Day 8 ~ Travel Day We drove to Marina Dunes RV Park, just north of Monterey today. We had yet another mishap today. We pulled off the road, in lieu of no rest stops, to utilize the trailer facilities. When trying to merge back into the heavy traffic, the hitch hit the pavement and broke the safety chain loop off the tongue. So we will be visiting Home Depot again this stop. Higways 680 and 101 were in very poor condition, lots of bouncing around, particularly bridge transitions. It was a very rough drive.

The RV Park is very clean and kept up. The sites are nicely arranged with privacy fences and lots of trees. The Starlink is not working great here, but the park WiFi seems adequate. It is close to the highway so there is wuite a bit of road noise. Of the parks we have visited this trip, this is clearly the best we have seen.

After getting set up we drove into Monterey to get a feel for the area. We scouted out the bike trail and then drove to Cannery Row. The waterfront here is really nicem the water is clearer that we have seen on the Pacific Coast. In the Monterey Bay, the water is very calm. Lot of kayakers and sailboats. We also saw some scuba divers. There were lots of seals as well. We wandered around Cannery Row and learned some of the history here. We checked out the Monterey Bay Aquarium and then stopped by Ghirardelli’s for an ice cream treat. On the way back to the truck we stopped by the Mad Dogs & Englishmen Bike Shop and picked up a couple of tee shirts. It was an interesting store.

When we got back to the trailer we fixed some dinner and did laundry. All in all it was a nice day.

Day 9 ~ Aquarium We spent the majority of the day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It is pretty amazing and surprising how long it takes to go the=rough it all. On the way back, we stopped at Home Depot to pick up materials to repair the ‘safety chain issue.’

Day 10 ~ Biking We rode the e-bikes from the trailer to the Monterey Coastal Trail and through Monterey to Pacific Grove. We rode to Lover’s Point before turning around and heading back, There were tons of seals near the Old Fisherman’s Wharf that were fun to watch. We saw a lot of seal pups there. we explored the wharf, which was not too intriguing.

Pacific Grove is a nice area. We stopped for coffee and a treat at a little coffee shop with a small book store. We then rode out to Lover’s Point to see what it was all about before turning back. We rode about 33 miles and with all the stops it took up a good share of the day.

Day 11 ~ Carmel & Big Sur Today we drove to Carmel. We parked the truck and walked around downtown exploring the shops. We started out with a stop at a coffee shop before walking up Ocean Ave and through the farmers market that was going on today. We checked out several of the little shops. In downtown Carmel, there are lots of little alley kind of arrangements that go between the buildings and into little courtyards. The downtown area has a quaint feel to it and is quite enjoyable and although the shops are fun to explore, the pricing is quite high. It felt like we imagine Rodeo Drive might be.

We walked down to the beach to just to see what it was like. It was pretty with white sand and the water clear and blue/aqua. It looked like many of the tropical beaches we have seen.

From Carmel we drove down Highway 1 to Big Sur. The coastline is beautiful with lots of rugged rock areas. The surrounding area for the most pat was quite arid, although in the Big Sur area, there were a log of coastal redwoods and it was pretty dense forest. THe road was nt as curvy as what we expected, although I was glad not to be towing.

Big Sur did not disappoint. The road is closed about 16 miles south of Big Sur, so it was interesting how much traffic there is for a road that has not outlet. I cannot imagine how heavy the traffic would be if it weren’t for the road closure.