Monterey County visiting -- Monterey, Pebble Beach and Carmel

So excited Julie needed to change her battery.

Friday. I tried to send Julie to the spa today but she was too excited to get going in the nice weather.  After hanging out on our balcony all morning hoping to see the deer that are known to roam the property we jumped in the car to drive down to the lodge/restaurant. Within less than a minute we were next to about 5 deer grazing on the side of the path.  These deer are accustomed to people/cars so they went about their business as we watched from mere feet away.  After snapping some pics, Bambi and friends move onto the golf course and we headed to breakfast.  With the clear sky, which has been the case every day, we had breakfast on the patio next to the pool.  I went for huevos rancheros and Julie with blueberry pancakes.

Huevos rancheros for breakfast.

We lingered for a while enjoying the t-shirt and shorts weather.  Afterwards we decided we should stay another night and Julie wanted to skip the spa and head into Monterey right away.  While Julie showered I decided to try to take a short run.  Note to self, "huff and puff" trail is not a good idea after huevos rancheros.  The trail head is immediately outside our room and climbs steadily uphill until revealing amazing views of the valley.  Looked great but made me feel pretty ill.  With a combination of walking and jogging I made it to horseshoe trail and a steady decline.  The views were amazing and my stomach hurt.

Once in Monterey we stopped at Cafe la Strada to grab some beverages for our walk down Cannery Row.  This is where they used to pack sardines like no one's business.  Today it is a mini-version of SF's fisherman's wharf.  It didn't take long to walk the 'row' and we opted to skip the Monterey Aquarium, which is supposedly pretty awesome.  From Monterey, which I'm not sure what all the hoopla is about, we headed over to Pebble Beach.

Cannery Row, Monterey

To enter the Pebble Beach community you have to pay $9.50.  This is for all the tourist who are interested in traveling the 17 mile drive, a scenic route passing by some insanely large homes and beautiful ocean-side views.  As we  were heading to Pebble Beach for lunch we could get this fee refunded.  Pebble Beach is ranked among the most costly public golf courses in America.  At $650 a round it'll put a dent in your budget.  Regardless we saw a steady flow of golfers heading up the 18th while we enjoyed amazing views over lunch.  I s'pose if you're a golfer being able to play on the same course as the 2010 US Open coupled with the amazing setting, although available at many other area courses for less, is a special event.

Players finishing the 18th hole at Pebble Beach.

View from Lodge at Pebble Beach (click to expand)

Departing the golf course we rushed on to the 17-mile route to check out the infamous lone cypress.  Apparently this cypress tree has survived on a jagged rock for over 250 years.  It's even become the logo for the Pebble Beach company.  The tree did look cool and made for some good photo opps after I hopped a fence and climbed down a hill -- but I'm glad we didn't go out of our way to see it.  Julie claims the Japanese tourists got a kick out of my antics.

The "lone cypress" at Pebble Beach

Looking down to Ron

Looking up to Julie

More lone cypress.

The 17 mile drive ended at a gate to Carmel which came in handy as we wanted to check out some of the shops while they were open.  Of course we left about 30 minutes, for good or bad, so we hurriedly checked out some shops and are still trying to track down the illusive tote Julie has been searching for.

Crossing the property we encountered even more deer grazing on the side of the path.  Driving is tricky as Carmel Valley has strict street light policies therefore the property is lit with very low lights and the path is windy with deer and turkey wandering about. Back in the room Julie grabbed a nap until we headed back to the main lodge for some late night snacks, mere seconds before the kitchen closed. Having read about chef Tim Wood (of Carmel Valley Ranch) honey-chile chicken wings in Food & Wine magazine I figured we needed to give them a try.  Also John from the prior night, who gave us a tour of the wine cellar, suggested checking out the Talbot winery down the road from the "hotel". While we didn't make the tasting at Talbot  I figured I'd give it a try at the bar and ordered the Talbott pinot noir.  Enjoyable indeed.  With the iPad in hand we tried to figure out our plan for the next 3 days.  With moderate success and the place emptying we headed back to our room.