Day Trip to Carmel By The Sea, Monterey, Santa Cruz

If you’re looking for a day trip from San Francisco, you can do what we did by visiting Carmel By The Sea, Monterey, and Santa Cruz.  I’ve been to the first two places before, but some of us didn’t, so we also revisited these places and also visit Santa Cruz.  If you haven’t already, you can read by Pacific Coast Highway, Not Really to read about my road trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco a few years ago.

This time, I had more time visiting Carmel and even had a meal there.  Santa Cruz I initially wanted to go for the clam chowder, but of course I later realized the restaurant I wanted to go was Barbara’s Fishtrap which was in Half Moon Bay.  Still, it was good to visit Santa Cruz and visit its amusement park there.

This post will be written by splitting the sections into the three places.  You’ll need to scroll down a bit to find photos for Monterey and Santa Cruz.

 

Carmel By The Sea

Carmel by the Sea

il Fornaio Carmel by the SeaIl Fornaio, an upmarket chain Italian restaurant which I didn’t try Continue reading Day Trip to Carmel By The Sea, Monterey, Santa Cruz

I Didn’t Leave My Heart in San Francisco

Tony Bennett’s song, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”, isn’t a good impression of San Francisco.  He makes the song so silky, smooth, deep, vibrant and charming, but my impression of San Francisco didn’t give me that.

After my PCH trip, I started driving up to San Francisco and of course, I had to be greeted by the severe traffic that doubled the time for me to get to downtown San Francisco.

San FranciscoFrom my car window, you can see a pile of cars waiting behind me.

San FranciscoWhile driving there, you get to see some cool train tracks.  Not the best weather that day btw. Continue reading I Didn’t Leave My Heart in San Francisco