Cannery Row & Carmel

The next stop after the Aquarium was a walk along Cannery Row. This was also hyped up and more of a disappointment, probably because half the strip somehow disappeared behind the scaffolding that we had to walk through to get to the livlier part of Cannery Row.

I also find it ironic that there are so many seafood restaurants located right next to the Aquarium. Hmm, should I be eating seafood after learning about how we should be protecting sea life??

The highlight of Cannery Row was the wine tasting. As we walked in and out of the various stores of overpriced items, we entered our first retail winery, where we were allowed free wine tastings of four different wines of our choice (well, it was $2 a glass if you chose a wine with an * next to it). I, the "un-refined" one, just tipped the glass back and swallowed the wine in one gulp, and also making a grimace of a face while doing so. The Boy, the more "refined" one in our group, actually did what all those wine connisours do on TV--swivel the glass to airate the wine, smelled it first before tasting, took a little bit of wine and sloshed it around inside the mouth before swallowing. I tried immitating but I looked like an alien trying to drink water so The Boy made me stop trying to be all knowledgeable about tasting wine. Eh, whatever. My favorite is still the Brut sparkling wine. That glass did not make me grimace. I actually wanted more.

We continued our walk and found a second retail winery that also offered wine tasting but it would cost $5 for six different types of wine. I was already feeling tipsy from our first wine tasting, so The Boy was the only one trying out the wines at this second location. However, this place poured half a glass of wine for each type (the other place was only an inch off the bottom of the glass), so I had to help The Boy taste his selection of wines. This place also offered crackers, so I was hoping that my munching on crackers would reduce the tipsiness in my head. I was later told the crackers were for cleansing the palate before tasting a new type of wine. Goes to show what I know about the art of wine tasting.

Needless to say, I was quite giddy after that experience. Continuing our walk, err...The Boy walking and me hanging onto to him because the road kept spinning...we found a store devoted to tobasco sauce. There were walls lined with hot sauce ranging from 1 to 10 (1 being mild and 10 being "pants on fire hot"). There were samples being offered. And so there were tastings being done by the both of us. Being the hard core spicy eater, I went straight for the 10 rated habanero sauce and I tell you it made me cry. But it was a good burn.

Cannery Row was fun and all, but there was a lesson learned: McDonald's for breakfast, wine tasting for afternoon snack, hot sauce tasting for another snack, plus a heavy dinner equals really bad heartburn for the rest of the night.

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On the last day of our romantic getaway, we went to Carmel by the Sea because everyone who is in Monterey HAS to go to Carmel. Here's a tip: If you're under 40, skip Carmel. The shopping is geared for older folks and it's quite boring. The scenery was worthy of some photos, though.

Can someone tell me what language that is?

The Boy picked a flower off the tree and stuck it in my head. Isn't that sweet?