Our
bowl of cereal in the room with a cuppa went down very well and then we packed
up and entrusted our suitcases etc to the hotel whilst we took a cab to pick up
the rentacar from National Car Rental Company on O’Farrell Street.
The
check in was quite quick compared to our experience with Dollar Car and ten
minutes later we were heading upstairs to what size the car is as we needed a
car which had a large trunk (boot) as we have two large and three small
suitcases plus some other bags but fortunately the Chevrolet Malibu trunk was
fine and so back to the Hotel using the Sat Nav which got all the one way street
wrong, how this can happen I don’t know.
By
10.00 we had our suitcases and followed the Sat Nav Instruction only to find
road closures and diversions which really through the Garmin but never mind we
got back on track shortly afterwards.
We
followed the road out through Daly City and then Pacifica where we were able to
join up with route 101 which runs down the coast for several hundred miles. We
stopped for a coffee mid-morning and then continued on an almost empty road for
about 50 miles and then it started to get a little more built up and the
traffic started to increase. We left the 101 and took a side road down to the
beach where we had some rolls and ham and tomato whilst watching some sea
otters gambling in the surf and diving down for crabs whilst sitting in the
warm sun, very nice.
 |
| The Scarlet Huntingdon Hotel, San Francisco |
We
passed through a couple of towns, one geared for tourists with a Casino and video
game rooms and helter skelter and another town designed for retires we think. By
this time we were about 25 miles from Monterey and the traffic was now quite
busy and we though it better to go straight to the hotel which would allow Jen
to have a rest with her cold and Noel to research some hotels for the next
couple of days. After spending some time on the internet, Hotels near Hearst
Castle were mostly of the 1/2/3 cat with sometimes questionable reviews, The
room we are in is excellent, we are staying at the Intercontinental Hotel –The Clement
Monterey and so after a review we have decided to spend another night here and
visit Carmel tomorrow, an easy day to allow Jen a restful day which we hope
will improve her health a little.
We
had a walk around town for a short while and then decided to go to Bubba Gump’s
Shrimp restaurant which is based upon the film ‘Forest Gump’ which we have not
seen and this stumped the serving lad
who whole presentation about the food and drinks etc is with forest gump in
your mind. Never mind but Noel and a hamburger and Jennifer the salmon with
rice and both were good. We tend not to eat out a lot when travelling as it
gets expensive after a while but you also get fed up eating out all the while
so we plan to visit Whole Foods in Monterey tomorrow and if nothing there a
trip to Costco for some ribs and salad.
On
returning to the Hotel we sat in the lounge in front of an open hearth fire
which slowly was sending us off to sleep so we went back to the room.
