Over the weekend Honey and went on a road trip to Monterey, an actual vacation that was not for a family event! It was a long time coming, we have taken a few “staycations” over the last few years but we haven’t hit the road and spent more than one night away from the house since we got married. We hadn’t originally planned to go to Monterey when he requested the time off. Long story short we thought we were going to go camping but it didn’t work out, we were planning another staycation when I got a bug up my butt about getting out of town. Luckily Honey agreed and I made the arrangements, I wanted to make it so all he had to do was show up. Somehow I scored a greathotel room in Downtown Monterey for two nights at a very reasonable price. There were some drawbacks to the place but the amazing room made up for it. The location was ideal because we could easily walk around the town. We usually prefer to walk around in a new city, rather than drive. I didn’t drive again until the day we left. I had been to Monterey as a kid and then again at 16 as a stopping point between home and my parent’s friends in Northern California, he had never been so it was a whole new city to us.
Even though we were in the right town for it Honey and I did not go to the Aquarium, it was freaking expensive! We had walked through Cannery Row (tourist lane) with the intention of going to the Aquarium but we got there and the price made us stop. We decided to spend the money on a nice dinner instead (also we are spoiled in SD and can go to our own Aquarium). It was interesting people watching though Cannery Row and there was some beautiful buildings and views. There are still some old remnants of the bay’s cannery days placed next to the new, shinny cliffside hotels.
This was a very different vacation for both of us, it was more of a relaxation based trip rather than we have to see this, go here, eat there, etc. We explored, saw some sights, felt cool breezes, and had some yummy food. With all of this we were still back in our room by 9 pm each night. I had brought two bottles of wine from home (ones I knew we loved) to enjoy in front of the fireplace and on the balcony overlooking the fountains in the courtyard. Just those simple moments of snuggling with him in silence (beside crackling wood and bubbling water) were some of my favorites of the trip. I did find it amusing that when we used the room provided wine glasses on the first night, the maids replaced them with mini wine glasses the next day. They were cute but didn’t stop us from finishing the bottle of wine.
While we were there we enjoyed 70 degree days and cool nights, it felt like Novemeber-a very nice break after the last month of heat waves. I realized I was out of practice with packing because I brought all of the wrong clothes. Too cool in the day for short sleeves and too cold at night for anything but my heavier jacket, not to mention five pairs of shoes-I only wore two pairs! Oh well, next time I’ll be back to my expert packing level again.
Another part of the trip was of course the driving, I did it all I am proud to say. Thanks to childhood road trips and now being a nonsmoker I can comfortably drive to up to five hours without a break. The highways we selected bookended our trip with a bit of morbidity. When we headed to Monterey took Route 46 a two lane, near empty road-he read the directions to me, I had to stay on it for the next 63 miles-the speed limit was 55. For the first ten miles the landscape was lined with oil rigs , it eventually gave way to small hills with golden colored grass and oak trees sprinkling on the sides. Beautiful. Beside the Budget truck riding my butt and the occasional aderlaine rush around passing lanes, it was a very nice drive. A few more miles in I noticed a Texaco station with a big James Dean cut out on the corner of the lot.
“That’s strange,” I said to Honey, “Why would they have a James Dean poster at a gas station?”
He said, “I think he might have died around here.”
“Really? I thought he died in LA.” He disagreed and then whipped out the phone to look it up (how did people survive road trip questions before these things?) sure enough we were on the route that James Dean died on. We still had quite a few miles to go from the actual location, it turns out he had stopped at that gas station before he died. The land around the road was still undeveloped. I began to think that it probably looked similar to how it looked 57 years ago. It was kind of strange seeing what might have the last sights of someone who died so many years ago. But I’m weird and I think about those kind of things. We passed the junction where he was hit (I must admit I slowed down considerably) and then went further than Mr. Dean had a chance to.
On the way back home, not only did we have to take Route 46 but we decided to take a “shortcut” around the 5 to avoid LA during rush hour traffic. We took Route 138, also called Deathtrap Highway. Though luckily we didn’t know that until we got home and Honey looked it up. That was quite an interesting road, not only was it narrow and had occasional dips that would remind me of a rising roller coaster cart, but there was no one around for miles and then suddenly there would be a car and it would be right on my ass. I kept my road rage at bay while on the trip and let people pass me and even occasionally pulled over to the side, but it was crazy how impatient people were out there (and I was going over the speed limit ). But our shortcut was pointless because the connecting freeway had crazy traffic too, oh well we both saw a part of California we had never seen before.
The cats did well in our absence, though my Mother-In-Law gave herself some unnecessary stress. We had kept Rocco and Terra in their room downstairs so they wouldn’t panic when they didn’t see us, we asked my Mother-in-Law and Apple to look in on them and feed them. Apparently my Mother-In-Law didn’t hear Honey when he said if they got out it was okay, we just wanted to try to keep them in. The first night Rocco slipped past her. She came over numerous times throughout the days while we were gone, left messages with the wrong neighbor about the status of the cats, and made little food arrangements around the house so he wouldn’t starve. Somehow on the last day she caught him and got him back into their room. Poor Mom, I am going to make her a good dinner to say thanks-she went above and beyond. When I got home and went down to look at them the two cats were just sitting on the futon as happy as could be. Bailey nearly tackled us when we walked through the door.
It was a great trip and a nice break for both of us. It was good to get away from the house for a few days and away from all of the projects we have planned for the Fall, but it was really nice to come home and sit with our purring kitties.
Until next time Monterey!
the novel housewife 