The weather is cold and the Irish coffee is warm.

Friday, August 25th, 2017

Yosemite National Park, Monterey, CA

It’s 9am and we are slowly waking up for our last breakfast in Yosemite. After about 15 minutes of prep time, Sarah and I head over to the dining hall for breakfast; Laura remains in bed. At the dining hall, I fill up my tray with side dishes of bacon and eggs. I also grab a large cup of coffee. As we slowly eat our breakfast, I realize that I am not hungover; I find this surprising. It must be the magic of Yosemite. 

After breakfast I top off my large cup coffee and will insist on keeping it in hand while transferring all of our gear from the tent-cabin to the car. Eventually Laura joins us and we all pile into the car for Vacation Part 2 – Monterey!

Monterey is an improvisation on our original plan to see Big Sur. The main bridge going into Big Sur is closed and the only alternate route changes a 40 minute drive to an 8 hour drive; we don’t need to see Big Sur that bad.

The drive out of Yosemite is awful. The road twists and turns up and down mountains for what feels like forever. The view is beautiful, but we all three are prone to car sickness. I make a few emergency-stops for puking and, eventually, we are back on flat land. The entire drive takes about 4 hours.  

Soon we are checking into our lovely AirBnB in Monterey. The house is adorable and the weather is extremely cold and foggy. This is a welcome change. We all take turns in the shower and get ready for an early dinner.

Sarah does some quick research on restaurants, but they all look good. Eventually we hop in the car and drive over to Cannery Row. Having just read a few Steinbeck books, I am very excited to see the setting of some of his novels. We immediately find a large statue dedicated to the main characters of Cannery Row and a bronze bust of John Steinbeck. After a quick photo op, we do a lap of the strip. It’s clear to me that Steinbeck would be disappointed; Cannery Row is littered with souvenir shops and Starbucks. Eventually we end up at the Fish Hopper for dinner. We are pretty early, so the hostess gives us the “best table in the house”, which turns out to be totally awesome. The view is amazing and I am having a hard time holding a conversation because I cannot stop staring at the gray and foggy ocean.

I order combo plate of shrimp and salmon along with a Pinot Nior from Monterey. The meal is nice, but I feel that the sauce is a little too sweet. I also like Sarah’s wine more than mine, but I keep my complaints to myself. 

After dinner, we walk around a little bit more. I buy a Cannery Row T-shirt and we scope out a few places for an after-dinner drink. Eventually we conclude there is no nightlife here and decide to make Irish coffees in our AirBnB and play board games. I make two quick stops at the liquor store and Starbucks and soon we are back home.

I stumble around my Mac for about 20 minutes trying to load up JackBox Party Games. Right when I am about to give up the game successfully loads. We spend the rest of the evening playing JackBox and Clue. The weather is cold and our Irish coffees are warm. Monterey is already awesome!