Travel Bites: Monterey Bay

California has such a wide variety and diversity to the State that everyone can find a place they love. Beautiful beaches, snowy mountains and sunny skies, what else do you need? My new home is one such place. I’d like to introduce you to Monterey Bay!

I had so much fun playing tourist this weekend, which started out at 6am watching a gorgeous sunrise from my balcony. My boyfriend and I hit the ground running as soon as the sun began reflecting on the water.

Monterey is filled with otters, fisherman, and delicious seafood. It’s also home to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Cannery Row, Fisherman’s Wharf, and the annual Monterey Jazz Festival. As small as the town is, it certainly has a vast flood of tourists that rolls through the streets every week. We've lived in Monterey for only 6 months, so even we're new to the area.

Since I moved here just recently, I decided to find out a bit about the history of Monterey’s Old Town. The City has an intriguing history that most people may not know. You can take a tour of what was once the capitol of California. Or if you're a lover of books theres a tour for the famous author John Steinbeck (whose birthday is actually today!).

Did you know that Monterey was also the site of the 1846 battle during the Mexican-American War? After winning, the U.S. Navy raised the Stars and Stripes and claimed California for the United States. That’s pretty incredible! In addition, many of California’s “firsts” occurred in Monterey. These include California’s first live theatre, first brick house, and first printing press, which printed “The Californian,” California’s first newspaper. I’m pretty impressed with my new neighborhood!

Monterey is also known for having more than its share of schools. I know of at least 4 within a few miles of each other. One huge school is the DLI (Defense Language Institute). If you’re serving in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, or Coast Guard, you can choose from over 40 languages to study. Military groups from all over the world and the U.S. Department of Defense use DLI as their primary place to teach military personnel these languages.

The buildings are unique and pretty old. And in such a quaint and historic town, I must admit, it’s nice to live somewhere that doesn’t have 24-hour traffic, so I can walk all over town if I choose!

My boyfriend and I had so much fun! We were tourist for a day and loved every sunny minute. He and I found the best restaurants. Anywhere from the best sushi to the best Italian to the best seafood. And of course, you cant start at 6am without coffee and a donut!

We started at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Yacov stood next to me pretending to work for me, with my camera bags strapped over each shoulder, leaning to one side. I attempted to convince the Public Relations people that I needed to shoot some clips for a travel piece and of course getting in with out paying the hefty entrance fee. But alas, that department was closed for the weekend, leaving us standing at the door.

We quickly moved on to the next activity...riding along the Bayside Trail using a very odd means of transportation. I’ve ridden on tuk tuks, elephants, and camels; but I have never traveled by four-seater bicycle with a canvas awning. It is hilarious watching families of five peddling as hard as they can just to go one mile an hour. The guy at the shop let us take one of these contraptions without having to pay. What sweet people! Yacov almost ran me down at one point, but we quickly caught on how to maneuver the car-like steering wheel. It was a blast!