monterey, california guide & brochure
California is big. 26.2 miles of Highway One constitutes 4% of the state’s surface area – I ran (and walked) (mostly walked) that stretch, from Big Sur Station to Carmel Valley, on a fog-laden Sunday morning in April. Stiffness obstructed my stride once the adrenaline flushed from my bloodstream and awakened the inevitable, post-marathon acid buildups. I hobbled alongside him that evening en route to Scheid Vineyards Tasting Room in downtown Carmel, where we sampled four wines apiece and left the store with two bottles of their 50/50 blend. I felt a bit useless. He wished to explore the sideroads while I flirted with the streetside concrete ledge, the distant concept of pillows, and, really, anything involving sparing my feet from impact. I collapsed around 8p, my brain still prancing up Hurricane Point and my ears heavy with pounding surf and Taiko drummers and the megaphone announcing my finish five hours, 20 minutes, 45 seconds after I paced over the start line.
We began each day similarly. Breakfast, either on our Seaside AirBnB balcony overlooking a smear of Monterey Bay or at a diner, followed by a venture for non-Keurig coffee. Our first day after the marathon, our first real vacation day, we traipsed to Fisherman’s Wharf, passed a half dozen restaurants crowing about their unbeatable clam chowders, to a nook on the corner called Water + Leaves. Our second day, Bright Coffee en route to a six-hour car tour of Highway One. We started where I ended the prior Sunday, and ended where I started. Before reversing our path to head back to Carmel, he parked at the ranger station and I saw before me the scene of race morning: the flickering portable lamps, the bumble of sleepy runners slipping in and out of portapotty and coffee lines, the yellow start bridge, the first downhill. He pulled out, our eyes damp. Tell me what went through your mind as we go, he said. So I did, recalling waypoints, wondering how on earth a whole day had elapsed already between the race and real life.
“This is where runners pulled off to relieve themselves.”
“This is where I first noticed the sea.”
“This tree? The peak of Hurricane Point.Where it was over.”
“Mile 17-ish. This is where I realized I’d run further than ever before.”
“This, where the strawberry tent was. I think.”
“The last hill. They played music here.”
“I heard the announcer here. I was almost done.”
Monterey fits sundry molds. If you like craft coffee, a few blocks over Captain + Stoker awaits. If you like seafaring, hop on a whalewatching boat in Fisherman’s Wharf. If you like openminded strolling, spend half a day in Cannery Row browsing the trinket shops and be sure to stop for a tasting at Carmel Ridge. Whether you like movement, or you like pausing and gazing, there’s something relevant on the peninsula. I loved most the variety, a little bit of everything depending on the hour.
I created a downloadable brochure to guide anyone to spots I adored on my trip there. We easily covered them in three days, but you can condense or expand a visit to each locale accordingly depending on time demands. If I may, purchase at least one bottle from a winery you visit or a bag of beans from the local roasters – you won’t regret it! – and visit the trail near Fisherman’s Wharf to catch some photos of flopping harbour seals. I didn’t include these specifics in the brochure, but they are miscellanies worth noting.
Download & printing directions
- Click the “Download” link above and locate file in your computer. It will be named “monterey brochure.”
- Open the file in Adobe Acrobat. The file contains two pages.
- Go to File –> Print.
- Different printers afford different settings. If yours has a “Fit”, “Fit to Page”, or similar option for sizing, select that one. Be sure the orientation is on “Landscape” and the job set to print double-sided.
- Print the document!
- To orient and fold the brochure: Begin with the “Featured”, collage, and “California” pages facing you. Fold the “Featured” page inward. Then fold the “California” page atop. The cover of the brochure should be “California”, with inside flap at “Featured” and the full fold-out being the map. The photo collage should be the back cover.
*By printing this document, you agree to in no way mass produce for your own profit, or claim the original work as your own.
