Trip Up the Coast Part 2

On our 2nd day of the trip we worked out at the hotel gym, grabbed some Starbucks, and then got on the road to Monterey. We stopped at pizza place in Paso Robles for a quick bite to eat and then made our way to our hotel. We stayed at the Lighthouse Lodge and Cottages and it was seriously adorable. It was very rustic feeling on the outside and cozy on the inside.

Our first night in Monterey we met Mark's friend Ben for dinner at the Sardine Factory. Mark and I shared the parmesan crusted calamari and it was delicious! We walked around Cannery Row and ended up at a brewery. We had a couple beers with Ben before calling it a night.

The next morning Mark got up super early to squeeze in 18 holes while I slept in then ventured over to a local coffee shop. I was excited because it was only a mile away so I could fit in an early morning walk and I can't pass up a chance to try out a new coffee shop. We saw it on our drive the previous night and it even had a book store attached to it... two of my favorite things! I was very disappointed though. The coffee was yummy but the people working there were very pretentious and rude. Such a bummer because the place was adorable!

Mark met me at the coffeeshop and we walked across the street to the Red House cafe for breakfast. We went there for breakfast the day after we got engaged four years ago. It was fun to be able to reminisce and the food was DELICIOUS! The inside has separate cozy little rooms just like an actual house. I love quirky places like that.

We thought it was the Red Horse Cafe haha

Afterwards we walked over to the bookstore to stock up for the rest of our trip. I bought the book What Alice Forgot and it was SOOO good! I could barely put it down and finished it within a week. Even though I wasn't a fan of the coffeeshop I loved the bookstore. The man working there was really kind and the selection was great. We even got a couple postcards to send to family.

We went back to the hotel to change and headed to the aquarium. It was HUGE and very beautiful. I loved the otter exhibit. Those little guys are adorable! They had two viewing areas so you could see under the water or watch the little guys on the surface.

They had several exhibits including the large open water tank, penguins, and jellyfish. The ocean totally freaks me out so overall I thought it was super creepy and scary but really impressive.

Such amazing views!

Then we headed over to Bubba Gumps for lunch. We couldn't have picked a more touristy place but it was a fun atmosphere. We each got a cup of clam chowder and shared the shrimp sampler.

We want back to the hotel and relaxed for awhile. I had read about this adorable french place called Fifi's that was supposed to be amazing. We headed there for a late dinner but it was closed for a private party, bummer. We headed across the parking lot to an Italian restaurant, Vitos. It was virtually empty when we walked in and I don't get why because but the owner was super accommodating and friendly. Plus the food was great and reasonably priced. After dinner we drove by the beach where Mark proposed and we stopped to watch the sunset.

The next morning we packed up the car and headed to another coffee shop. Ugh, I can't remember the name of it. It was super hipster but the coffee was yummy. We grabbed a sandwich and headed to San Francisco. More on that later... This part of the trip was super low-key and relaxing, just what we needed!