One day trip to Monterey, CA

Fresno, CA is a hot place to live in, so being relatively close to the coast, and Monterey, CA specifically, is a nice perk. Before leaving 100 degree Fahrenheit weather in Fresno, I check the forecast for Monterey. A whooping 62 degrees! That is 38 degrees lower! I wore pants for the first time since I came to California.

Since I wanted to make it a day trip, I headed out early at 7.30 AM. My first stop was Fort Ord Dunes State Park. The GPS brought me some weird way there, or so I thought, through a whole village of abandoned houses. Later I found out that used to be a US army post and was closed in 1994. It is now called Fort Ord National Monument preserving the abandoned buildings.

The park itself is a few minutes down the road. There is a small parking lot fitting maybe 45-50 cars, but on a cloudy day like this it was not that crowded. A few signs describe the park and the national monument:

There is a trail right by the parking lot leading to the beach. It takes about 5 minutes to get to the shoreline.

There are not many tourists or locals there, so it is a very peaceful place.

My next stop was at Lover's Point, which is a small park/viewing area right in the heart of Monterey, the area called Pacific Grove. It is filled with people, but for a reason, since the views are quite nice. There is also a walking trail along the shore.

And some people just don't pack lightly...

The next destination point was Garrapata State Park, but since it was rather difficult for my GPS to find it, I just stopped at the point saying "Garrapata State Park" along Route 1.

This was supposed to be my final destination for the day, but on the was back I saw multiple cars parked along the side of the road right by the entrance to Point Lobos State National Reserve. I was so glad I stopped there. The very first trail, the easiest and the shortest one, gave some unbelievable views:

Yes, this is why I came to California...