Wineries, Clam Chowder and Ben's Birthday eve

Monterey, CA

Our last day in Monterey...we visited the Naval Postgraduate School and toured the facility which was originally the Del Monte Hotel, the hotel which now hosts students in its rooms has beautiful architecture, paintings and antiques overlooking the Monterey Bay area. A relatively quick lunch at El Torito near Cannery Row and we were off to the wine country. Our first stop was Marilyn Remark, a Loma Pacific Vineyard that produces only Rhone-style wines in limited releases of less than 300 cases, then we were off to the Santa Lucia highlands for Passagno, our favorite of the three wineries we visited, for some absolutely perfect Pinot Noirs, great Syrahs, a Port that blew our minds and the best Zinfandel any of us had tasted (even though the winery is known for its Pinot Noirs); the last winery we visited was Manzoni - a vintner who works closely with their neighbors Passagno next door -- again, great wines, but especially good Pinot Noir and a Syrah that my brother Dan thought was the best of the day. We drove back to Monterey through lush green rolling hills and strawberry fields. We took an evening stroll down Fisherman's Wharf and filled up on several different (all delicious) samples of clam chowder from different restaurants down the wharf. Many of the restaurants have clam chowder samples at the ready in little cups outside their door and try to entice you to come in and eat dinner by giving you a tiny yummy taste. At the end of the wharf we watched two sea otters in the harbor munching on mussels from below the docks. At home we celebrated Ben's 42nd Birthday (a day early) and now we prepare for our early morning departure, sad to say goodbye to Dan, Jan and Monterey, but excited for the next stop, Las Vegas to see Ben's sister Rachel.