Cali Day 3 & 4: Highway 1, Monterey, Carmel Valley Wine Trail

I already posted our third day in California, we spent the morning in San Francisco and then headed down Highway 1 to Monterey.  We chose to drive the long way along the coast because we were in no hurry and it was a much prettier drive. Here are some pictures along our drive from San Francisco to Monterey.

 

 Along the drive, we stopped at a strawberry farm and picked fresh strawberries. So fun! These strawberries were the best. So red and juicy - no white in the center like our berries here in Texas.

 Swanton Berry Farm

We were hungry before we got to Monterey, so we stopped in Moss Landing Harbor and had lunch at Sea Harvest Fish Market and Restaurant. It was right on the little harbor and there were tons of sea lions to watch. Lunch was good. We shared fish and chips and a salmon bisque soup.

In Monterey, we stayed at the Spindrift Inn.  It is located right on Cannery Row, overlooking the bay. The room was great. Very cozy and inviting. It had a little sitting area and a fire place. They also served you breakfast in your room every morning which was pretty nice.

 Cannery Row - The reason it is called Cannery Row is that there used to be a ton of sardine canning factories along here.

 Beach behind our hotel

Outside of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We didn't get a chance to go to the aquarium, but if we ever come back, we will be sure to!

We ventured into this little shopping market and into a wine tasting room, Bargetto Winery. We enjoyed the wine and the guy pouring it, so we ordered some bottles. Unfortunately, they arrived this past week with all of their corks popped! The heat got to them, so we will be receiving new bottles once the weather cools down. After a couple of glasses of wine, we decided to go into this mirror maze place. You put on these glasses that distort your vision and wander around bumping into mirrors trying to get out! It was really hard! It was a fun little thing to try.

 After the maze, we stopped for dinner and drinks at Bullwackers Pub, across the street from our hotel.  We sat out on the patio and they had live music. We enjoyed relaxing and listening to the band play.

Sunday was our one year anniversary, so we celebrated by going to the Carmel Valley Wine Trail.  The city runs a bus that takes you to Carmel that was so convenient. You paid $1 each way and the bus dropped you off at all of the wine tasting rooms. Yes, just tasting rooms. I thought I would be going to vineyards! We got there and it was just a bunch of tasting rooms of vineyards from the area.  It was still a lot of fun and we learned a ton about the wine and enjoyed the wine very much. Our first stop was Talbott Vineyards.  The atmosphere was nice, they were knowledgeable and the wine was delicious.  They are known for chardonnay and pinot noir.  We will order a couple of bottles of this once the weather cools down. Who knew it was so hard to ship wine to Texas in the summer?! (They informed us they don't even ship to Texas in the summer!)

 Our second stop was Georis Winery.  They severed you your tastings as a flight and didn't pour each one and talk about it, so that was a little different, but the wine was still pretty good. We sat in a really cute little garden area that was perfect for enjoying your wine and relaxing.  We went next door afetrwards for lunch at Vineyard Bistro and both had awesome turkey sandwiches.

View of the Carmel Valley

Talbott 

 The only grapes I got to see...

Our third tasting room was Boekenoogen. Good wine, casual atmosphere. The guy pouring the wine (have you noticed I don't know what to call him?!) has cows on a ranch, so Eric and him talked about that the whole time. Fourth stop was horrible! It was called Chateau Sinett and the wine was awful and the the guy was pretentious and didn't know what he was talking about.  While we were there we met this nice couple who knew everything about wine.  When the guy was out of the room, they told us how awful they thought it was too and to go to Barnardus across the street. We followed them over there and had a great experience that made up for the last place. We had a blast talking with them and the guys at the winery and they taught us a lot about the wine and what to look for and how to tell what you liked. We ordered six bottles of 2005 Estate Marinus and we can't wait to open a bottle on our next big occasion! Definitely recommend Talbott and Barnardus.

 Our new friends took this pic for us.

To top of our anniversary celebration, we went to dinner at Old Fisherman's Grotto at the Monterey Fisherman's Wharf.  Eric got every kind of sea food you could think of, including dungenuss crab and I got a crusted halbut of some sort. The meals were excellent and we enjoyed a bottle of wine from one of the vineyards we had been to that day. We had a great table overlooking the bay in the corner and this guy below joined us for dinner.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and enjoyed sitting by the fire. Great one year anniversary! We really enjoyed the wine and trying new things. I was surprised Eric liked so much of the wine. Turns out he likes nice wine and not the $8.99 stuff I usually buy!