Cannery Row - Fisherman's Wharf

One of the great things about the inn where we are staying is that they serve breakfast each morning to our room. We went to bed early, exhausted from the time change, and slept late as well. After waking up, I sat on our balcony overlooking the ocean and watched the fishing boats and others head out for their day's work.

After enjoying a relaxing breakfast on the balcony with my husband, we got ready to explore Cannery Row and Fisherman's Wharf. We went down Cannery Row looking at various stores which consisted mostly of souvenir shops, restaurants, and wine tasting rooms. I wish I could say I know my history better but this area was a large sardine/fish canning place in the 1920's and 1930's (if I read the historical plaque correctly). John Steinbeck named the place Cannery Row and it's a popular tourist place. It has a lot of art/culture with several local artists shops as well.

We ended up eating lunch at Fish Hopper on the row. It's a restaurant that extends out over the ocean with gorgeous views. The view is what you pay for; the food wasn't that great. I had a bread bowl clam chowder for lunch and although it wasn't made by Campbell's, it only had a few clams in the soup. Otherwise, it could have been a nice carrot soup.

After lunch, we got in the car and drove around to see what else was in the area. We plan to visit the Monterey Aquarium a later date so we ended up taking a spontaneous drive on the coast. My husband was determined to see the ocean (versus the bay we overlook). It was a windy road that reminded me of the knuckles on a fist. You would round one point, thinking it was the tip, and then curve back around again.

We ended up driving into Pacific Grove, which is literally 5 minutes away. I had heard about Lover's Point which was suppose to be a good place to watch the sunset. It was a nice view of the coastline but it was only one other knuckle versus the actual tip. The ocean is different than Florida because it has rocks that jut out of it with water crashing over it. Unlike Florida's straight coastline, this one curves and winds around like the road.

I stopped to take a lot pictures. Oddly the weather changed quickly, a wind advisory is in effect until Wednesday AM. Gray clouds blew in low across the sky. We decided to head back to Monterey to see Fisherman's Wharf before the weather got really bad.

I had been to the San Francisco wharf once, many years ago. This one is much smaller and really not the worth the time. It was a single pier with restaurants and tourist stores. We were really looking for the place where the seal lions sun themselves. We heard them barking but had a hard time finding them. This wharf is really a marina so sailboats lined the place. We ended up finding a group of about 5 of them trying to sun themselves in the cloudy sky.

That night we ate an early dinner at Bistro Moulin. We read about it on tripadvisor.com and it was highly recommended. It's a cute little place that looked like it use to be a house. I had the mussels and my husband got the fish special, which was halibut with spinach and mushrooms. Very good restaurant!