Friday morning we drove over to my cousin Phil’s house in San Jose and transferred ourselves to his car for another fun-filled tourist day of sight-seeing. But this time we have a local tour-guide (my cousin Phil)!
We drove south on 101 towards Carmel. But along the way, we stopped in Monterey for lunch at the Turn 12 Bar & Grill.
This place had a cool motor-sports vibe and motorcycle motif going on. Their website says it is designed to pay homage to Laguna Seca Raceways 11 turns. I liked it. And lunch was good too!
We did a short drive through Monterey and headed over to the north entrance to 17-Mile Drive.
17-Mile Drive (←link) is a scenic road through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula in California, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses, mansions and scenic attractions, including the Lone Cypress, Bird Rock and the 5,300-acre Del Monte Forest of Monterey Cypress trees.
We drove south along the coastline and finished in Carmel. We didn’t do the inner coastal road. Maybe another time…
Here’s another good map that I found on a “Pin It” site courtesy of hotelcaliforniablog.com. This map depicts most of the scenic viewpoints we stopped at.
Follow along for a picture tour…
It appeared that seals or sea-lions took over one half of the island rock (below) and birds took over the other half. So much for desegregation in California, eh? 🙂
Wonder how much these homes cost!?!
The Ghost Tree.
We finally got to the south end of 17-Mile Drive (see arrow in pic above) and drove over to the Carmel Mission.
Click HERE for more info on the mission from my good friend Wikipedia®.
We had to pay a $6.50 entrance fee that helps support the Mission.
We then drove through the Mission Ranch Hotel & Restaurant (←link) located next to the Mission Church. It is reportedly owned by actor Clint Eastwood.
Notice the tree growing through the porch roof on the Mission Ranch guest house (below).
After our tour of Carmel Mission and the Mission Ranch, we did a drive-by of the beach and scenic downtown Carmel-by-the-Sea:
When we got back to San Jose, Phil treated us to a great dinner at a favorite pizzeria he frequents often. Willow Street Wood-Fired Pizza in Willow Glen.
Thanks for a great day Phil!
Stay tuned because on Saturday, Beth & Keith are coming over to the lodge to pick us up for another fun-filled day of sight-seeing…