Monterey and Carmel, Sunday, April 14,2013

We departed  Morro Bay this morning and went 137 miles to Marina, Ca. just north of Monterey.  We had gotten close to this area yesterday on the Pacific Coast Highway (Ca.-1) but today we traveled a more accommodating route for the motorhome on Freeway 101.  We drove through agricultural areas of vineyards grape arbors and fields of vegetable as lettuces and broccoli or cauliflowers.  The surrounding mountains were not the green mountains along the coast but brown.  One area we went by there were many oil or gas wells in the valley and on the mountain ridge.
We were in Marina Dunes RV Park by 12:30pm.  Marina Dunes RV Park is the most expensive park we have been to thus far at $70.00/night and we only have 30-amp electric and it does not live up to the description or the ratings in the “Trailer Life Campground Directory”- such a disappointment.  The ironic thing about the electric is 2 sites beside us have 50-amp service but the sites are too small for most  motorhomes that use 50-amps.  Tom questioned their rates and was told that all sites cost the same.  Campgrounds are not abundant in this area so we did not have choices.  Two nights here and then we will move on.
We ate some lunch and then drove about the area of Monterey.  Being Sunday, the streets in Cannery Row were busy with people walking and shopping.  We stopped at the Visitor’s Center to get some local maps.  We then drove to Carmel-By-The-Sea .   Carmel is immediately south of Monterey, in fact, there isn’t much of a break between the 2 cities.  We returned to the Carmel Mission since we were unable to see much yesterday.  This church is now considered a Basilica and is somewhat different looking inside from the other Missions that we visited.  Rooms adjoining the church that were used in the early years (late 1700’s) are still set up in the fashion of those early years.  We learned today that this Mission was the 2nd of the 21 Missions established in California.
From the Mission we drove  the Scenic Drive through Carmel  that has the beautiful ocean on one side of the road and high end houses on the other side.  Finding a parking place, we then walked about the area admiring the houses and watching surfers trying to catch the perfect wave.  We returned to the motorhome by 5:30pm and called it a day for sight seeing.