HOWDY FROM MONTEREY

Hey there folks.

It has been a magical and mysterious time since our last update.

We have had a whale of a time.
The drive back toSan Fran was a long one.
Stopping at the winery with the view of views will hold things up a tad. Esterlina Vineyard is up a veritable goat track, and overlooks Californias premium Pinot Noir growing district. Their wine was pretty good, but the view and the company of aimiable host Dan (and his 3 dogs Juno, Angel and Bear) was even better. We chalked up about an hour and a half of relaxing tasting.

http://www.esterlinavineyards.com/

We then saw some bloody big trees, that possibly dwarfed Tane Mahuta, and sampled GoldenEye Pinot Noirs, which are supposedly the best Anderson Valley Pinots (although maybe not quite as good as David and Winifred's). After expressing interest in the mobile bottling plant we recieved a whistlestop tour, which was pretty cool, but even cooler when we were slipped a bottle of the 2006 GoldenEye Pinot Noir. A US$55 bottle, which will be good at a future annivesary.

www.goldeneyewinery.com/

Then with time ticking we made a move back south and crossed the Golden gate Bridge in Golden light. We stopped and walked the bridge, which was fabulous though Megan found a little scary being so high up....[megan typing now]. Yes I did find it a bit scary. We haven't seen much of the famous San Fran fog and our bridge walk was no exception - we had views as far as the eye could see.

We were starving and asked our sat nav to take us to some delicious Dim Sum in San Fran that we had enjoyed before. Bad decisiion. Dim Sum closed. No pork bun for us, so instead decided to head south to Monteray where we are now. Nighttime driving on the freeway is a little pretty full on. Hudsie did very well.

So Santa Cruz - pretty town. We walked along the boardwalk which is an old beachside amusement park. We decided the best ride to do was the Big Dipper - the wooden rollar coaster built in 1924. it was great fun, but the fact it was so old and, um, wooden, did prey on our minds....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXwYGuHIovE

[back to Hudsie] The boardwalk is of course not constructed of boards, but we seemed to be the only people who noticed.
We are in economy mode for the next little while staying at Motel 6 motels for the next few nights. You get what you pay for, and you don't pay much (US$50 tonight in Monterey), which takes the pressure off the Amex a bit.

http://www.motel6.com/

Oh we also drove the 17-mile Drive which winds down from Carmel into Pebble Beach, there are homes there on the grandest scale imaginable, and the golf courses and beaches are simply breathtaking. Cute seals too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17_Mile_Drive

Culinary highlights of the last few days are the BEST calamri ever (Tonights entree at Monterey restaurant The Fish Wife) and the best burrito ever at a Mexican joint in Santa Cruz which has been operating since 1953 and run by the same family for the last 33 years (better food than I ever tasted in Mexico)

In store in the next few days are a visit to Monterey Aquarium, drive down thru Big Sur and a visit to Hearst Castle.

Until then peace and love from us

M&M
xxxxx