Oh well, here are some pictures from Fisherman's Wharf. I did hear some sea lions or seals, but couldn't see anything. Fisherman's Wharf was rather dead and didn't have much to do, but I did find 2 1/18 scale Ford GTs (so little Luke might now have 3 more cars - the GTs and the Shelby I won - to add to his collection). :-)
From here, I went over to Cannery Row. Any of you read John Steinbeck's "Cannery Row"? Well, it was a classic novel written based on Monterey's Cannery Industry, and alludes to some of the buildings that there there. I'm going to throw in some quotes from the book with the pictures. :-)
Like I was, you may also be wondering, what the heck is "Cannery Row"? Cannery Row has to do with Monterey's sardine industry. As in many small towns that flank the sea, many people made their living on the water. About 5000 years ago, the first fisherman and divers came to Monterey, harvesting abalone and fishing for sardines, anchovies, and rockfishes. The first actual "cannery" was owned by a Japanese man in the late 1800s. Other canners followed suit and the streets in this small area were soon busy making Monterey the "Sardine Capital of the World". At it's peak, there were 19 canneries and reduction plants with hundreds of workers bringing in millions of dollars to the local economy.
Although people really don't like sardines (yuck!), during the Great Depression, demand grew because they were healthy and cheap. Cheap labor was available to help and there you have it - the sardine boom. Scientists monitoring the sardine fishery gave warnings to the sardine industry that they would run out of fish if they kept up that pace, but they didn't listen. Whether it was overfishing or the environment, the sardines disappeared. (No need to worry, they are back now.)
I started at San Carlos Beach and walked toward the Aquarium (at the other end of Cannery Row). One thing I noticed is that despite the old buildings and decay, there were lots of bright and colorful flowers thrown in, making it an interesting combination.
There used to be 16 covered crossovers, similar to the "Sardine Products Co, Inc" one, connecting the factories and other buildings. Now there are probably closer to 1/2 that amount.
Cannery Row is right on the ocean. There are still pipes under the water and remains from the industry against the water.
More flowers:
Annie used to work at the Chart House many moons ago. I remember when she came to visit me back in 1997 when I was still in CA and we went to one of them. Lots of fun! Can't believe they are still around. I haven't seen a Chart House in a long, long time!
Across from the Chart House was an empty lot with rusty cylinder canisters. This used to be San Xavier Cannery, and the cannery scenes from "Clash by Night" starring Marilyn Monroe were filmed there.
This gallery was once a reduction plant - a place where you could boil the heads, tails, bones, and other leftovers from the sardines, and make chicken feed out of it.
"The whole street rumbles and groans and screams and rattles while the silver rivers of fish pour in out of the boots." -John Steinbeck
"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostolgia, a dream." -John Steinback
This was Doc's (Ed Rickett's) laboratory. Doc was John Steinbeck's best friend and was Doc in his book.
The market that was where Wing Chong is now was part of John's book "Cannery Row", but the owner made his fortune buying and selling squid rather than sardines.
These were worker houses, decorated inside to match the different nationalities of those working.
Instead of going back the same way I came, I went up a block and walked back on the Recreational Trail. There were murals of what the people were like painted on building walls.
A caboose (for Ralphie). :)
"'Everyone who knew him was indebted to him.' And everyone who thought of him thought next, 'I really must do something nice for Doc.'" -John Steinbeck
After Cannery Row, I got in my car and drove to Carmel, which has some beautiful homes, and a small quaint downtown area with small shops, antiques, and lots of clothes and pricey restaurants. It reminded me of Winter Park, FL. I drove through and went to the historic part of Carmel to the Mission.
I had ironically just come from the San Carlos Beach! The San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo Mission was founded in 1771. There was a museum inside that had some of the original stain glass pieces, artwork, and other religious paraphernalia.
I started in the gardens, which were all in bloom and quite beautiful!
The cemetery was small and there were pink and purple metallic seashells and stones outlining the graves.
There was a grade school and courtyard on the other side of the Basilica.
This was a gigantic tree with branches all woven together. It looked impressive standing underneath it!
You could kneel down and pray, light candles, sit down in a pew and reflect, or just walk around in awe at the beauty inside the Basilica.
Choir loft:
From the Carmel Mission I drove to Pebble Beach and drove the scenic 17 mile drive.
Lots of seals on this rock.
Prairie Dogs make holes everywhere. I thought it was a squirrel at first.
Seals playing in the water.
The lone Cypress tree.
Ghost tree.
I stopped to eat lunch in the Tap Room at the Lodge at Pebble Beach. Never been there when there weren't cars on the greens!!!!!
I did not meet the man of my dreams at the Lodge, but I still had a lovely lunch and left with a full stomach.
After lunch, I said good-bye to Pebble Beach and Monterey, and headed down to the West Pinnacles. I (finally) obtained an annual national park pass (which would have been cheaper had I saved all my receipts, but was still only an additional $20). There isn't a lot to do at this national monument, but it wasn't that far away, and hiking through talus caves from an extinct volcano sounded pretty darn cool! I was not disappointed. I drove to the end of the park way and ended up by a picnic area and parking lot.
The main trail was for the Balconies Cave. The trail starts with an easy 1 mile hike to the cave. There were a few places along the way that veered off toward the rock walls for climbers, but there were surprisingly good signs along the way.
Getting into the cave meant crawling under rocks...
And walking through very thin passageways.
The area to climb through was very narrow and dark. It looks light below because of the flash, but was pitch dark without my flashlight. If you were claustrophobic, this would not be a good hike to go on!!
Climbing down into the cave and through it would have been much easier with a headlight, but I made due.
The cave was only dark for a short while before seeing the light on the other side.
I did not see any bats in the cave. After exiting the darkness, I was able to stand again. This time, I followed the trail for 1.7 miles up to the cliffs (about 150 ft elevation change) and had some great views of the extinct volcano on the way back to the parking lot.
The dark spot at the bottom of this cliff is 2 people who just finished climbing to the top and descending down. I'm guessing this rock is a 5.10 in difficulty. It's higher than it looks as you can see from the size of the people below. :-)
This hike was only 2.5-3.0 miles and my knee and ankle were still hurting from the long hike I did last week in Yosemite. At least I'm keeping the hiking down this week! Time to leave the park and go to Salinas to get a motel.
I am a few days behind in the blog and will try to catch up in a few days. My days have been very full (the way I like them), so it doesn't leave much time to spend on the computer... I do have some pretty exciting things to add, so make sure to stay tuned!! :-)
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