It has felt so very familiar and also so very strange to be in Monterey and Pacific Grove again. So much of my life has been spent here, but not for a long time. I'm having to become reacquainted with the streets and stores and restaurants. It has been interesting to notice which have survived through the years and the pandemic, and which have been replaced.
It was a day of many Somethings New. My motel is close to a park that I and my family have driven past many x8 times, but until today I had never stepped foot in it. It's a large park that encompasses a long pond, a cemetery, an astounding children's play area, and lots of trees and grass. I walked the periphery until I got to the playground. Then I gave in to the urge to have some fun on the varied and inventive play stations. I slid down 3 slides: a curvy one, a spiral, and one made up of red rollers. There was a maze path, and an arched bridge, and a suspension bridge, as well as a merry-go-round (not a carousel) on which were installed cages one could stand in and twirl on an axis.
When I told Sweet Hubby about this part of my day, he asked if any of the kids gave me the stink eye. I said maybe a parent or two might have but that I hope they would just think this old lady is still young at heart. The playground and the walk were wonderful fun, and I'd already gotten almost 8K steps on my Fitbit by the time the next part of the day started.
My Santa Cruz friend Liz came to pick me up and we went into small, homey downtown Monterey to look for a lunch spot. We ended up at a Thai restaurant, not exotic but new to us both, and after real food, finished with ice cream from a place famous for its odd flavorings. I had a scoop of honey/cinnamon/quince ice cream, which tasted good and had a strange, grainy texture. New thing #3 already.
After an afternoon of driving along and then sitting by the rocky shoreline together, Liz went back to Santa Cruz. I read for a while (Brideshead Revisted), then took myself into Pacific Grove for dinner at a new (to me) restaurant. I even ordered a salad with an ingredient I'd never heard of: lardons, which, it turns out, at this restaurant at least, are cubes of smoked salmon. (The dictionary defines lardon as a piece of bacon used to lard meat.)
Tomorrow SH and lots of family members will be showing up in PG and the pre-wedding hurrahs will begin, probably involving many meals, many games, many, many conversations. I'll check in when I can, but now must go practice the ceremony I've planned for my niece and her fiancé. Let the fun begin!
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