DISCLAIMER: photos taken on cheap, crappy !#$%* camera with no filters, so excuse the technical difficulties. not that photos can capture the allure of Monterey anyway.... click on most photos to enlarge. enjoy!
i can't believe it; we finally went on vacation (it's been three looooong years)! ever since i met Todd, I've wanted to take him to the Monterey Peninsula where i was stationed in the USAF 18 years ago. when i was 19 and impressionable, this area really had an impact on me. i have to say, it's effect on me hasn't changed or lessened over the years. the beauty of the Monterey area can't be adequately described in words. when i sit and watch the waves pound over ancient, worn rock or splash up onto the banks to spray mist on the ice plants, there is just simply not a thought in my head. it's more of a feeling. i think part of my attachment to the area is that i experience it through feeling and emotion instead of processing any sort of thought or intellectual notion about it. i completely lose myself in the feeling of the place. the best part is that Todd gets it, too. i think he understands now why Arizona is killing me slowly, or at least part of why. i cried when we drove into Monterey toward the sea, but i bawled when we left. Todd, with a perplexed look on his face, pondered why people would build a $10 million house in the dirt (Arizona) when they could live in Monterey?! we've officially decided to retire to the Peninsula (probably Pacific Grove). better start mad saving!!!
and of course, the ice plants, with flowers the size of the palm of my hand:
something you really should experience at least once in your lifetime is watching the sun set on Carmel Beach. the town of Carmel-by-the-Sea is quaint, expensive and surreal. here are some pix from Carmel:the lollipop gang:
and more of Pfeiffer Beach:
napping on Pebble Beach:
the happiest baby ever! playing near the old "peace sign" in Pacific Grove:
two cute brothers playing in the sand on Pfeiffer Beach:
Allie was totally intent on touching an anemone in a tide pool:
Allie, after further exploring the tide pools in Pacific Grove, approached me with a mischievous grin on her face and asked me if i wanted to meet "Bartholomew." she then pulled a starfish out from her pocket! nutball! i made her put it back in the water, even though she insisted it was dead. cool, but ewwwww! i wish i had taken a picture of it, but she completely caught me off guard with that one!
driving along hwy 1 between Monterey and Carmel, the grass grows tall and sways gently in the ocean breezes. wildflowers grow wherever you look; i wish i had stopped to take pictures along the roadways. i miss green. here's a picture of the valley southeast of Monterey (excuse the windshield glare!):
see the hillside sprayed with wildflowers in yellow, purple and orange? ahhhhhhhhhh...
