The Phallic Road Trip

Yesterday morning, we got out of our hotel here in Monterey at around 11, making our way to a cafe & bakery that our guidebook recommended. We were a little too early for lunch, but had solid breakfasts.

Unfortunately, after the perfect beach weather on Sunday, yesterday was cloudy and cold, a good day for a light jacket, shorts and some flip-flops.

Instead of heading towards the water, we followed another one of our guidebook’s recommendations: the Dennis the Menace Park — a big playground designed by the comic’s creator, Hank Ketchum. Lonely Planet built it up to be a little more ridiculous than it was, but it was still a pretty cool playground. We rode the swings, tumbled down the slides, climbed the big train at the front — it was a sight to see, pictures to come soon.

Having finished running around, we made our way to Monterey’s most notable attraction, the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Had some pretty cool exhibits, a good way to pass a couple of hours.

We walked along Cannery Row afterwards, the town’s waterfront street with restaurants and shops. Wandered for a little while, stopped off at a store of hot sauces, before heading to our next stop: an indoor mini-golf course, where we battled it out over 18 holes of black light putt putt.

We all made enemies, including me with a shark on hole 5, and Chris with an octopus windmill, but the best had to be John’s drive off the head of this otter that almost took out Justin. A seemingly simple hole, John picked up and took the 6.

A little hungry after our childhood adventures, we made our way to McDonald’s for, yes, happy meals — though we ended up getting the “Mighty Kids” meals, since those had double cheeseburgers. Sadly, they did not think we needed the toys.

We decided to then make our way to nearby Carmel, taking the longer, 17-mile scenic route, that wound along the coastline and past the Pebble Beach golf course. Chris and I were amused, John and Justin were pretty unexcited.

Driving around Carmel, we looked for a hotel, but couldn’t find anything reasonable, so we returned to the same place back in Monterey. We grabbed dinner at the Mucky Duck downtown — no relation to the one Justin and I have been to in Captiva — before coming back here and calling it a night.

This morning, Chris mentioned that he’s still tired, that the playground took a lot out of him. Justin’s response: “Nothing like a 100-mile drive at 25 MPH to cure that.”

Today, we’re heading down through Big Sur — a scenic, slow, winding drive down Highway 1. Not much until we get to Cambria at the end later this afternoon, where we’ll probably settle for the night. That’ll put us close to Hearst Castle if we choose to do that tomorrow, before making our way to San Luis Obispo on Wednesday night.

Missed breakfast again this morning — these hotels make ’em too early.

We’re in Monterey today; going to wander around the bay here before making our way to Carmel tonight.

We left Mountain View yesterday morning, and after a lunch stop at Sizzler — per Justin’s request — we made our way down to Santa Cruz, about 35 miles away.

It was the perfect beach day and the weekend crowd was there in full force. We didn’t settle into a parking space and get to the boardwalk until about 2.

Since we have the whole week to enjoy the beach, we tried to keep ourselves out of the sun some yesterday, not to burn and to avoid the crowds.

Aside from its beaches, Santa Cruz particularly prides itself on its vibrant boardwalk, so we spent most of the afternoon there. For almost a full two hours, we screwed around in this big arcade, acting like kids who could play as many games as we wanted — from pinball and skee-ball, to cheesy games geared towards getting tickets. We all walked away winning a couple of shot glasses.

Afterwards, we wandered down the boardwalk, stopping off to play a few carnival games and ride the Giant Dipper, a rollercoaster built in 1924 that was really fun. As for old wooden rollercoasters though, I still think the Cyclone at Coney Island is more intense.

It was cool just hanging out on the boardwalk, which has been there since 1907.

Around 5, we walked towards the quaint, more yuppie downtown area to find dinner and catch the Cubs/White Sox game. We ended up at a place called 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall, which actually had 99 beers to choose from.

After a quick stop at Coldstone, we headed back to our car and made our way to Monterey, getting here at around 9:30. We had considered staying in Santa Cruz, but found that it was about half the price to stay in Monterey, about 45 miles down the coast.

The guidebook recommends a good sandwich place that we might try for lunch, as well as a few attractions, so we’ll see what we want to do. If we settle in Carmel tonight, we can spend Tuesday driving through Big Sur.

Heading out this morning in a little while to grab some food and map out our next few days. We have until Friday night to make it down to Los Angeles for a game between the Dodgers and Angels, just need to figure out where we want to stop along the way.

We finished touring San Francisco yesterday, getting up early to make a 10 o’clock boat to Alcatraz, where we took a tour that focused on various escape attempts over the years. We wound up from the loading dock, past some of the old administrative buildings and up to the cell blocks, which definitely looked like a miserable place to be. Decommissioned in 1963, it’s great that the National Park Service has been able to preserve it, since it is a truly one-of-a-kind piece of Americana.

We were near Fisherman’s Wharf when we got back to the city, so we headed there with all of the other tourists for lunch before heading across the Bay Bridge and into Oakland.

Got to McAfee Coliseum before the gates opened, giving Chris the chance to buy an extra ticket so that he could tag along for his first Major League Baseball game. Before the game, we joined the crowds at the annual Beerfest celebration inside the park, where we got some cool souvenir mugs and sampled a couple of different beers from local and national breweries.

The A’s and Marlins traded runs in the first four innings, ending the fourth with Oakland up 3-2, before a Cody Ross solo shot tied the game in the top of the 8th. In the 9th, Florida loaded the bases against Oakland’s closer, Huston Street, before Dan Uggla dropped a bases-clearing, three-RBI double into left field.

An RBI-single in the bottom of the 9th pulled the A’s to within two before they loaded the bases. With two outs, Ryan Sweeney lined a shot down the first-base line after running the count full; but a diving stop by Jorge Cantu saved the drive that would’ve scored at least two. Though the home team lost 6-4, it was an exciting finish, and a good first game for Chris.

We drove about 50 miles southwest of Oakland and settled in Mountain View. We’ll sit down with our guidebook in a little while and make some plans, probably stopping off around Santa Cruz tonight.

Little tough to wake up this morning, John and I stayed out till last call; Chris and Justin came back a little earlier.

Again yesterday, we wandered the city, planning our stops as we went. We grabbed brunch across the street at the same diner as the day before, before getting a post-lunch snack at a Thai restaurant that Chris’s guidebook recommended.

From there, we attempted to navigate the public transportation system to get to Coit Tower, a look-out vista in the North Beach area of the city. The line for the trolley was way too long; eventually, we found the 30 bus, which we packed into and rode towards Washington Square, before getting off and wandering up a few hills. The views from the top of the tower were great.

Afterwards, we headed back down into the Little Italy section and settled at a bar and grill called Rogue, which had a lot of its own brews on tap. Kyle joined us, and a few rounds later, Chris and Justin ordered Kobe burgers. I saw a Kobe corndog on the menu and had to try it. It was damn good, but I could not taste a bit of Kobe beef in it.

We then followed Kyle’s direction towards the Marina district, stopping off once before making it down to Bay Street and near the water, with great views of the Golden Gate Bridge. We stopped off at a random bar, where we stayed until the end of the night.

Up early to get to Pier 33 by 9:30 for our tour of Alcatraz. First, we need to finish packing up our stuff and put it in the car. After the tour, we’re going to stop by a Vietnamese restaurant that Chris’s dad recommended in the area, before getting back in our car and heading across the bay to the game in Oakland.

Not sure where we’re crashing tonight, probably somewhere around San Jose. We still need to sit down and map out our next week.

Tomorrow, the coast highway trek begins.

About to head out for another day of wandering. We saw quite a bit of the city yesterday, so I’m not sure where today will lead, but we’re taking it as it comes.

Yesterday, we made our way through an art show in Union Square, Market Street, the Yerba Buena Gardens and down through the Financial District — stopping off in a toy store and 7/11 for Slurpees — to the Embarcadero, walking from Pier 1 to Pier 39, where Fisherman’s Wharf is.

Kyle and Brad met us at a seafood restaurant at Pier 39, where we had many rounds, before making our way to In-N-Out for a late dinner. We then, for the second night in a row, fought the hills to get to another bar — this time, after drinking and eating more than the night before.

By the time we arrived at Bar None at around 11, we were all exhausted and too full to really drink, so we called it a night. Sounds like Brad is going to be busy for the next couple of days, but hopefully we’ll see him again near Los Angeles. Justin’s friend, Kyle, should be getting off work soon.

We were hoping to do a night tour of Alcatraz today, but found out yesterday that it was sold out; so instead we’re going tomorrow morning before making our way to Oakland for our next game.