berlin. See the remains of the Berlin Wall, historic Brandenburg Gate and the controversial Reichstag building. Visit one of the City's many museums and sample the local delicacies. Tour of some of Berlin's best night spots

Day 5 Berlin to Prague
      Heading south through Germany, stop for lunch in Dresden. Cross the border and arrive in the Czech Republic for 3 nights in Prague.
 
Day 6 Prague
      Two whole days to enjoy this Bohemian delight! Sightseeing tour of Hradcany Castle, the Cathedral of St Vitus, Charles Bridge and Wenceslas Square. A lunch time cruise, and enjoy the local nightlife.

Day 8 Prague to Vienna
     Visit the UNESCO listed town of Kutná Hora for a chance to see its impressive medieval sights. Then travel south to Vienna, the majestic capital of Austria. Sightseeing tour of the Burg Ring and check out some of the local bars.

Day 9 Vienna
      A full day of sightseeing and shopping in this amazing city. Time to visit the Palace of the Hapsburgs, St. Stephen's Cathedral and snack on a piece of apple strudel with a special dinner followed by a Mozart and Strauss concert in the fabulous Schönbrunn Palace.

Day10 Vienna to Budapest
      A short drive to the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, for some free time. Then travel to the Hungarian capital, Budapest - our stop for two nights. More bars of the city.

Day11 Budapest
     Morning sightseeing tour including the Royal Palace, Chain Bridge and Fisherman's Bastion. Afternoon free time to visit some of the fabulous museums and then a farewell river cruise with buffet dinner.

Day12 Depart Budapest ☹.

It is my plan to update the blog as we venture, so check back. I do plan on being completely honest and as detailed as I can, as I am not only keeping you in the loop, but I am also documenting another adventure in our lives for our future generations. Corny I know, but I want our future children to know that they had some cool parents who did fun and exciting stuff.

See you on the other side of the world!

Nikki and Jerrold

 

I love the Monterey Bay Aquarium! A lot of people say it takes a whole day, but that is only if you read everything about everything. If you go just to see all the creatures it is more of a half day, which is good because it gives you time to walk around near the shore! I really love watching all of the jellyfish, but I also enjoyed the GIANT tank of tuna and sharks - I could have watched them swim 'round and 'round all day. Every so often they get in a great white shark. They will keep small ones until they get too big, then they tag and release them. I have never been there while a great white was there, which may be a good thing - I don't want surf nightmares of shark attacks. eeek! Oh and if you want to save some money, park on the local streets in front of the houses, you may have to walk 3-5 blocks but I would rather do a bit of extra walking than pay the 20 bucks for parking! I also went here once when I was younger and remember it being a lot more awesome, maybe everything just seemed larger.... So make sure that especially if you have kids take them here... they wont forget it! I probably won't go back for a while, but it was still worth the visit.

All 11 of us (family plus one family friend) piled into two cars this morning and now we are about 1 hour away from Monterrey. YAY beach! I am squished in the backseat between my two brothers. Dad and Michael are chatting in the front seat. Oh! I am the only girl in the car. Justin is slipping in and out of sleep and Jarryd is playing video games, periodically resting his head on my shoulder. It's almost sweet. Okay, I need to stop for a bit. The car is too wobbly and I am getting a little dizzy!
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We played in the water for about an hour on the small strip of Monterrey beach. I didn't care. It was OCEAN. Waves crept up on the shore, the sun glistening on the water that was both a turquoise and cerulean blue. We couldn't even see the ocean horizon on the way down because the fog was so thick overhead. I was actually afraid. I was afraid the grey blanket of fog would marr my experience in the ocean. But now, overhead, the sky is clear and blue, sea gulls gliding on a cool breeze. The sun is burning away the fog little by little, showing off more of the Bay. They're telling us this is amazing weather and we're lucky to see so much sun.

While Alec and I skipped in the waves and searched for seashells, the others sat on the rocks, taking pictures and basking in the sunshine. We spied large sea lions sunbathing on rocks not too far from shore while sea kayakers paddled across calm waters and divers explored the thick kelp forests. There are divers everywhere! I want to learn to dive one day....

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Right now, we are all sitting on the patio at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. restaurant waiting for our seafood. Yum! We will head to Carmel beach later to play in the water andset ourselves up on the beach. I think Justin's the only one who wants to visit the Aquarium again. I loved it but I've been before. I want to jump waves! I think Alec and I are the only ones brave enough to play in the water. It is much cooler on the coast and while everyone is dressedin pants and layers, I've got my bikini and boardshorts on and I am the first in the water. I can't get enough. It's not that cold....

After a good night sleep time to see the east coast line of California. Too soon to leave San Francisco after only one night, but we will come back for 3 days so we can see more of this impressive city. Soon we see the coast line, and, when it is only 9 degrees, also the first surfers! Most of us have never seen surfers before, so we watched them for 15 minutes. But the waves are not very high, they are beginners, and soon we went for Carmel. Carmel is a city more for the rich people. Different than San Francisco, the liberal city wich is popular by drifters and the America middle class. Carmel is also famous because Clint Eastwood was the Mayor for 2 years in the eighties. Not a bad place to live!!! Nice houses, beautifull coast line, so different than my home town Den Bosch!! A nice little town to have a stop.

In the afternoon we visited Monterey. Monterey is the old capital of Califonia. I believe the current capital is Sacramento, it always is a little town which is capital so they told me. What is a must, and what we did off course, is the "17-mile drive". A drive trough Pebble Beach where the rich and famous, quote "very rich" when I saw the houses (often with a golf track and swimming pool). The coast line is stunning, not crazy if you want to life there! Many birds and we saw a few sea lions. And the house were Hitchcock made the movie "The Birds", and indeed, a perfect location for that film. Our 'very late lunch' was in a famous Monterey restaurant. I order the fish & chips and it was absolutely perfect, the know how to make it there!! Than it was time to move to our hotel, located in Santa Maria.

Saturday came and we were sad to leave San Francisco. It had been a fantastic four nights in a city that really lives up to the hype. But we had to move on and we were headed for Santa Cruz. We picked up our hire car from the Hyatt Regency, less of a hotel and more of a little village. We´d splurged and opted for a convertible, aiming to tick of one of Ad´s ´must-dos´ by cruising down the coast with the roof down. Hoping for a Mustang, we were pleasantly surprised when we were given a Chrysler Sebring.

After another half an hour of negotiating San Francisco´s traffic, trams and punishing hill starts (nothing to do with my clutch control) we were back on the coast and heading south and magically, the fog was beginning to clear.

We hadn´t travelled too far down the stunnning coastline before we decided it was time for the roof to come down. The problem with our car was that the roof mechanism took up much of the boot and it we had to put some serious Tetris skills to use to pack everything in, most of which went on the back seat, leaving just enough room for Em in the back. Em, it quickly turned out, was rapidly turning into a wind-battered ice-cube, and a look into the back seat revealed someone more likely to have a day on the slopes than soaking up some Southern Californian sun. In the front meanwhle, we were baking in about 25 degrees under a blue sky, behind a windscreen aptly living up to it´s name.

We stopped at Santa Cruz for a walk along the beach, an ice-cream and to recapture some youth in the arcades before driving around ´downtown´area. By now, Ad had pretty much decided that California was definitely for him, deciding he could definitely get used to the sund, sand, surf and stupidly big pick-up trucks that seem omnipotent in California.

Back in the car we drove past more stunning coastline (I really can´t emphasise it enough - and more was to come) that took us down to Monterey where we dived into a barbers for a ghastly forces-esque bosh-crop. The more we drove around Monterey the more we realised that everyone had visited the same barbers, and it obviously didn't matter what you asked for, everyone came out the same.

We soon found a hotel on the Cannery and found 'Sly McFly's' which had very good food and an excellent live Jazz band....

The next morning we drove south to 17-mile drive, a scenic area where it looks as though you need a few million in the bank just to play golf, let alone buy a house. We drove further down the coast-line past more amazing scenery stopping-off to see an Elephant Seal colony and Pismo Beach for some sun-bathing, before heading on to Santa Barbara.

At the recommendation of our lovely Russian concierge, we took the Super Sightseeing Tour to Monterey and Carmel, figuring we probably wouldn't be back in the bay area for a long while.  We were picked up promptly at 8:20am and taken to the main office over on Fisherman's Wharf.  We then began the adventure, deciding at the last minute to purchase the Monterey Aquarium with our package. 

Even just outside San Francisco, we could tell the fog would be a motif for the day.  Regardless, I found the fog enchanting and thought it added to the beauty rather than took away from.  The drive over was nice, but I was disappointed with the amount of time they gave us once there.  Monterey looked very quaint, but, having purchased the aquarium, I didn't get to see much of it.  The aquarium, however, was indeed pretty fun.  My dad opted out, as he says we see fish for free down here =),  so my mom, brother and I participated in a little speed-seeing.  I was a little sad that I didn't get to read all the fun things they had to say, but I figured I could always just look up some information.  Instead I finally put my camera phone to some use and took tons of pictures of jellyfish, otters, and penguins. 

When we finally got out into the town itself, I saw what I'd been waiting to see- Sea lions! Yay!  About that time, luck was shining down on me, the fog cleared out and the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day/hour.  =)  We only had an hour and 15 minutes to explore, so with our time pretty much up by that point, we returned to the bus to eat the little picnic we brought. 

After Monterey, our driver took us on the 7-mile drive, which I think was really just a long drive around a golf course.  I didn't really know anything about it but we got some nice views out of it.  Immediately after that, and by this point I was getting pretty tired, we headed over to Carmel, where we got a little more time than in Monterey, something I just didn't understand.  Carmel was cute and quaint and very European, but, frankly, it was all shopping.  If you wanted to walk to the beach, it would take the entire time you were there.  Overall, I thought they should have cut some time there and added it to Monterey, where they knew people would be going to the aquarium.  My hot-weather little self was also pretty cold in Carmel, so that made me a little less happy since I wasn't prepared.  We enjoyed ourselves a cup of coffee that, while being quite tasty, did little to warm us up. 

After arriving back to our hotel, we decided that our little lunch picnic was no match for our appetites and headed over to Lefty O'Doul's on Geary.  We'd passed by it a few times since we'd been there and noticed that it was almost always packed.  Being fans of anything Irish, we decided to check out the food.  It turned out to be delicious!  And, even better, inexpensive!  My brother and I each got a corned beef platter, with bread, mashed potatoes and macaroni for about $7/8!  It was really good food and the karaoke with the piano guy did a lot of good for the atmosphere.  One of my favorite moments of the trip also happened here- this fantastic little German couple was sitting at the table next to us, and having learned that I was in the process of learning German, decided to have an in-depth conversation about America with me.  They were great fun, and it was great for me to be having a conversation that was a salt-and-pepper of English and German.  This guy, Fritz, absolutely loved America; he knew every single capital of every state!  He was a riot, and we parted that night with contact information exchanged and a promise from me to send him a postcard from Texas (he was incredibly distraught that he had yet to travel there=) ).

We've stayed here twice and had nice experiences both times. For the price, which can be cheap to average depending on the time of year and day of week, it's not too shabby. The first time we stayed it was $65 a night and the second time we stayed it was $80. It's right across from the Del Monte Pines Mall (which has a Whole Foods- so I love staying here!!! There is also a Borders, Starbucks, among other shops) which is nice and easily in driving distance to Fisherman's Wharf and Cannery Row. I'd stay here again.

This is one of the best Best Western hotels I've been in. We had a large room with a fireplace, it was great!! It can be on the expensive side in peak season so we only stay here in the off season to get prices under $100. We walked from this hotel to Fisherman's Wharf and onto Cannery Row but be aware that it's quite a walk and you'll probably want to drive instead, but if you are looking for a good long walk it's within reason. I’m pretty sure this hotel does not have a pool so that is a downside, but pools are necessary for a fun stay in Monterey! I'd stay here again in a heart beat!

Another favorite book store for us. This has excellent used books for amazingly cheap prices. I've gotten some unusual finds here. I am a huge fan of history books so I’ve managed to find some unusual and rare history books on the Roman Empire as well as some French language books that I would never find elsewhere. The employees have always been really nice and helpful. We have also never had a problem with finding parking as there are plenty of spaces reserved for the bookstore customers behind the shop. I highly recommend you head in for a good browse.

17 mile drive is a scenic loop near Monterey. If the weather is good, it is a pleasant way to spend the afternoon. There are lots of areas to pull out and enjoy the view during the drive, including a spot near the iconic tree of Pebble Beach. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the tree because I was too busy checking out the surf. Ghost Tree, a heavy, big wave spot (where a surfer died last year), is also along this drive, but there seem to be lots of points and breaks scattered around the coast that might be interesting to check out. Costs a small fee ($10, I think), to drive into this gated area.

Haven't been to the Long Beach Aquarium lately, but this is probably the best aquarium in California. Tons of interesting exhibits and tanks filled with interesting lifeforms, from alien looking jellyfish to deadly looking sharks. There are two VERY big tanks that contain the larger varieties of ocean life, including sharks and tuna. For some reason whenever I pictured tuna, I always pictured a small, salmon sized fish. But when you see them in person you realize that they are enormous, like underwater blimps. There are also a few sharks that are pretty amazing to see up close. Only drawback is that tickets are ridiculously expensive. $25 for adults. I'm sure the money goes to a good cause, but $25 seems a little pricey to me.

After sweeping through San Jose, we drove down to Monterey. After grabbing some lunch with another friend of DeAnne's, Sarah, we headed for the aquarium area. We walked the streets and popped into the shops and took a few picture on the beach. Within a 24 hour period, we had been on both coasts. Atlantic and Pacific. Sand beneath our shoes! We met some more of DeAnne's and went out to Pacific Grove. What beautiful scenery this place has. Later we left from there to visit Carmel-By-The-Sea a little further south. We strolled along a fine, long beach that we both enjoyed. Caught a couple rays and headed back north to Santa Cruz, and finally Davenport.

We ended up here by default (because there were no other restaurants for Jillian to run past actually) so we opted to have dinner here on our 16 hour road trip home! The view from the restaurant is unbeatable as it looks out into the bay and to the canneries. Since it is at the end of the wharf, it definitely has the best view of the water! Since we had been on the road for so long, we were STARVING upon arrival. Jillian and I had been talking about clam chowder all day so I knew I definitely wanted soup! But I was actually hungry for real food too. I opted to order the Crab Ravioli and add a bowl of clam chowder. Julz ordered a Chicken Mediterranean and Jillian had the Clam Chowder Bread Bowl. My ravioli was excellent and definitely no shortage of crab. The clam chowder didn't disappoint and I assume Jillian's was good since she practically inhaled hers! HA HA. Rappa's is family owned and started as a snack bar in 1952 and later expanded into a small restaurant. Later that was expanded into a bigger restaurant, which was recently torn down and remodeled.

So my final destination.... A week long stay here. Well, if I had made my flight, so technically only 6 days there.