“Being at ease with himself put him at ease with the world.” John Steinbeck, Cannery Row

This Christmas, Nick's gift was the perfect surprise.. A trip to Monterey, CA to ring in the New Year! With his long hours and us spending Christmas apart in respective hometowns, this trip was perfect.

Our first stop: Pebble Beach. 

Our spot at The Bench's bar overlooked the 18th hole.

Trying out the iPhone's panorama mode.. 

But the Nikon really captured the scene.

It was pretty cool seeing these in person.

From Pebble Beach, we followed the 17 Mile Drive to see some amazing parts of the coastline. I have so many pictures from each of our stops along the way, but sadly they all started to look the same.. so I'll save you and share the unique stops.

The Lone Cypress.. it's been perched here for over 250 years!

The Ghost Tree, whose trunk is bleached white from the wind and water.

After our 17 mile tour, we found a nice little spot on Carmel's beach.

We picnicked and basked in the glorious [winter] rays. There really is just something so special about the beach..

That night we had the most amazing dinner in Monterey at Bistro Moulin.. I usually stay away from red meat, but Nick's steak was one of the best I've ever tasted. If you're ever in the area, we really suggest you head to this non-touristy spot for a fabulous French meal.

The next morning we had a gigantic breakfast at First Awakenings (I'm still thinking about the blueberry wheatgerm pancakes..) and walked around on Cannery Row.

We ate and drank.. a lot.

And I cannot skip my rant about the oysters [seen above left] we had that night at Monterey Fish House. They were GIGANTIC. That's a normal sized lemon slice.. the bottom oyster was easily 4.5 inches long. How, my friends, do you even go about eating that?? Cut it? We tried.. and then Nick noticed the half on the plate moving... Yes. If you didn't already know, and this was news to me, raw oysters are alive. I know, it makes sense, but it's really not something I was aware of. Monterey Fish House's meal overall? Delicious.

There really wasn't ever a bad view.

John Steinbeck and his character's from Cannery Row were all over town.

The view from Fisherman's Wharf.

We danced.

[that's a moonwalk far right!]

We toured Point Pinot's Lighthouse in Pacific Grove. It's the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast.. I didn't know much about lighthouses before touring this one.. but after learning about all of the hard work it took to keep a lighthouse running, I'm very impressed.

Each room was set up as it would have been when Emily Fish [the lighthouse keeper] lived there in the early 1900s.

Talk about a room with a view..

It really was a charming little lighthouse.

We dressed for NYE's festivities and drank more bubbly.

We capped off the New Year at Restaurant 1833 - an old historic home that's been revamped and turned into a trendy and unique spot. They've done an amazing job recreating the rich history of the building.. it's dark and firelight and warm and cozy and full of wing-backed furniture.

We woke up to another beautiful day in Monterey, devoured another delicious breakfast [Trailside Cafe & Coffee House] and were home in under 2 hours. 

This little trip must be taken more often!