Moss Landing KOA and Monterey area - Feb 13 &14

Monday morning, up early at 4:30 again, due to Highway 99 being close to us it was really noisy. Clear skies this morning, so should be a good drive to the Monterey area today. It's nice driving off the I-5 onto Highway 46 crossing over to the 101. Much better scenery. There seems to be more farming, growing crops here in this area than Yuma. We're very surprised. We managed to fuel up in Bakersfield just before getting on the I-5 and paid $5.07/gal instead of the $6 at most other fuel stations in the area.

Lots of orchards, some of the trees just starting to blossom.

Highway 46 starting the climb. Flowers are starting to show up.

We climbed to about 1750 feet elevation.

Now going down into the valley.

Tons of vineyards everywhere.

Moss Landing KOA is a small park but well-kept. View out the front window.

We took a short drive around the corner to the Sandholt Beach. Lovely to hear the ocean again. The high level fog did not clear until 2 pm after we got back to the coach.

Hello Pacific Ocean!

3 minutes from the campsite is a farm market. 

I purchased all this for $21. First up artichokes and dip. Yumm.

Today's drive of 4 hours with some windy roads pooped Ray out. Quiet night tonight.

Tuesday we woke to a little wind and sunny skies. Supposed to be a high surf and wind warning today. We decided to head down to Monterey and walk around.

In the car by 8:30 headed into Monterey. Lots of stopping to take pictures of the surf. We were lucky the sun stayed out for the majority of our day's adventures.

First up is Sand City Beach.

(When we drove back to the coach later in the afternoon, the sand from these dunes is blowing right across the road with the wind.)

We drove on Lighthouse Drive to see the Point Pinos Lighthouse. Unfortunately, it's closed to the public and only open on weekends where they give tours and have a gift shop. Bummer. Here is a picture looking down the road from the entrance. Beautiful trees and red hot pokers.

We drove around to get to the beach drive and were able to get a picture from a distance as the golf course is between the lighthouse and the beach.

With the wind today, the surf is really up. Here is a short video. Love the sound of the crashing waves.

Lots of places to park for Monterey's shoreline Views.

Kissing Rocks

Lover's Point Park:

We took tons of pictures trying to get the curl of the wave and the "blue".

More pictures on the shoreline drive.

Next up was the Monterey Municipal Wharf and their fresh seafood outlet. Ray took pictures of the boats in the harbour between the Monterey Docks and Old Fisherman's Wharf where we ate lunch.

Finally at 11:30 we hit the Old Fisherman's Wharf for lunch. We managed to find a free 2 hour parking spot.

We ended up at Crabby Jim's. Delicious.

This is displayed outside the restaurant and the lady said we also get a free calamari appetizer with an entree if we came in.... so we did :)

Their special Crabby Basket. delicous.

With our bellies filled, we toured the rest of the wharf. OMG the wind really picked up so it required us to put on more clothes. :)

It is Valentine's Day anyway!

Lots of tourist stuff on the wharf and lots of candy places. Guess our belly isn't that full, as we bought Churro doughnuts.  Four homemade Turtle chocolates also managed to jump in a bag for us take home!

Back in the car to the MH to unload the seafood we bought and then we took a short drive to Whale View Point on the other side of the Entrance Channel. It's so windy with blowing sand, Ray tried to get pics but the sand stung his face, so we gave up and came home. By this time, dark clouds rolled in as well followed by a short rain shower. We enjoyed our clams and mussels with fresh bread I made for dinner. A great day.