Berries

En route to Monterey from San Francisco, we discovered the Swanton Berry Farm and had the best strawberry shortcake in the world. Real shortcake, fresh-picked organic strawberries (deep red, fragrant, naturally sweet), and thick whipped cream, eaten at a blue picnic table strung with cobwebs with a view of the ocean. I could swoon just thinking about it. We stopped again on the way back to the airport and met the lovely Laura, who told us that Swanton is the oldest organic berry farm in California. Come in on a bicycle and get a 10% discount, but only if you're wearing a helmet.

A bakery in Monterey

Parker-Lusseau is the place to go for delicious coffee, exquisite French pastries (the chocolate eclair! Mon Dieu!), and perfect egg salad sandwiches on buttery, flaky croissants with crunchy sprouts and not too much mayo. They now have two locations; we like the one in the historic building on Hartnell next to the P.O., with the cozy front porch and side garden.

Sightings

When a big jazz festival comes to town, it pays to keep your eyes open. And it helps if you're staying at the Hyatt, which seems to be Jazz Central.

So far, we've seen the following people walking around, meeting friends at the bar, waiting for shuttles, or dining at the restaurant: Dave Holland, Chris Potter, Benny Greene and Belinda Underwood, Geoff Keezer, Sean Jones, Gerald Wilson, Anthony Wilson, Craig Taborn (to whom we delivered a hug from his mom), Gonzalo Rubalcaba...and Dave Brubeck, leaning politely toward the piano in the hotel lounge while someone well-intentioned but utterly clueless played a few bars of "Take Five."

John wants to add a few car sightings from our stay: Ferrari, Maserati, and the Bentley Continental GT in Beluga Black, with windows tinted so dark it could have been filled with clowns and we wouldn't have been able to tell.

Point Lobos

We spent the afternoon in this beautiful place. Looking down toward China Cove; we sat for an hour (more or less; we lost track) on the last rock to your right. A little guy sunned himself on the stairs leading up from the white sand and blue water. Finally, a view of Gibson Beach.

Fresh Cream

The Insiders' Guide to the Monterey Peninsula says this about Fresh Cream: "Since its opening in 1978, Fresh Cream continues to be recognized as one of the Top 100 restaurants in the nation. The stylish interior, dazzling Bay view, and impeccable epicurean reputation make this a distinctive favorite."

Our corner table gave us floor-to-ceiling windows to the bay and views all the way to Santa Cruz. The food was exceptional. Five-mushroom soup topped with an intricate lattice of creme fraiche and aged balsamic...mushroom velvet. Heirloom tomato caprese...classic. Lobster ravioli...perfect pasta stuffed with lobster mousse in lobster butter with caviar. Rack of lamb with fingerling potatoes. Grilled filet mignon with truffle madeira sauce. A local pinot. Grand Marnier souffle with hot rum sauce. All served perfectly by the lovely Emily, who acted as though we had all the time in the world even though most other patrons had left or were leaving when we arrived for our 8:00 reservation. This is an early-bird town.

The guide book gives Fresh Cream four dollar signs but the bill was less than we expected...and probably a good deal less than we would have paid at La Belle Vie. If you go, get good directions and avoid driving back and forth on Pacific and getting sucked into the Lighthouse Ave. tunnel.

Back at our hotel, we went to the bar for a nightcap. A jazz trio was playing. The bar, so dead for the previous three nights that they closed early, was full. Gerald Wilson was seated at the table in front of us.

Images from Hearst Castle

The tiled bottom of the outdoor pool. Venetian windows and loggia at the back of the castle, facing the tennis courts. One of many views from the Enchanted Mountain.

Hearst Castle

Words fail me when I attempt to describe Hearst Castle. Awe-inspiring? Wretchedly excessive? Ginormous? Impressive? Weirdly beautiful? 75,000 square feet (give or take 10,000). 165 rooms. Built on a mountaintop from which (at one time) everything you could see in any direction belonged to William Randolph Hearst, only son of George Hearst, whose character was deliciously defamed in Deadwood in a chilling performance by Gerald McRaney, Hearst Castle is filled with antiques (tapestries, furnishings, entire ceilings) that once graced European castles and were sold by cash-strapped Europeans to wealthy Americans following WWI. We took two tours: Tour 1, the starter tour, and Tour 2, which shows more of the inside of the Casa Grande (the Big House). Let me digress for just a moment here to say how much I loathe most tourist sites: the visitor centers with their crappy souvenirs, the buses, the crowds (there were 60 people on Tour 1), the people who step on carpets or sit on chairs or take flash pictures even though the patient-as-Job tour guide has repeatedly told them not to, the people who push past you to be first on (or off) the bus, and especially those who bring crying babies on tours that last over an hour. Aggggh! Argggghhhh! Ahhhhhhh!

Hwy 101 South

There are two routes from Monterey to San Simeon: Highway 1, appx. 90 miles, average speed 30 mph, and Highway 101, appx. 130 miles yet faster because it's not so curvy. We got a late start and took 101.

The radio spoke Christian, Spanish, and oldies as we drove through a valley of mostly farmland. Workers in the fields bent low to pick our asparagus, our celery, and the tender California greens we'll enjoy in Minnesota and the rest of the country in the next few weeks. Faded windowless ex-school buses waited beside Port-a-potties to take the workers back to wherever they stay. Sleek white air-conditioned tour buses passed us on the highway.

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Carmel, city of 3,900 people and 10,000 art galleries. We visited the Rodrigue Studio, lunched at La Dolce Vita (upstairs on the patio: seafood risotto, spaghetti with roasted eggplant and balsamic vinegar), shopped for red-glazed Sicilian ceramics from Pesaresi on Dolores Street, and enjoyed the view of Carmel with mountains in the background, Hummer in the foreground, and Abbey Road in between. (Four people crossing a street = John, Paul, George, and Ringo.) The weather is perfect.

Not a PT Cruiser

On Highway 1 at Half Moon Bay

Driving south from San Francisco to Monterey: Pelicans and para surfers. A surfer riding a dragonfly wing. A very happy dog. (Click on pix to supersize. Subsequent pix are not this big, but you can still click on them to see larger versions.)