Monterey and Carmel

   We crossed over the Golden Gate Bridge this morning and had a quick tour through downtown San Francisco. I was nervous about being bogged down in traffic, but Rt 101 moved pretty well through the city and we were headed south toward Monterey in no time.

   We stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the Monterey Municipal Wharf and there was a seal sleeping and sunning himself on the dock at the front door. Later we could see him from our window table as he was swimming around the harbor checking out the returning fishing boats for treats. There were lots of seals further out from the wharf and Mary used her binoculars to spot some otters swimming on their backs.

   After lunch we drove passed the aquarium, Cannery Row and Bubba Gump's Restaurant to Sunset Drive with it's windblown trees, gabled houses and rocks full of basking seals. We continued on to the 17 Mile Drive around the Monterey Peninsula into Carmel.  It was a hard choice of where to look with the ocean and seals on our right and the Spanish Bay and Pebble Beach golf courses on our left.

   In Carmel we stopped for coffee and tea then spent a couple of hours walking around town looking at the shops and art galleries. Carmel was crowded with people on the first night of the weekend and we went back to Monterey to find a room for the night.

   Tomorrow we go back to the interstates for an all day drive to San Diego, where we'll end our border to border southern leg down the coast. After a couple of nights to rest up, we'll start our return trek east. We don't have any desire to cross into Mexico; Tijuana just doesn't have the same appeal to us as Vancouver.