Monterey by Night

By the time we reached Monterey it was dark and we got stupidly lost for half an hour. I had booked us into a cheap motel called the Blue Lagoon. The website said “near Cannery Row” which was well sign posted as it was the place when John Steinbeck set his famous novel. We drove to Cannery Row, parked and called the motel for directions. A man with a strong Indian accent gave us convoluted directions which seemed to be going well out of town. It was well out of town – one of those creepy motels off the freeway. How does a couple from India end up running one of these places? It was cheap and pretty grotty but we checked in anyway as we were too tired to drive around any more. There were a few restaurants nearby – a diner, a Wendy’s and a Burger King. Our host mentioned a Mexican place about a mile up the road so we went out on foot in search of it. No one walks anywhere here so this was pretty weird and there was no sign of said restaurant. We did find an unlikely place called “Pho King”. A Vietnamese restaurant in the middle of nowhere? Surely not. We couldn’t resist. It was great. Good food, friendly family running it and busy and lively. There was a huge thunderstorm that night as we tried to sleep. We doubted that the weather would be good enough for whale watching the next day.

Blue Lagoon: http://www.monterey.com/mcP/driftwood/driftwood.html