Monterey

We are back home from our quick trip to Monterey. We drove there and it was a LONG drive. We left at 8:00 am on Wednesday and finally got to the hotel in Monterey around 4:00. We did stop for lunch and a bathroom break but other than that it was driving, driving, driving.

The days were nice there but on the cool side. We didn't check the temperature like we ususally do so we had take short sleeve things when we should have had long sleeve. We each did have a jacket so that helped.

We didn't go anywhere but stayed at the hotel. Dad had his meeting all day on Thursday. Wednesday night we had a cocktail reception that we were invited to and then we went to a late dinner. It was an expensive dinner at the hotel restaurant. Thank goodness for travel expenses. Dad charged things on his corporate card and will submit the bills for payment.

Things were very expensive in Monterey. Gas was $3.89 a gallon. We had dinner bills over $100 for the two of us. We weren't getting the most expensive thing on the menu either. We were glad to get back home even though gas here is $3.53 a gallon.

The drive home took us forever! We left later than Wednesday's trip. We started out about 9-9:30 am. We decided to go by way of Big Sur. If you ever get a chance to do this, the views are spectacular. The roads are curvy so you aren't able to go real fast. That is OK. The road seems to be made for a leaserly drive. We started the trip home without breakfast and figured we would stop and get something on the way. We didn't find anything until almost 11:00.

We ate and off we went again. We changed drivers and I was driving now. Dad did pretty well in staying calm with me driving those roads of Big Sur. I could see him hanging onto the door handle but he didn't say a word. When we stopped for gas, we switched back again. I had only driven a short time but I think that was all he could handle.

By the middle of the afternoon, we were ready for lunch. Again it was hard to find someplace to stop. When we got off the highway, we had to drive into town a short distance to find a restaurant. It wasn't like the interstate where the restaurants are right at the edge. We found a TGI Fridays but they were slow serving. The food wasn't good either. The sandwiches were dry. I had a turkey burger and Dad a chicken sandwich. Dad asked for a refil on his tea and it took awhile to get as the waitress was doing other things in the kitchen before actually getting the refill. I could see into the kitchen so I knew what she was and was not doing.

We finally got back on the road again but Dad did not want me to drive as we were going into LA rush hour traffic. He said that it would be difficult to drive through. (I think he just didn't want me to drive) Anyway, to make a long story short, we finally got home around 8:00 Friday night. We had stopped for dinner before we came home but we were glad to be back. Chester was glad to see us too.