Day 3 - Coastal tour

On day 3, Jeremy dropped me off at the local car rental place and I rented a Toyota Yaris. It was cheap, and even cheaper on gas. It was the perfect car for my coastal drive along the Pacific Coast. This was Monday and Jeremy had to go to work. It was a good time for me to start venturing on my own.

The night before, Jeremy and I had devised a route for me to take that he thought I might enjoy. I had my GPS with me, so the odds of getting lost were much less. I began my trip by heading a little north towards San Fransisco, but I simply went this way to be able to drive up some of the hilly terrain that exists in Silicon Valley. Once I drove through this terrain, I ended up along the coast in a beach town called San Gregario.

Once I got to San Gregario beach, I was truly amazed at how nice the beaches were. Some of the beaches weren't really conducive to swimming, but they were still very picturesque. I tried to take as many pictures as I could. I kept driving south along highway 1, which pretty much follows all of the beaches along the coast of California. It was a very nice drive.

Other than stopping quickly along the various rest stops on Highway 1, I decided to stop in Santa Cruz for a walk along their beach/boardwalk. Santa Cruz was a very nice beach and had many attractions to go along with it. Unfortunately, at this time of the year, there were hardly any tourists because it is actually a little cooler in this area than someone in Canada may expect. Nonetheless, it provided for a peaceful walk and nice scenery for me to enjoy.

After my time in Santa Cruz, I quickly drove myself to Monterey. I had booked my hotel there and Jeremy had recommended that I try going to the aquarium there. At the aquarium, they had a few really cool exhibits. These included African penguins, sea otters, numerous jellyfish, and seahorses. They had other stuff, but I would consider those things to be the highlights.

The nice thing about Monterey is that they have a boardwalk to walk along while trekking to places like the aquarium. They have nice little shops and restaurants all along the water. I was particularly excited to see the Bubba Gump Shrimp company as one of the restaurants along the boardwalk. I took a picture of the logo and a bench that was outside the restaurant that had a box of chocolates and a plaque dedicated to the movie Forrest Gump. Later on in my trip, I came to realize that there are many other Bubba Gump stores in the area. Either way, I was still happy to run into this.

I spent the night at a cheap motel in Monterey. We found this place on the internet, and despite its price, it was actually pretty decent. It was probably the cheapest motel I've ever stayed at, but it was certainly not the worst place. I had a pretty good night of sleep there.

I should mention that I tried to go out in Monterey to experience some sort of nightlife in California. I wasn't expecting great things as it was a Monday night, but nonetheless, I was still somewhat disappointed in what I experienced. I was hoping there would be more going on in what appeared to be somewhat of a tourist town. I suppose I might have been looking in the wrong place. Despite this, I did meet a couple of people while out and about and had a decent time.