Monterey CA {The Place We Call Home... for now}

It is a glamorous life being a military wife. I am currently laying on my completely bare mattress eating the last remaining food items out of my freezer which happen to be an "uncrustable" kids PB&J and a bag of lima beans, while I am stranded at home alone with no husband, no car, no kids {hallelujah}, practically no food, and a house full of boxes wondering how on earth we have accumulated an estimated 10,192 pounds of stuff?! The packers are busy downstairs packing up the last 3 to 5 thousand pounds of our belongings while I am supposed to be cleaning. But one can only scrub a bath tub for so long before they need to take a break and have a bag of lima beans and a frozen PB&J. Please try not to be jealous, I know you all want my life right now.

In all seriousness though, I feel ridiculously blessed to get to live in the amazing places the Navy has sent us over the past 7 years and Monterey is no exception. I knew nothing about this place when we moved here and it is pretty much nothing how I imagined, but regardless, it is challenging to let go of the very full life we have built here.

As a military wife, I am always meeting other spouses destined for the places we have already lived asking about living there and for any recommendations. So while Monterey is still fresh in my heart and my mind, I thought I would put off the cleaning a few minutes longer to pass on some of our local favorites for those of you who may end up living or visiting here in the future.

Some general information:

Monterey is on the central coast of California. It stays around 60 degrees most of the year. "Summer" occurs in September and October when the temperatures reach into the sweltering {ha} 70's. I do not recommend getting in the ocean, I once put my toe in and nearly died of hypothermia. The area is full of micro-climates and the weather can be significantly different 5 minutes down the road. Something to pay attention to if you're house hunting.

All the little towns from Carmel up Route 1 through Marina are very close together and there is practically no traffic. Unless it's the week of the car show or the motorcycle event, in which case, just stay out of town and pray for it to end.

Things to do:

Farmer's Market. There are farmer's markets year round practically everyday somewhere in the area. The largest is Tuesday evenings 4-7pm on Alvarado Street in downtown Monterey. Beautiful produce, delicious food vendors, street performers and more. My other favorite farmer's market for produce, meat/fish, and flowers is Friday morning 10am-1pm at MPC.

Monterey Bay Aquarium. Really nice aquarium, year-long passes are very affordable, kids love it. Make sure you bring quarters for parking.

MY Museum. The children's museum downtown is really fun for toddlers and elementary aged kids. Year-long passes are very affordable.

Earthbound Farm Stand. A fun place to go in Carmel Valley in the fall. They have a corn maze, gardens, a pumpkin patch, and a little store. Check online for schedule of events.

Carmel Valley Tasting Rooms. A bunch of wineries have tasting rooms in Carmel Valley within walking distance of one another. Makes for a fun afternoon.

Coastal Trail. There is a paved coastal trail along the water that runs for miles and miles along the old railroad. Great for running, biking, strolling. It goes right by Del Monte Beach, Lover's Point, Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row, and the Aquarium. There is a free parking lot with access right across from the Del Monte gate to NPS.

Beach Bonfires. Most of the beaches you can have fires on. Our favorite is Carmel Beach because the sunset is breathtaking on a clear night from there. Make sure you are South of 10th street to have a fire though. And don't forget the s'mores!

Point Lobos. Really pretty hiking without leaving Monterey!

Gizdich Ranch Fruit Picking. The ranch is about 30 minutes from Monterey in Watsonville and they have various pick-your-own fruits available in season. Check their schedule online. We've been berry picking and apple picking there and the kids loooove it! There is also a nice little picnic area near their little barn store and make sure to try the Apple-Ollalieberry juice- yum!

Nearby:

San Francisco. Less than 2 hours North.

Santa Cruz. 45 minutes North. Check out the summer concert series on the beach boardwalk there.

Big Sur. Drive about an hour South for gorgeous uninhabited coastal views and some good hiking.

Sonoma & Napa. Drive 2 and a half hours North, or better yet, take a long weekend, and do some wine and olive oil tasting and tour some beautiful wineries.

Hearst Castle. Gorgeous old California estate 2 hours South.

Tahoe. 5 hours Northeast. Not exactly "nearby" but absolutely worth a trip!

Santa Barbara. 4 hours South, also definitely worth a trip!

Restaurants:

I think I will mourn the loss of the most delicious place I have ever lived more than anything else about California!

Red House Cafe. Home-y comfort food where you can taste the freshness. Quaint and comfortable little location in Pacific Grove. Wish I could eat there breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day!

Passionfish. Specializes in sustainable seafood menu items. A little pricier but unforgettably good.

Esteban. Spanish tapas place in the Casa Munras hotel in Monterey. Everything on the menu is delicious and it's probably the place we go most frequently on date night (like last night!).

Restaurant 1833. My favorite place for ambiance! And the food does not disappoint! More of a special-occassion type place. We have reservations with our beloved small group from church for our last night in town.

Trailside Cafe. One of my favorite places to meet friends for lunch after a walk on the trail or a morning at the close-by aquarium.

Chopstix. I had lunch nearly every single Sunday for 3 years at this amazing Vietnamese place. My favorite Pho anywhere {and I have lived in Southeast Asia, so that's sayin something}. You know you are a regular when the owner gives you a big hug and cries on your last visit before your move. Yep, that happened yesterday.

The Forge in the Forest. Another favorite place to meet girlfriends for lunch while shopping in Carmel-by-the-Sea. Try the San Francisco fondue- yum!

Lilian's. This Italian place is up in Santa Cruz, but worth the drive. And make sure you call ahead or you'll be waiting for at least an hour, for good reason!

Thai Bistro in new Monterey.

Crystalfish in new Monterey for sushi!

Full Moon in old Monterey for Chinese. Best Chinese restaurant ever! Think white meat chicken, fresh veggies and the best egg flower soup you'll ever taste!

Turtle Bay Taqueria for fish tacos

Other recommendations:

Pediatrician: Monterey Pediatric Group, Dr Dwelle & Dr Bennett. I cannot say enough good things about either of these doctors!

Family Practice: Pacific Medical Group, Dr Sweet

Obstetrician: Dr Keith (who I had and loved), Dr Alexander & Dr Walker are also wonderful according to several friends

Hair Dresser: Chris at Venus Salon

Preschool: I cannot say enough good things about Mother's Morning Out at First Presbyterian.

Church: we love Shoreline Community Church

I know there are many great doctors and hairdressers and preschools and churches but I can only speak from my experience and we have been so pleased with all of those mentioned above.

Hopefully those of you potentially moving to or visiting this area that we currently call "home" find some of this information helpful! I may be looking for similar recommendations from my fellow military spouses the next time we are moving to an unfamiliar place!

California Dreamin

Over the weekend we had a few of our closest friends over one last time while here in our home in California. We did a "California Dreamin" themed party inspired by our memories here {game nights & s'mores on the beach} and the delicious, fresh produce found at our local farmers market that we enjoy weekly. We had such a wonderful time enjoying the company of some cherished friends and sharing many laughs during highly competitive battle-of-the-sexes rounds of Catch Phrase and Guesstures.

 I am a little obsessed with the gorgeous {and cheap} flowers available at the farmers market. My flower arranging skills are a bit lacking... but the natural beauty shines through even when you just plunk them by the handful in some old mason jars.

 I had fun going down "memory lane" and creating this photo banner of some of our favorite CA memories. Since we moved here we have been blessed by the birth of both our children. We've enjoyed road trips to visit friends, friend's visiting us, sporting events, birth's of friend's babies, military balls, birthday parties, halloween parties, Christmas parties, charity fundraisers, and lots of globetrotting. It was tough narrowing down the photos to contain them on just two walls! This has been such a wonderful season in our lives.

 Sam and I love California cuisine. In all honesty, we are a little obsessed with it! Everything is so fresh and, for the most part, healthy. The menu was completely inspired by California favorites and almost every menu item featured a key ingredient from our local farmer's market.

 Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am completely in love with peaches. Hands down my favorite food on the planet. I prefer them plain, right off the tree, but since peach season is so short and I can't bear to go 10 months without them {and canned peaches definitely do not count}, last year I learned to make peach butter so I could still enjoy a taste of summer on my toast year round. So when thinking of a party favor, this was a natural fit. All homemade with fresh local peaches from the farmers market! Other "peach" menu items included peach cobbler and fresh, homemade peach ice cream. 

 Second to peaches, I think my favorite farmers market item are heirloom tomatoes. I was never in love with tomatoes till living here and now I can't get enough of them. We have the most gorgeous varieties all with their own distinct flavors here. I used a Pioneer Woman bruschetta recipe along with a delicious local CA aged basalmic for these and I think they were my favorite bites of the night. 

 Artichokes are a local specialty. You would not believe the delicious things they do with them around here! I kinda copped out and just used canned artichokes and a less-than-creative spinach-and-artichoke dip but it was still yummy.

 Another local specialty is garlic. During the harvest you can smell it as you drive through Gilroy {nearby town}. So I roasted some with rosemary and added it to our favorite family hummus recipe along with pita bread from our favorite falafel place at the farmers market.

 CA cows must be anatomically different than "other" cows because here we have a cut of steak called "tri-tip" that is pretty much unavailable in the other parts of the country where we have lived. It is the easiest and most delicious cut of meat we have ever worked with on the grill and this recipe with homemade BBQ sauce has become a staple in our family and always gets rave reviews when we make it for company.

 It wouldn't be CA without fish tacos! We used Monterey Bay Halibut from the farmer's market for this.

D photo bomb!

 We obviously don't have a beach in our backyard {although you can see the bay from our front porch}, but one of our favorite CA activities are bonfires on the beach complete with roasted marshmallows and s'mores. I maintain that the most useful thing I have ever found on pinterest is that you can roast marshmallows over sternos! Surprisingly good flavor too. So we set up a little marshmallow roasting station on our back porch. 

Deconstructed s'more

Marshmallow mouth!

"Look at mommy and look happy!" haha!

Sticky fingers

I was laughing too hard {and too fully invested} in the games to get any good pictures. Such a fun night! So glad we were able to do this one last time before moving. Monterey will always be a special place for our family and these people will always have a special place in our hearts.