Pacific Grove and Monterey

After our visit to the Oregon Dunes, we returned to California for an extended stay in the Monterey Bay area.  We ended up spending most of our time in Carmel-by-the-Sea, which I will tell you about in the next post, and the charming little beach town of Pacific Grove. This was not my first visit to either place.

A significant percentage of the housing stock in Pacific Grove dates back to the late 1800s and early 1900s and there are plaques on many of the houses stating their year of construction. These include a few absolutely gorgeous, well preserved Victorian style houses like those below.

The main commercial street in Pacific Grove is Lighthouse Avenue, which runs parallel to the waterfront, two blocks to the south. Lighthouse Avenue contains a lively mix of hotels, restaurants, shops, bars, and every kind of retail and service business one can contemplate.

The residential streets that intersect with Lighthouse Avenue are filled with small cottages, Craftsman style bungalows and more modest Victorian homes that date from 100 years ago or more.  Quite a few of the homes in this area are available as vacation rentals. There are also a few small inns and restaurants located on these otherwise residential streets.

Heading east from Pacific Grove, you enter it’s more well known neighbor, Monterey. The two cities share a paved walking and biking path that follows the shoreline of Monterey Bay, passing through several commercial areas, parks, and tourist attractions, including the Cannery Row neighborhood in Monterey.

We spent a few hours in Cannery Row on Labor Day; it was packed with people, but we did find a quiet tasting room in which we enjoyed some very good wine.  I will definitely return to Cannery Row sometime when its less crowded. Although it is absolutely touristy and tacky, I had the sense that there were some worthwhile attractions to explore.

Back to Pacific Grove. The town occupies a peninsula which juts out into the Pacific Ocean. On the east side of the peninsula lies Monterey Bay; on the west side is the Pacific Ocean. The historic area is located primarily on the east side, looking out over Monterey Bay. On the west side, Asilomar State Beach stretches for more than a mile along the Pacific Ocean.  Within the Park are hiking trails, a long sandy beach, and an significant rocky area within which there are smaller, more secluded “mini-beaches.”