Monterey, California Coast

Cannery Row, MontereyTsunami Warning near Cannery Row
Newsagent/Coffee Stop

One of Numerous Artichoke Fields

Huge Artichoke Crop

Historic Sixteen Mile House

Today after a continental breakfast in our Monterey hotel, we drove up to Cannery Row, made famous by John Steinbeck's novel. The area is very touristy now, but in a lovely location right on the water. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the tsunami warning though, just to remind you of the weather hazards over here.

We continued our trip north following the ocean on HWY 1 en route to San Francisco. We passed a lot of strawberry fields (they are ripe now) and fields of artichokes. They looked so healthy and quite large too. We called into a fruit & veg stall and bought some bananas (69c/lb)and some red seedless grapes and an apple all for $1.50 USD.

Tomorrow we drop the rental car off at the San Francisco airport, so I deliberately found a hotel that is a 6 minute drive away and booked it on Expedia. After a freshen up we headed out to dinner at 6pm and on recommendation from the desk, we dined at a restaurant called Sixteen Mile House. It was originally built as a hotel in 1872 and later acquired by Wells Fargo, whose stages ran from San Francisco to Kansas City. Over the years, the original building was used as a hotel with a parlor and a saloon, and then a general store. Later on, it became a speakeasy, house of ill fame and a gambling hall. Provisions and good water always seemed available and at the time of the San Francisco earthquake and fire in 1906, a small tent city sprang up around the building. They served a great rib steak for us tonight.