Day 58: Casa de Fruta! Point Lobos! (3/4/2022)

March 22, 2022

The morning began with rain, and we knew it would be cold and windy on the Monterey coast, so we dressed as warmly as possible and started out close to 9:00 with an ambitious itinerary: Casa de Fruta (near Hollister); and then on to Point Lobos State Beach, where we have been coming since we were infants, literally. It was one of our folks’s favorite outings.

After an hour’s drive through cloud, rain, and occasional burst of sunlight,

we arrived at the first destination: Casa de Fruta, where our dad used to stop for dried fruit and samplings of fruit wines on the way to Monterey and Point Lobos. So of course we had to do the same, and came away with bags of dried mango, peaches, apricots, fresh strawberries, chocolates, and other goodies. I picked up a bottle of plum wine for memory’s sake (Phil and I stopped here on our honeymoon and bought plum wine almost half a century ago).

Then it was another hour’s drive to Point Lobos, where the wind whipped up the waves, chilled our hands, and chapped our faces. But it was glorious to see all the old haunts again, including the tables where our family had had so many picnics.

China Cove, where our family picnicked and splashed and lay in the sun.

Now it is blocked off, to protect the mother seals and babies.

Still, it’s a jewel.

Lots of poppies and wild iris:

We took the walk from China Cove to the Cypress Grove, along the wild, rocky shoreline.

Then through the cypress grove, with its ancient trees and incomparable coastline:

Finally, sated with beauty and thoroughly chilled by the wind, we turned homeward, stopping at a produce stand near Watsonville to pick up some artichokes (another Dad memory). The wind was so strong there that I could barely get my car door open. Paul’s hat almost escaped as well. But we made it home, where Mike fixed an exquisite fish dinner, and we all were glad for warmth and shelter.