Road trip!
My partner and I decided to make ourselves a 4-day weekend for the Presidents Day holiday and drove up CA's central coast. We stayed in Monterey, but explored other areas.
Leaving
South Pasadena, headed north...
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Some hours later...
San Luis Obispo for a pit stop. SLO is often our pit stop whenever we head north to Monterey or the Bay Area.
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We were happy to see the Lokum place. We've been to the one in Santa Barbara and I didn't realize they had a San Luis Obispo location too.
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Yum. Their lokum is so good. The business is owned by Turks.
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I had it with Turkish coffee.
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On the road again...
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Monterey.
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It's funny to me that Monterey has some historic adobe structures that they use as commercial buildings, and newer buildings were built right next to them.
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We decided to have dinner at this pub.
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Cider.
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I had chicken curry with veggies. It included papadam.
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Sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
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The Rodriguez-Osio Adobe, completed in 1849. Now used as a commercial building.
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The Custom House. From Wikipedia: "The Old Custom House is the oldest surviving government building in California, built in 1827 by Mexican authorities in Monterey, then the capital of Alta California. The former custom house is the first designated California Historical Landmark, marking the site where U.S. Commodore John Drake Sloat raised the American flag and declared California part of the United States in 1846 during the American Conquest of California. In 1821 New Spain—Mexico won independence from Spain, in the Mexican War of Independence, and for nearly 25 years Monterey was in the Mexican Territory of Alta California. Under Mexican rule the trade restrictions were lifted and coastal ports were opened to foreign trade. This drew in trade from British, American, and South American traders. To collect customs duties (tax monies) at the Monterey Bay port, the Mexican government built the Custom House, making it the oldest government building in present-day California."
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Here you can see the context of how the Custom House is right near the shore of Monterey Bay, where taxes/duties were collected for goods at the port.
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Is this Porsche from the 1970s or 80s?
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The following morning...
OK, I wanted to hike to Calla Lily Valley because I thought I was gonna see this:
mustloveroses.com
But instead, because of all the heavy storms that California had last month, we saw this:
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Oh well! It was still a fun hike though. There were SOME calla lillies there...
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I really like that the state has been encouraging native California plant species to grow. It looks pretty nice in my opinion...
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Much better and more varied-looking than the non-native ice plant they planted decades ago; I think it was originally done to help with landslides/erosion... ice plant is kind of ugly, at least IMO:
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See the difference? Native plants on the left, ice plant on the right.
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I think it's a combination of high tide and the huge storms from last month; it seems like the beach has disappeared. The storms washed away a lot of sand. I blame climate change.
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Carmel Beach...
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...which is known for its white sand.
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We wanted brunch and left Carmel...
And went to
Carmel Valley Village, which is some miles inland. From what we've heard, people go here to escape the cold/fog of Carmel-by-the-Sea. It's usually sunnier and warmer in Carmel Valley Village. It's known for its wineries.
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This place wasn't crowded.
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Nice view out the window.
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I got a guava mimosa...
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And a very tasty vegetable omelette.
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Sand City.
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Pacific Grove.
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Asilomar State Beach. The heavy January storms washed out the wooden walkway, and also left a mess. We were a little saddened by it. We've always loved this beach.
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Dinner at our favorite place in Pacific Grove.
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Riesling.
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I had barramundi.
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Crème brûlée and Licor 43 for dessert.
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The following morning... and the day we drove home.
Back in
Monterey.
My breakfast. A ham and brie sandwich from Whole Foods.
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We hadn't been to a Whole Foods in a long time. And we've never been to the one in Monterey before.
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Cathedral of San Carlos Borromeo, which is the cathedral of the Catholic diocese of Monterey. It was originally a wooden hut built in 1771, but the current structure dates from 1794, the oldest continuously operating parish and the oldest stone building in California.
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We decided to take a leisurely route home. We went to
Hollister, which is the county seat of San Benito County. We've never been there before. My partner has ancestors who settled in San Benito County around the time it was created in the 1870s (it had broken away from Monterey County), and some descendants still live there.
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We decided to have lunch in Hollister.
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The view out the window.
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Chips and really good salsa.
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Mango margarita on the rocks.
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I had a chicken quesadilla.
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I was like "Wait, I thought that OTHER building is the city hall??" As it turns out, THIS building is; the other building is like an annex or something, with other city offices.
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Hollister United Methodist Church, completed in 1869.
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Sacred Heart Catholic Church. I don't know when it was built. I associate this architecture with Protestant churches, being that most of the Catholic churches in southern California are all either Spanish/Mission-style or Modern. It was locked; we otherwise would've gone inside to see what it looks like.
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Instead of getting back to the 101 right away, we decided to take CA-25 south from Hollister, a highway we've never taken before. After all the winter rain California got, the hills were a very nice vibrant green, some shades looking like matcha! We just had to pull over and take pictures of it. They'll be brown or that golden wheat color come summer.
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Then it was back to our pit stop San Luis Obispo for another Lokum snack break.
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I got different kinds from the last time.
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Leaving SLO.
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That's all, folks!