Mills-Monterey! Day 2

Deep breaths. I'm scared about how long this post is going to be.

Saturday morning we went to Tommy's. I've blogged about this place before, so I'll just remind you all why I love it so much: everything under $3. Yup.

We are so cool sitting at the bar.

We both ordered the Tommy's special - eggs, pancakes, hash browns, and bacon (or sausage if that's your thing).

After breakfast we drove from Marina to Carmel. The plan was to start as far south as possible and hit up the tourist spots as we headed north. First stop, the Carmel Mission!

The Mission itself isn't that tall looking, but somehow when Kmills stood in front of it and I snapped this picture, it looked so much taller! Optical illusion making is one of Kerry's hidden talents. Inside the choir was practicing. It was nice to see the inside because last time I was here (for Easter mass) we had to stand in the entrance because of how packed it was!

There's something so pretty about the Catholic Missions. Kinda creepy how people are buried right there in the church - reminded us of our trip to Westmister Abbey back in the summer of 2007, where patriots like Oliver Cromwell, scientists like Isaac Newton, poets like Chaucer, etc are buried under your feet!

Throwback pic on right: Okay so this guy's not dead - but it is from our trip to London, and yes, I want everyone to know we met Zac Efron... plus, I didn't take any Westmister Abbey pictures :)

We played around in the strange room, taking fun mirror pictures, then we went outside and painted.

Isn't Kerry's picture coming together beautifully? She's such a talented artist.

There was a small little fair. We rubbed olive oil on our hands to make them smooth....

Then we passed through their gift shop. Kerry begged me to get her BibleOpoly but I refused to spend another dime on buying her versions of Monopoly. I've already given her Birdopoly, Elvis edition Monopoly, The Lord of the Rings edition Monopoly, and Sponge Bob Square Pants edition....





Next stop: Carmel-by-the-sea's Ocean Avenue!

We walked around for a while with one major destination in mind: the Cottage of Sweets! I've blogged about this place a lot too so here's why I love it: SWEETS, sold in a COTTAGE.

Kerry chose white chocolate covered pretzel balls and salted carmel fudge. I went with chocolate covered gummy bears in memory of Natalie, peanut butter chocolate malt balls (my recent favorite), and their peanut butter squares.

We grabbed coffee from a cafe up the street and then walked down to the beautiful beach to enjoy our treats.

  

Continuing on our journey, we drove 17 Mile Drive the back way through Carmel towards Pebble Beach. They still had some of the tents up from the US Open, which was going on the week before.

Look! It's the Lone Cypress ("a salt pruned tree which is the official symbol of Pebble Beach and a frequent fixture of television broadcasts from this area" Wikipedia... and since I know you are curious: "Salt pruning is the process by which saline mists generated by seawater are driven ashore by winds to alter the shape of trees over considerable times throughout the growth cycle of the affected plant... [it] selectively degrades foliage and branches on the windward side of the plant facing the body of saline water. The resultant growth form is an asymmetrical plant form, swept back away from the ocean")

Much to our delight there was a wedding party that arrived via trolley to take pictures. When they abandoned their vehicle to walk down to the Lone Cypress, we hijacked it for our own pictures hah!

The 17 Mile Drive continued on along the coast. We drove through Pacific Grove and then parked on Lighthouse. After a quick stop in the liquor store nearby and then another quick stop at Nob Hill for a light lunch of fruits, we walked to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Get ready for a compilation of Kerry Mills at the Aquarium photos:

Kerry with the jellyfish

Kerry with the crazy looking seahorses

Kerry with this cow statue

Kerry getting ZAPped!

The clam shell! Max if you are reading this: this is my first time actually seeing the clam shell at the Aquarium. Up until recently I didn't think it existed, only in your photoshopping abilities.

We left the aquarium and walked up and down Cannery Row. We stopped in the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a second and I saw these chocolate covered potato chips. Weird!!

When we were driving back to my house, I spotted Mrs. Delish's Cupcake Boutique. I was literally like "WTF?? Since WHEN has that been there?" Kerry, I don't know if I said that out loud, but I was definitely thinking it! Since Kerry's visit I've read a review about the place on Special Edible's blog. I really want to go check that place out soon!

P.S. If you are local to Monterey I suggest you start following that blog because the author, Mark Anderson, works for Monterey County Weekly and reviews a lot of awesome local spots!
P.P.S. Also, if you don't yet, pick up a copy of the Weekly or read their stuff online. LOVE the local paper. I hear about neat events and free stuff from it. Oh and they have the Best Of list that I'm trying to tackle.

We decided to get Baan Thai takeout for dinner. We picked the pumpkin curry (no surprise, if you know me) and pad thai. Kerry let me order, so I of course chose extra hot. The combination of EXTREME heat and an ongoing sinus cold made it impossible to taste our high class $2 bottle of wine.

Empty! :)

Victor, Max, Maren, and Tyler came over (except that Tyler now lives here so I can't really phrase it that way anymore haha) and we busted out the deck of cards!

King's cup is always such a fun game to play.... especially when the rule made up is you have to say your appointed nickname before you say ANYTHING. Slippy Slappy Hippy Happy Trippy Trappy. TOUGH STUFF.

Slappy and Hippy make me Happy.

Sarah was there too - her bro showed us his new tattoo. Then Tyler iced her. Despite the fact that she was on her way to bed, she took it like a champ on one knee!

Then we went downtown.... if you take one good look at the picture below you'll realize how much fun we were having at the Mucky Duck.... such a good dance spot ;)

Not pictured: our trip to the Hippodrome "club" that had cages ... annnnddd yes - we did dance in them.

Casa de Fruta, Hollister

The Earth is about 24,867 miles wide. Do you want to know how I can make such a bold, but assured, claim? Well, it's because I drive by a Casa de Fruta (CdF) (10021 Pacheco Pass Highway, Hollister) billboard on my way to/from SJ/Monterey that tells me so. For years I have driven by that sign, many others, and the actual Casa collection along Route 152. Have I ever stopped? Nope. I blame my parents for wanting to get to Grandma & Grandpa's faster. Or maybe they knew what mecca lay within CdF's walls...

A while back I took a half day at work and drove down to Anaheim to visit Kerry, Fran, and Jacquelyn. For my own sanity, I decided to not stress about getting down there as fast as possible. This was my first time driving the back road between Monterey and Los Banos. Usually I have to drive from SJ to Gilroy, and then over Pacheco Pass to get to Highway 5.

Who knows if I was already getting antsy after 40 minutes of driving OR if my excuse that "I've been needing some bananas" OR if I could rationalize "I've never been, after all..." Nevertheless, I decided to pull of the road - boy am I glad I did! Casa de Fruta's namesake building was out of this world! This was, hands down, the best fruit stand I've ever been to!

When I walked in, I gawked at the sheer size of the place. You start in the fruit section. They feature the best apricots, peaches, plums, apples, dates, prunes, cherries, and berries from their own orchards. Lots of their fresh fruit is dried and prepared for either dried fruit snacks, dried fruit/nut gifts, or to be covered in chocolate MMM. Can you say chocolate covered raisins?

CdF also has a HUUUUGE selection of fresh garlic, fudge packs, jams, jellies, honey, and hot sauce. The picture above shows just one of the many shelves that feature these bottled goodies. I really wanted to buy a hot sauce, because that's just how I like things ;) But I didn't because the prices were kind of high. And, well, I am cheap sometimes. Next time I will probably buy one, perhaps Dave's Insanity Sauce? They also sell Mesquite Flour, which is gluten-free and high in fiber. Might grab some of that as well because it's supposed to add "an unbelievable flavor and aroma in all your baked goods."

According to their website, CdF is a "true American success story that blossomed from the roots of an immigrant Italian family. Since 1908 when the original ancestors planted the first orchards in the Pacheco Valley, CdF has grown into a diversified operation encompassing a variety of business ventures. In the 1940's three teenaged brothers... opened a cherry stand on the Pacheco Pass highway. Encouraged by their mother... the young entrepreneurs expanded their operation into what it is today."

My favorite part of this whole endeavor was the candy/chocolate section. They had rows and rows of amazingly delicious looking treats. Cheesecake, apple caramels, butter toffee pecans, pistachio brittle, you name it! Just take a look at those decadent chocolate covered strawberries!

I purchased some trail mix, chocolate covered raisins, mint malt balls (this was 3 days after I died in heaven over Carmel's Cottage of Sweets' peanut butter malt balls OH MYYYY), and a bundle of bananas. My calves were cramping up at night so I desperately needed to stock up on potassium for my Anaheim trip. TMI? Sorry... it was really painful though! (FYI: adding bananas to my diet, along with potassium and magnesium pills, fixed the calf cramps WAHOO)

There are even more buildings in this area. (Read more reviews here on Yelp.) There's a Casa de Coffee, Casa de Diesel, Casa de Choo-Choo, Casa de Sweets, Casa de Wine, and an RV park. The restrooms at the gas station are labeled Casa de Restrooms. They sure know how to roll with a theme!

I got back on the road, snacked on my goodies, pumped potassium into my system, and cranked up the road trip playlist (music courtesy of Nicole's recommendations). I definitely plan on stopping here the next time I roll through. I'll just give myself an extra half hour of drive time.