Old Fisherman’s Wharf – Monterey, CA

Actually, the mini-break was my trip out to Northern California – a familial inspired excursion (which is a fancy way of saying, I went to visit my parents).  The Monterey portion of the trip was more like a one day jaunt when a happy circumstance arose to meet up with friends in the coastal city.   So, I guess that makes my trip to Monterey, CA more of a “micro-break” (a totally made up concept, which makes me some sort of trend setter, in my own mind anyway).

So, what does one do with friends and only one day, or rather several hours to spend in Monterey, California?  Duh, go where the food is, of course!  More particularly, Old Fisherman’s Wharf for the clam chowder!

Why is that guy’s floating head in my photo?

And in case you are one of those people who does not do any research on restaurants in advance (like me), not to worry!  For, as we walked down the wharf every restaurant offered us a sample of their version of clam chowder, daring us to consider each the best on the wharf – which made me feel a bit like Gordon Ramsay,  with cuter shoes but not near as coiffed.  Finally we settled on a restaurant mostly because they clearly had the best chowder that day, but also so I could raz my husband, who shares the moniker (ok, he is making me clarify,  “only the Jim part”), about it later.

Hey you people, get your mitts off of my samples!

With the remaining time, I took a walk over to the neighboring pier on San Carlos Beach.

Once to the end of the pier, I found massive amounts of Sea Lions just “chillin’” in the sun. Stuffed as I was with sample clam chowder, bowl of clam chowder, bread, calamari and the most amazing oyster crackers ever, I was vastly tempted to join them…they, however, did not seem entirely receptive to the idea.

Not the most hospitable group of mammals…unless you are big, brown and have flippers.

In conclusion, I came away with four pertinent pieces of information from my Micro-Break in Monterey, CA.

1. Sea Lions are major posers.

Posers #1

Poser #2

2.  If you are planning on leaving your boat or yacht in the harbor, beware!  Although the Sea Lions are vastly fastidious when it comes to leaving their rock lounge in order to shall we say, answer the call of nature,  when they get onto your boat, they are not overly concerned about it – giving a whole new perspective on “swabbing the deck” (Thank you conservationist guy who had nothing better to do than answer my stupid questions).

3. If you go to Monterey and don’t at least sample the clam chowder you should be drawn and quartered…or at least made to swab those decks.

Old Fisherman’s Wharf. Monterey, California

4.  I will be back.

For more travel posts:  Sweet Spot Travels