Fisherman's Wharf Monterey

On what was probably the coldest day we've had during our stay in Monterey, we decided to go to Fisherman's Wharf.  Why a cold day?  To get some clam chowder, of course :)!  It was the perfect day for a warm bowl of the well known soup.

I had looked it up online before going and I'm glad I did.  I would have been in for quite the surprise, otherwise.  Have you ever traveled to the Bahamas?  The people in the markets there are pretty pushy when it comes to making a sale.  Straw bags, designer knock-offs, crafts, whatever.  All "things", though.  The folks down at the wharf use the same tactics, only with chowder. Hahaha!  So funny!  I have never in my life been haggled to try so much chowder, of all things :).  At each restaurant a person is standing out front with a warm batch of soup handing out free samples.  If you show so much as a speck of interest, be prepared.  They then start trying to "sell" you on coming in to their particular restaurant to eat.  We knew what to expect and just had fun with it, the little kids especially.  They tried every soup that they were offered :).

Before we actually went into a restaurant to eat, we wanted to walk the wharf and see the sights.  When we were walking, we heard the sound of sea lions barking.  We followed the sound until we came to the end of a little side dock and there they were...sea lions!  A little floating dock crammed full of them.  Some were sleeping, others where wiggling around barking at their neighbor, we even saw one swim up and flop his way up onto the dock.  That really set them off, the newcomer was greeted with a loud round of barks and more wiggling.  It was fun to watch them for a while :)

We continued our walk all around the wharf and saw more sea lions swimming and several otters, too.  Really neat :).  We also enjoyed looking at all of the old buildings and the different boats.

When we reached the point where our walk had started, it was time to choose a restaurant and eat.  Our choice?  Crabby Jim's.  Most of us ordered the clam chowder bread bowl and it was absolutely the best chowder I have ever eaten.  Very rich though, we ate it for a late lunch and were so full that we skipped dinner.  Well, mostly skipped dinner...we did sample some fudge that we bought at the shop next door :).  It was really good, too.

After we ate, another walk was needed :).  We had seen a little beach just down beside the pier and decided to check it out.  It was low tide and guess what we found down there?  Sea glass!  Lots of sea glass!  We even found a small piece of red and an orange, which we learned are pretty rare.  The kids were so excited, they were zipping back and forth checking out each others finds :)

It was getting close to sunset, so we left the wharf and drove over to a beach that has excellent parking right at the edge of the dunes.  I was barely parked when the kids started shouting look, look, LOOK!  There were hang gliders just floating in the sky.

It was so cool...I looked up and to my right was this bird just hanging there, suspended by the wind currents...and to my left was a hang glider doing the exact same thing.

After a minute, one of the hang gliders came right over us.  Pretty neat to see!

We didn't stay very long, it was getting really cold with all the wind.  We did stay long enough for me to take just a few more photos.  Your welcome ;)