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Old 27 Feb 20, 01:35 PM  
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LLKJDisney
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Four Moretons Go West EASTER 2018 - Day 8 San Fran to Monterey via Santa Cruz

Day 8 - Sunday 1st April – Easter Sunday – Leave San Francisco for Monterey

We had a lie in this morning and didn’t wake up until 8am. All the fresh(ish) air and walking must have took its toll on us. We were leaving San Fran today, but I was determined to have a nice breakfast before we leave.

I had read on various trippies about The Hollywood Café which we found was just around the corner so we walked down. As it was Easter Sunday, I was expecting a big queue. When we arrived, there was a big queue but it wasn’t huge so we joined up. Thankfully the sun was shining. We got talking to a couple who lived an hour away from San Fran and just came to visit for some rest and relaxation! Also, while we were in the queue a member of staff came down the queue with a basket full of Easter eggs for the kids to pick out. We were seated in about 15-minutes as we agreed to sit outside. I am not normally a fan of outdoor eating but the sun was out and most of all we were hungry 😊. The food portions were massive, the boys shared a stack of pancakes and a fresh fruit bowl, I went for the egg’s benedict which was lovely, Lee was extra hungry and had the Ham, Cheese and Egg sandwich but he ordered 2 of them! The bill was a very reasonable $55, I would most definitely recommend this place and will go back when we go to San Fran again.


On the way back to the hotel, we grabbed some souvenirs and gifts from the shop, we did contemplate the cable car ride (again) but the routes took us away from the hotel and we were on a bit of a schedule today. Back in the hotel room we packed up the cases, the washing was starting to pile up again. The lack of washing facilities was what we found the hardest part of being on a road trip. Overall, we had all enjoyed San Fran and it was good to experience a new city. The highlight was Alcatraz, I was disappointed with our restaurant choices and will do a bit more research for the next time we visit. The homelessness did kind of bother me as it frightened the boys a little which is why we never went out after dark.

The plan today was to travel to Santa Cruz, which was just over an hour away. The drive was nice and easy and relatively scenic. When we arrived we decided to park up on the Pier which charged $1 for every 20-minutes. It was very busy and we had to drive right to the end to find a spot. We walked towards the boardwalk, the views were beautiful and we spotted the sealions in the ocean, there were lots of small groups just playing about in the water. The water was that clear we could see lots of fish swimming around.



As it was so busy there was a nice atmosphere on the boardwalk, the rides were priced between $4 and $7 each. I think you could also buy wristbands.



The boys got a refillable slushie cup for $10, they could self-serve from the different stations on the boardwalk. Trust me they got their $10 worth. Some of the flavours were quite nice but some of the flavours they mixed together were not so nice.



We didn’t ride any rides but just spent time walking the Boardwalk, enjoying the sunshine and taking photos. The boys also spent $10 each in the arcade.


The main reason I wanted to visit Santa Cruz was to see the bridge from the scene in Lost Boys which was one of my favourite films when I was growing up. I was impressed but it meant very little to Lee and the boys who didn’t have a clue what the fuss was all about.



We strolled back past the beach there were lots of people playing volleyball, we were just enjoying the sunshine and the atmosphere. I browsed a few shops but shopping isn’t the boys favourite pass time so we moved on towards the car. We were approached by a couple of homeless people on the way back to the car and they were a bit more aggressive than in San Fran. We had been in Santa Cruz for 4 hours which equated to $10 for the parking. We liked Santa Cruz it had a nice feel to it and would probably go back.


We only had another 50-minute drive to reach Monterey, which turned out to be a very easy drive. We were staying at the Marriott @ Monterey, thanks to a staff discount I had managed to get. When we pulled up it was Valet parking only which was $25 plus tip, we were only there for 1-night so after driving around for a bit we found some street parking. We checked in and took our cases up to the room. By now the boys were starving as we had not eaten since breakfast. The first place we came across was Round Table Pizza which was empty but once they had seen it the boys wanted Pizza. It was nothing spectacular but it did the job.

After pizza we strolled down to the Monterey Fishermans Wharf. On the way there we went into a large candy store which as well as selling every type of candy in the world, also sold ice cream. So, we all had an ice cream, Lucas also wanted a toffee apple but we managed to persuade him it wasn’t a great idea.




We walked to the end of the pier and watched the otters and sealions in the water. It was a lovely place and we wished we had longer here. We saw the place where people go on the whale watching trips. This is definitely something we want to do in the future. We walked all around the Wharf area enjoying the atmosphere and spotting jellyfish and various other fish in the water.



We walked back to the hotel via the shops and Lucas had not forgotten about the toffee apple, he ended up spending $8 on a toffee apple that was almost as big as his head! which as i told him - he didn't eat it - Kids!

We also grabbed some snacks for the room. We were back at the hotel and chilling out by 9pm. Although we had only been here a couple of hours we were impressed by Monterey and definitely wished we had more time to explore. We had a fairly early night as we had a 300-mile drive tomorrow.
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Old 1 Mar 20, 05:46 PM  
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Lovely day Kerry, we loved Monterey too x
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Old 2 Mar 20, 12:29 PM  
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Originally Posted by Pussycat Doll View Post
Lovely day Kerry, we loved Monterey too x
Us too Selina - Have planned 2 nights this year - didn't even get near cannery row last time
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Old 27 Mar 20, 10:14 AM  
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A fab day!
Isn’t The Hollywood Cafe amazing?
Love, love, love Monterey, I’m so pleased you’ve got more time to spend there this year.
Lovely photos of the boys today, they always seem so happy 😃
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Old 27 Mar 20, 03:58 PM  
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Originally Posted by smithlane View Post
A fab day!
Isn’t The Hollywood Cafe amazing?
Love, love, love Monterey, I’m so pleased you’ve got more time to spend there this year.
Lovely photos of the boys today, they always seem so happy 😃
Hollywood Cafe was Fab! and the food was amazing!
I hope to god that we get to go again this year! The boys are usually smiley - most of the time Thanks for reading and commenting it's nice to know people enjoy it too
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