Saturday, January 31, 2009

Monterey, Day Two.

Our hotel is right on the beach, and I fell asleep last night to the sound of the ocean. It was so rhythmic and relaxing, it made me (almost) understand why people buy those cheesy noise machines from Brookstone. But, there's no substitution for the real thing, and I slept like a baby.

(Actually, truth be told, when we first got into bed, we heard drunken college kids laughing, screaming, and daring each other to get into the ocean. Bug and I, the two grumpy old ladies that we are, reported their drunk asses to the front desk, and the cops came and broke up their party while we giggled in bed. Haha, yes, we're total tattletale kill joys.)

I woke up this morning to this gorgeous view from our window.


God, I love the ocean. Driving along PCH yesterday and waking up to this today, I cannot imagine living anywhere else.

We were up at the crack of dawn to get Bug to her 8:30 a.m. presentation on time. She was presenting her research to the board of a medical journal, and they totally ate it up. She did a really, really good job.

I totally snapped a picture. I am turning into my mother, God help me.


I was so proud. She is such a genius. We sat through other presentations (none as good as Bug's, of course) and then skipped out during the break after running into a sorority sister of ours who was also at the conference.

We strolled around the shops in Carmel and then headed back to Monterey where we changed and then took a cab to Cannery Row to do a little wine tasting.

We found a few tasting rooms, but this one on the water was my favorite. It may have been the views, or maybe the young kid behind the counter with a heavy hand and a willingness to forget how many tastes we had drunk.


Two tasting rooms in, and we were starving for lunch (yes, we were drinking before lunch). We went to a restaurant called Fish Hopper.


We had each probably had about three glasses of wine each, and so our judgment must have been somewhat impaired because we decided a huge, flaming volcano bowl for two was a good idea.


Hmm. It was not. I'm pretty sure we ruined the ladies' lunch next to us with our cracking up.


Also, I didn't take pictures of the food, just of Bug cracking up.






I was also feeling pretty good. I decided to "draw a doggie" for our server on the receipt. I don't know.


As if that stupid volcano drink weren't enough, Bug decided our next stop was another winery. Man, oh man. Our poor wine pourer guy (what would you call them? Wine barista? Wine tour guide? Hmm.), "Rafael." We called him by name, and Bug hustled him for some free glasses, which we got. Hilarious.

After all that, we decided to take a nap. We came back to the hotel and, as you might imagine, crashed. We are going to try and rally to go do something tonight, but these old bones aren't used to this much fun (and alcohol)!

10 comments:

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weezermonkey said...

OMG at that volcano bowl! I am snickering at the dog. I think we should make it a new tradition to draw pictures on meal receipts.

I also loooove Bug's hair!

Moviegirl20 said...

That dog is so cute!
I'm glad you had a nice time away!
I'm so looking forward to being closer to the ocean.

danica and nick said...

looks like you guys had so much fun! bug, btw, is looking mighty fine! : )

your picture of the ocean inspired me to just go ahead and buy a plane tickets for my weekend visit next month --- i miss those cali beaches!!

Winnie said...

I just snorted loudly at your photo of the receipt and your drawing. Hilarious.

Cee said...

There's always time for wine-thirty.

Sarah said...

Yay for drunk pics!!! I get ridiculously giggly when I drink too.

Also, yay for Monterey. I love it there. It always feels much farther away than it is.

R said...

I personally love the pics of Bug cracking up. They made me smile. :)

amber said...

this post has so much goodness in it!

* that view! so beautiful.
* yay for bug's presentation going so well.
* wine! before lunch! two thumbs up.
* i'm cracking up at the flaming volcano bowl. my bff and i split one in vegas one night and our now husbands (then boyfriends) almost moved to a different table. ha!
* that last picture of bug laughing is really good. it's like a fun photojournalist shot. :)

wan said...

cute doggie!

okay, come on, you HAD to take a picture! HAD TO.