Saturday we woke in Watsonville and stopped at a Coco’s Bakery Restaurant for brunch. Had a rocking salad with bacon, glazed walnuts, bleu cheese, and peaches.

Heading towards Monterey, we passed rows and rows of strawberries, some of which were being picked as we drove by. So we stopped by a fruit stand and purchased some strawberries and blackberries.

Since we’d already kinda been to Monterey (and were trying to avoid throngs of tourists) we decided to skip it and take 17 Mile Drive around Pebble Beach instead. Here’s what Wikipedia says about the place:

Pebble Beach is a small private coastal unincorporated community in Monterey County, California. Technically, Pebble Beach is not a city at all, but a corporation, as it is owned by the Pebble Beach Company, although managed as a small town.

It ended up being pretty disappointing. First of all it costs $8.75 just to take the drive. Second of all, the overlooks and sights are all essentially walled off parking stops along the road. At one point there was literally a chainlink fence between us and the ocean view. Oh yeah. And there’s golf courses. Lots of ’em.

Here’s the Ghost Tree, a dead Monterey Cypress. Pretty representative of our feelings toward Pebble Beach.

Goodbye Pebble Beach. Hello Big Sur.

Next: Driving down the Big Sur coast