On our stroll down to the Rabbie Burns Night, we had stopped into the Hotel Majestic, a majestic hotel a few doors down from ours, with a wonderful old bar. There was a biz-type guy there who turned out to be a lawyer cum lobbyist for Dole Corporation.
Pineapple Head wasted no time telling us that this was the hotel Sean Connery and Nicholas Cage had stayed in while filming The Rock. PH had indeed been in the bar during the filming and had bought the drinks all night ($1200) for Sean Baby, Nick Baby and Company. What a name-dropping asshole.
He was still there 3 hours later when we stopped in for refueling on the way back to the Queen Anne.
Next day was Monterey Peninsula Day. We did the obligatory 17 Mile Drive and saw some sumptuous homes, wild life (see photo above), famous golf courses (I declined to stop at Pebble Beach, fearing I would be swamped for autographs by any PGA types who might have shown up early for the AT&T tournament) and beautiful beaches, complete with surfers.
Then it was on to the town of Monterey and its world class aquarium. Between us, Max and I have been to 6 aquaria in different parts of the world, but the Cannery Row version is the best. We spent 3 hours there, enjoying the many innovative ways they have devised to show and explain the ocean flora and fauna. On leaving, we stopped at a shop and sampled something called ice cream dots, which are freeze-dried pellets of ice cream. Let me tell you, if you ever get the chance to try ice cream dots you should immediately refuse and go directly to Baskin & Robbins, which is what we did.
On our return trip to SFO we eschewed the Road Most Traveled (Hwy 101) and instead took US 1 up the coast where we experienced seacoast vistas comparable to Cape Breton, with kite surfers and breathtaking panoramas of rocky shoreline.
Max the Navigator decides to kick it up a notch and directs us over a minor highway that takes us past rapidly changing topography and eventually into a steep climb over a mountain with the straightest stretch being about 75 yards. This was good training for our trip to Simla, later in the journey. Out of nowhere, we were suddenly in a Redwood Forest, a first for both of us(see above). They soared straight as a pin (but larger) into the sky.
Back at the hotel, we take the advice of our concierge and walk 5 blocks to Village Pizza for some Stella and Pie. Max is in a mischievous mood and makes smart-ass remarks as we sit at the counter watching 3 Mexicans twirl dough discs into the air and listen to a guy next to us on his cell phone talking someone through re-tuning a guitar. We know our concierge is an honest guy, as we see him sitting a few seats away, waving at us.
Back at the hotel we watch a documentary on Oahu's North Coast, our next destination The night before, we had watched something called "Tartan TV", a series of Scottish travel shows, just before we left for the Edinburgh Pub. The TV Gods were looking after our best interests.
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