Monterey & Carmel: Is This Real Life?

Our second full day in San Francisco, my mom booked us for a day trip down to Monterey, Carmel, and the 17-Mile Drive. When I found out, I wasn’t keen on the idea (and not just because I don’t like bus tours). We came all the way to San Francisco, just to sightsee somewhere else?

However, in retrospect, I am SO glad she did. The 17-Mile Drive has some of the most gorgeous scenery I’ve ever seen in my life.

Cannery Row, Monterey

Our first stop was the town of Monterey. Okay, I could handle Monterey. It was pretty, yes, but I had already expected the Pacific Coast to be sunny and cheerful, like most of the annoyingly-cheery Californians that I’d met abroad. This I could take.

But then we got to this part of the 17-Mile Drive. It was so beautiful, I started to feel legitimate anger. My brain just could not fathom the color palette before me.

Such vibrant colors - Ocean View Boulevard

I mean, I grew up surrounded by corn fields and dairy farms. I experienced my first milk factory field trip when I was 5, and it was only a mile down the road from my house. How could I have gone 21 years without knowing these shades of blue exist? How, nature, HOW?

The final straw was what came after the Drive. No, it wasn’t Pebble Beach, the Lone Cypress, or Bird Rock (which was actually quite populated with sea lions) – yawn.

Our last stop was the one-square-mile town of Carmel-by-the-sea. If ever there was a place that personified the word “quaint” – this was it.

Carmel: definition of quaint

And the beach! I always thought I’d hated beaches, but it turns out I’ve just been going to the wrong ones (…East Coast ones).

This white sandy beach, coupled with perfect blue waves, softly crashing and cresting while the sun shone and a salty breeze blew through my hair…well I had it. That was it. I couldn’t fight anymore.

I had fallen in love with the West Coast.