Northbound and Monterey Fun

Immediately after our morning hike, V and I set off on our scenic drive north to Monterey. Normally this trip should only take an hour, but when you put two camera happy ladies in one car, it takes about two.

We didn't really get a chance to snap any fun pictures on the way down since we wanted to get to the campground before it got too dark. This time around we managed to stop at almost every scenic overlook along Highway 1. AMAZING.

Once we hit Monterey, we headed straight to the convention center so V could pick up her race packet. It was a pretty good expo...decent vendors, not too crowded, a separate section of fun gear (they even had wine glasses and mugs engraved w/the half marathon logo). We zoomed out of there pretty quickly since we had lots planned for the evening!

We checked into the Asilomar Conference Grounds and got settled before heading out on a pre-dinner sunset drive/photo shoot. Our hotel was conveniently located in Pacific Grove, just west of downtown Monterey (and the race start) and just east of Pebble Beach.

We really didn't have a gameplan for the evening aside from finding a spot to catch the sunset on the beach (armed with cameras, of course), food and drink. Equipped with a handy dandy map, we set off to find 17-Mile Drive. You have to pay a $9.50 toll to wind through this 9-ish mile road, but it's totally worth it. We stumbled across beach

sunset

golf

the Lone Cypress

Oh, and The Lodge at Pebble Beach

Originally we were just going to sit and enjoy a nice glass of wine while watching the sun set, but we were so hungry (apparently we forgot to eat ALL day...too many beautiful distractions, I guess) that we decided to splurge on dinner there.

We waited a few minutes for a table on the patio at Stillwater Bar & Grill. When we finally sat down, all we wanted was some wine and snacks. Pronto. Service was HORRIBLE. Pretty sure they forgot about us a few times. Ah well, it gave us time to chat up our table neighbors who were visiting from LA. Hey friendly people!

After our large glasses of wine arrived, we settled on an order of Atlantic & Pacific Oysters on the Half Shell

LOVE oysters. MMM.

Next up, since we needed something more substantial, we noshed on some Monterey Bay Crispy Calamari (Haricot Verts, Local Baby Artichokes, Meyer Lemon, Chipotle Aioli).

The veggies were actually a pleasant surprise...clearly we weren't paying attention to the menu details. Ha. These were pretty rich so there was plenty leftover.

Onto the main course! V needed to load up on calories (um, half marathon prep?) so she went with what looked like an AMAZING Cheeseburger w/Bacon

Our nice table neighbors gave us the heads up that the Garlic Fries were a tad greasy, so V got them 'well done'. Perfection.

I was kinda boring and went with the Hearts of Romaine with Organic Salmon (Spanish White Anchovy, Crostini, Nicoise Olives & Stillwater's Classic Caesar Dressing).

What can I say, I was in major ruffage withdrawal from the past couple of weeks. I took EVERY opportunity to chow down on crispy greens. Deliciously light.

Cheers to a fun weekend getaway!