Quick Highlights from Monterey & Carmel

Over spring break, I spent very little time in Monterey (probably for the best) and even less time in Carmel (definitely a missed opportunity). Although Monterey is kind of "meh," one highlight was this really tasty restaurant that we ate at the first night: the Montrio Bistro. A lot of the other restaurants in Monterey are over-priced, tourist-targeting seafood houses. You can definitely skip them despite the high ratings on Yelp. Check out Montrio Bistro instead. It's got an interesting menu and equally interesting decor. The other highlight of Monterey was the sea lions. Do sea lions ever get old? They're just so adorably chubby! I was especially fond of the one in the far right corner who is resting his head on his own back. That is flexibility.

The highlights of Carmel, on the other hand, are just about everything. Such good shopping for art and home goods and clothes. Such cute inns to stay at. And such great pizza! I grabbed a butternut squash pizza pie to go from La Bicyclette on our way out of town. It was so good that it was almost gone by the time we got back on the highway (which was only about 5 minutes down the road). Carmel is now on my mental list of places that I absolutely have to come back to. I can send the boyfriend off to golf all day while I browse the boutiques and wander down alleys!