Friday -March 10

 
What a fun day in California!   With the 3-hour time difference, we were up early and off to breakfast at 7 AM.    Found the Carmel Bakery downtown and what a winner    This is the oldest continually running business in same building in Carmel dating back to 1896.     Neat old-time music was playing, old black and white photos on the walls including one of Clint Eastwood as mayor and most importantly, the lavish display of pastries!
Toughest decision for the day….which do we want???    I chose the cinnamon roll and I do think it was the best ever!    Mark had a raisin/walnut Danish…..yum, yum, yum!   
A small section of the luscious pastries at the Carmel Bakery 

We drove to Pebble Beach and walked around the incredibly beautiful grounds, checked out the lodge, shops, etc.    What a golfer’s paradise – it is $525 to play 1 round.
The Monterey Peninsula is breathtaking as we drove along the water with so many rocks and the beautiful Pacific as the sea came crashing to shore.   It was a cool start to the day and cloudy with not the best visibility over the water.    We walked around Cannery Row in Monterey, got some hot chocolate and enjoyed watching a large group of young moms exercising in the park with their babies in strollers right next to them.
 
Lots of Moms and strollers in the park exercising
 
So picturesque
And then we were off to Morgan Hill (1 hour north).     We checked out the wedding/reception venue high in the hills and then had a light lunch downtown at Coffee Guys.    What a neat downtown – very quaint but oodles of restaurants and outdoor cafes, pubs, bars, etc.    With the mountains in the background, reminded us a little of Durango, CO minus the palm trees.
Checked into our hotel and had a nice relaxing afternoon waiting for the others to arrive.
I forgot to mention how impressed we were with JetBlue yesterday.....since it was a long flight they offered us all the free snacks we wanted including chips, cookies, bottled water, etc.   And just before landing, they gave us each a hot wipe to clean our hands!
Late afternoon we hung out in the lobby as family started arriving.   Then 15 of us went to "Odeum" a wonderful restaurant in an old grainery that had the neatest ambiance, excellent service and  fabulous food and drinks!    Wow....this was an incredible experience.
Back to the hotel where we had a room to play cards, visit or whatever!
10 of Mark's 12 siblings + spouses are here along with 4 cousins and 3 spouses.
 
 
 

 

 

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