Into Monterey
This was easier said than done as the TomTom couldn’t recognise North Freemont in Monterey. The closest we could get was a bar on Freemont and we had to hope that we could find the hotel from there.
We passed Moss Landing which is in the ‘middle’ of Monterey Bay and is where we had been whale watching in the past. After the power station at Moss Landing the road stopped being a divided highway and we even had to put headlights back on for safety. The fields either side of the highway were a hive of activity. The fields of vegetables stretched as far as the eye could see.
We left US 1 and turned left and after a short drive through residential streets we turned left onto Freemont. This was a part of Monterey that we’d never visited before. There were restuarants, businesses and hotels on both sides as we drove along. After we had passed a Safeway we passed a sign marking the end of Monterey City limits. Time to turn around.
Back along Freemont we passed the junction with Casa Verde, where we had joined, and our hotel was only a couple of hundred yards down the road on the left. We were still early for regular check-in and after a few calls to house keeping we were promised our room at 12.30 pm.
Lousy lunch at Dennys
Back along Freemont we had seen a Dennys and we went back there for lunch. In the past we we have had breakfasts at this chain and we should have kept to that part of the menu.
Our $30 meal of lunch of sandwiches was not great. We had had apologies about the wrong bread being available and should have taken this as a warning to switch meals or even restaurant. The sandwiches when they came were barely edible.
A homeless veteran was at the counter and the staff wanted him to leave but he was making his coffee last. A lady behind us left $5 for him to have more food which was less than popular with the staff. The staff should worry more about their food rather than hassling veterans.
Our room was ready when we were back at the hotel. We had to drive round to the back of the sprawling hotel to get to the block with our room. It was a surprise to see how big the room was and to have walk-in shower big enough for a football team (well almost!) Our room had hard floor and no carpets but we had a ‘fridge and a microwave. There was only one suitcase to empty after our re-pack in San Francisco.