Marina, CA

It's been a while since I've posted something, but unfortunately, it's been a while since I've had a decent connection.  We arrived at the Marina Dunes RV Park on Oct. 11th.  It is just a hop over the sand dunes to the ocean from our site or as they say here, 1/3 mile walk.  It is just beautiful here and we are only about 6 miles away from where Ben is stationed.  Our site also includes a grill and a fireplace! The second night we were here Ben took us to a great little Italian seafood restaurant called Louis Linguine's on Cannery Row in Monterey. 

We've spent several days scoping things out at various locations.  We found out that in Moss Landing they have their own Fisherman's Wharf and an excellent Mexican restaurant called The Whole Enchilada.  Last weekend Ben took us for a drive along Hwy. 1 through Carmel-By-The-Sea and to Big Sur.  We ate at a really cute, very old restaurant along the Big Sur river.  We stopped at a couple of campgrounds along the Big Sur that had enormous Red Woods.  The campgrounds were some of the most beautiful that I've ever seen.  Very expensive; however, $50 for a primitive site.  Cabins started at $150 a night.  I'll be going back to Carmel by myself to do some shopping!

One of the things that we've found while here in California is that the cost of firewood is outrageous!  Here at the park, a bundle of 6 pieces is $8.50.  At the aforementioned campground, a bundle of firewood was $11.  We found out that we could buy lumber at Home Depot from the "culled" bin for 40 cents a piece, but we also found out that we can get the scrap pieces for free.  They are stored under the lumber shelves and we have been able to get enough to have many many fires.  

I found a very good little farmers market that's only 4 miles from the RV park.  It is so great to have such a great selection of fresh vegetables and fruit.  The strawberries are fabulous!  On one of our drives, we drove to Camping World which is just outside of Gilroy (the garlic capital of the world).  We could smell garlic for miles.  On the same trip, we stopped in Cantorville (the artichoke capital of the world) and picked up a couple of huge artichokes.  I love artichokes, Roger is "OK" with them. 

We found the "world famous" Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing and picked up his famous Ciopinno.  It's a combination of Dungeness Crab, Shrimp, White Fish, Squid, Clams & Mussels in a spicy tomato broth.  It is all that it's bragged up to be.  I loved it, Roger said it was "OK", but you have to remember that he is not much of a seafood fan.

Today, we drove to the Monterey Fisherman's Wharf.  What fun!  We spotted many many sea lions and sea otters.  The sea otters are just the cutest things ever.  We walked along the wharf and could have eaten at dozens of restaurants.  We don't know which one we'll go back to, but we picked several that we can't wait to try.  We also scoped out a Whale Watch tour that we want to take in.  After our little walking tour of the wharf, we went for a drive to Pacific Grove.  The nice part of driving along the coast is that there are spots to pull over and get a "closer view" about every 100 yards.  The views are so beautiful that it's hard not to stop at every pull off.

Well tomorrow is another day and another new adventure.  Stay tuned for more fun!