Monterey County, California

My seventh visited of the 58 counties of my home state of California is Monterey County. Established as one of the original 27 counties in 1850, Monterey now has a population of 401,762 and an area od 3,322 square miles. The county seat is the inland city of Salinas.

This area has so much to offer: I could easily visit and revisit exhausting my funds, but not the opportunities. I traveled here with friends to participate in the Big Sur Marathon the last Sunday in April. I don’t know why I enjoy these ridiculously long races so much. I’m slow… Very slow. No records are in danger of being shattered by my participation.

Big Sur sits on Highway One south of Monterey on some of the states most impressive coastline. We were shuttled at 4 AM in a convoy of buses to starting points south Highway One was closed for the race morning and I relished the long stretches of seemingly endless point after point while heading north along a traffic free road. Unfortunately it wasn’t the favorite of all of my friends. Understandably “never-ending” is not a good adjective to apply to a race route. The event was well organized and I hope to do a repeat next year.

Monterey’s Cannery Row, known to many from John Steinbeck’s novels Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday, is a hot bed of tourist activity. It’s been so long since I’ve been that there I can’t comment on the hodgepodge of honky-tonk restaurants and shops. Back in the 1930’s, when the canneries handled over 250,000 tons of sardines a season, it was a different world. My husband’s father’s first job was at Booth’s Canning Company when he was 13 or 14. Mostly abandoned by the 1950’s, Cannery Row is now rebuilt and developed. I would have like to duck into the Monterey Bay Aquarium which juts out into the bay at the north end of the sea of t-shirts shops and ice cream parlors.

Just northwest, the town of Pacific Grove hugs the coast. We had a terrific meal at Fishwife Restaurant across from Asilomar State Beach and Conference Center in PG. The teetotaling Methodist Church founded the town as a retreat. This outlook was eased in 1969. I toast a thank you to them with my glass of wine. 17-Mile Drive loops you into the Monterey pine and cypress of the Del Monte Forest and offers panoramic vistas of Monterey Bay along with glimpses of pricey private real estate. The now $9.25 toll dates back to a 25-cent livery fee initiated in 1901 by the Pacific Improvement Company. Today it’s California’s only private toll road but the toll is refundable if you spend more than $25 in one of the restaurants at the Lodge at Pebble Beach or the Inn at Spanish Bay.

Our hotel was adjacent to the convention center in Old Monterey. The restaurant & shops cater to residents and tourists alike. You can visit oldmonterey.org and click on Path of History for directions for a self-guided walking tour. Please forgive me for passing on this but my feet were weary enough from the marathon. A week earlier a friend was in the area and recommended Rosine’s Restaurant. He marveled at the humungous desserts. Breakfast portions were equally mammoth.

On the way home open roadside stands stacked with artichokes and strawberries tempted us. Thankfully a stop ensured that my Monterey County experience continued into dinner as home that night.