Mind Your P’s and Q’s, Monterey Style
November 23, 2009 by Myer Thompson
Filed under Vacation
So it’s Monterey. So what? Between the poles of San Francisco and Los Angeles, California doesn’t have much to offer. It’s the Central Valley, fields of food, and slaughterhouses. You could drive miles and miles and wonder why you ever bothered with the late, great Golden State. Buck up, little lad or lady, and steer for the coast.
It fancies itself “the Cradle of History” but I suppose that’s just California jive. By “history” they must mean California history, which is respectable and at times nifty, but it’s a far cry from the “Cradle of Civilization” Baghdad can boast of being. California on one hand and all of human civilization on the other — it’s tight.
Like most coastal town in California, Monterey has had to dance a jig to stay relevant. Sure, it had the distinction of being the capital of Spanish and Mexican California, but it has since become a curious tourist stop for people who dig on marine life. From a thriving fishing and canning Mecca, it has become a groovy kind of academic hub, specializing in linguistics studies.
If you’re hip to the beat, it’s bingo time. Welcome to Monterey. Of course, if you’re savvy to the music scene, then you know Monterey vis-a-vis the defunct Pop Festival in ’67 and the on-going Jazz Festival. Woodstock gets the glory, but Monterey set the template. Yeah, to have been around in the late Sixties, tripping the light fantastic to the likes of the Who, Janis Joplin, and Hendrix.
Want to get deep? Jump into your skivvies, charter yourself a little dingy, and head out a few miles offshore. The yawning Monterey Canyon is the deepest underwater canyon in the Pacific. Of course, it’d help if you had some scuba savvy and a cozy little room in a Monterey hotel to recover in. Hey, be sure you curl up with your favorite Steinbeck novel in homage to the town the man couldn’t leave.
Learn the linguistics lingo in the old capital of of coastal California. Book a lovely little lounging space in any of the Monterey hotels and get smart, get wet, and get hip.
categories: Monterey hotels,Monterey hotel,hotels in Monterey CA
