Cormorants Ride Free

I hired a vehicle because my friend traveling with me is not a motorbike rider.

I wanted a Maserati, or BMW, and would have settled for a Jaguar, but all they had were white or black cars. I chose the black.

It is a non-descript car. I could not tell you It is brand. The most remarkable thing about this car is in the boot. 

A Rental Car I Would Like

Right there in the boot is a tiny lever and if you or anyone else was somehow locked in the boot if you pulled this lever the boot would open. Not a car to hire if you are into putting things into the trunk that might want to flee.

 Google car play works if I plug in my phone, the seats are okay, and it does not seem to use a lot of fuel, which is a good thing as gas here is around 5.00 per gallon.

 I am not really worried about the price of gas here as I pre-paid the fuel when I picked up the car, and so in order to get my dimes worth we loaded up had headed south, with the destination of Monterey in mind.

 Traffic on the interstate was light as we headed south, towards the Garlic capital of the world Gilroy. Once on 101 traffic picked up with almost everyone in a much  greater hurry than we are.

 We did not smell or see any Garlic as we passed through Gilroy where we picked up highway 152 west bound over Hecker Pass.

 Two local race car drivers got past us at the pull off I pulled into and that was the only traffic we saw all the way up the east side of Hecker Pass. At the Summit is the historic and haunted  Mount Madonna Inn

World Famous Mt. Madonna Inn

The Inn is boarded up and has been closed for some time now. I guess the ghosts that never existed in the first place are locked in, the fenced in derelict building.

 Down the west side of the pass towards Watsonville we knew that we would be in for a spectacular sunny day.

Moss Landing

In the shadow of the power plant cooling towers, we pulled into Moss Landing home of Phils Fish Market

It was to early to get into a bowl of Phil’s famous benchmark Cioppino, but we stretched our legs and used their restrooms.

Not much was happening this morning in Moss Landing. Both the Rachel Carson and the Western Flyer, research boats from the Monterey Bay Aquarium were tied up and idle. About the only thing happening this morning in Moss Landing, the seals were barking.

Recycling Boats In Moss Landing

Pulling into Monterey the sun was still shining, and the swan boats were out on the pond.

For Rent $15.00 per Hour

As we walked along the shore past the boat house, I discovered that the swan boats were the high dollar rental, and the duck boats were more for the peasants. Since these watercraft were human powered, and the humans that powered them did not come in the price of the rental it was a unanimous decision to pass on the boats.

 It was a surprise to get an early check in at the hotel, but we did. After freshening up we drove towards the notorious Cannery Row.

We parked the car near the row, but not as near as I though.  We started walking down the old railroad right of way. Soon we came across the Ed Ricketts statue. He was pointing the way to good food on Cannery Row.

Doc Ricketts

For eats we found Fish Hopper, that according to google I had visited 5 years ago. The food was just as good as I remember.

  Later back at the hotel  the pool and hot tub were excellent, as was the hotel bar.

 In the morning we trekked out to Point Pinos Light for a walk amongst the waves of Monterey Bay.

Point Pinos Light 

The light house grounds were closed, but walking around near the ocean was a better attraction. I could have stayed a week, but time was short.

 

Free Riding Cormorants