dare2go

Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur


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We drove back down into the downtown area and parked the truck in the first parking lot we could find. Then we walked through the town to the wharf area. Like a lot of seaside towns and cities here, they have their Fisherman's Wharf. And like so many of them it is full of tourist shops and restaurants. Here the restaurants were claiming to be the best Clam Chowder makers anywhere - it was a bit hard to keep up with the awards they had all won that made them top of the list. We ate dinner at one of the restaurants, but it will remain nameless as we wouldn't want to recommend anything but the view through the windows across the bay! We were promised a lot, but sadly they didn't really deliver when it came to the mmmmm factor...
The campground was a particularly nice spot to be. It was definitely away from traffic noise, except for people actually using the campground (we could however hear the bugler at the local army post!). The campsites were billed as 'primitive', which basically meant that they weren't necessarily level and definitely not paved, but it had lots of trees and a bathroom complete with hot showers. It was not a place to sit outside and enjoy nature though. We had become so used to the desert heat that arriving on the coast was a bit of a shock to the system. The weather in Monterey on Saturday was like a fine, cool winter's day in Byron Bay. And in the evenings and mornings the world is shrouded in fog, which can be quite cold and so damp it sometimes drips! A real change from the desert!
On Sunday we decided to drive a bit further out to the Aquarium. The engine was still sounding ok, but as soon as the truck was driven about a mile, the smoke would start pouring out of the exhaust. When we arrived and parked out past Cannery Row, there was also oil dripping out of the exhaust. This worried me considerably, but Juergen thought about it and decided that it was almost certainly a problem with the turbo - this meant that provided we didn't let the oil level get too low, the engine shouldn't suffer. So we left it there and walked to the Aquarium. We had expected there to be quite a few tourists around, but hadn't expected there to be such a long queue waiting to get inside the aquarium. We decided to leave it for another day! Cannery Row is the site of the famous Sardines canneries in the past (John Steinbeck's novel) and now full of boutique and tourists shops. We wandered through the area a bit but soon got tired of the crowds and bored with the merchandise - we really don't make good tourists!
We drove back into town looking for a Starbucks to get some internet time and parked again in the same parking area as Saturday, and walked toward the area where Starbucks should be. On the way we passed 'Plumes' - a coffee shop I had noticed the previous day, which had a really good array of cakes and pastries! This time I also noticed a lot of people sitting at tables with their laptops. It turned out they had free internet for customers, as well as nice cakes, good coffee and friendly staff. And they provided power outlets for the computers, which was really good for us because there is no power at the campground to recharge the computer battery. We spent a pleasant couple of hours there catching up on emails and updating our web site. It gave us a different side of Monterey - not so many tourists here and a lot of locals who come to this café regularly and are known to each other and the staff.
Monday morning early, we drove towards Seaside, just north of Monterey where we were told there were a lot of car dealers and mechanical repair shops. We decided to take it to the Ford dealership, as they could probably work out what was wrong more quickly and also have access to parts more readily. They told us that they would have someone look at it within an hour, so we went to their waiting area, which had a TV, and watched Australia play Italy in the World Cup. This obviously took a bit longer than an hour, and the results were very disappointing for us!!! We checked again at the service counter to discover that the truck had not yet been looked at.
They offered us the use of their shuttle service, so we got them to take us back to the Aquarium. This aquarium is judged by some to be the best in the US. Its mission is stated as: "to inspire conservation of the oceans". We were most impressed. Conservation was encouraged at every turn and the exhibits were amazing. They have a huge kelp forest that can be viewed from both the first and second floors. There is also a very large exhibition of all kinds of jellyfish, from small ones you can barely see to quite large ones. And they have a huge tank which is displaying rays, sharks and other large fish. It was quite an experience and one I'm glad to recommend to anyone visiting Monterey - don't miss it, but don't try to go on the weekend, as it was quite crowded enough on a Monday!
After several well-spent hours, we called the service department again, to be told that nobody had looked at the truck yet! Juergen gave them a small 'piece of his mind' and somehow they managed to call us back within half an hour to tell us that it was the turbo and that it needed to be replaced. (We pretty much told them that when we left the vehicle with them at 8.00 in the morning!) Unfortunately they get spare parts like this from Los Angeles, and the new one wouldn't be in Monterey until Tuesday afternoon. So the earliest we could hope to leave would be Wednesday afternoon. Tuesday was spent doing a few domestic chores - laundry and supermarket shopping. And then we took our smoky truck back to the campground, where passing motorists wouldn't be making rude hand signals at us!!!