SATURDAY: 9-18-10_CARMEL-BY-THE-RIVER RV PARK

Today is our wedding anniversary.  We have been married 11 years today, have been together 15 years, and have known each other 34 years.  We have been looking forward to celebrating this momentous day with dinner at Paradisio, our favorite restaurant in Monterey on Cannery Row.  It sits right on the beach and you can push open the windows to feel the ocean breeze and listen to the crashing surf.

But first we have errands to run.  We need to pick up some items and I want to check out an RV campground I once noticed on the coast just north of Monterey.

We get hungry and look for a good taco joint.  Fred remembers something about an ad for “Tortuga” or “Turtle” Taqueria.  I Google both on my iPhone and we find the spot on Fremont Street in Seaside.  Only one problem:  within a half a block of each other is both a “Tortuga Taqueria” and a “Turtle Bay Taqueria”.  We check them both out and pick the “turtle” place.  It’s not the typical Mexican taco we are looking for.  It’s more like Caribbean or something, where they put shredded cabbage in their tacos rather than lettuce.    But it’s good and we enjoy our lunch.  We decide we will try “Tortuga” next time.

We make a couple stops.  First Smart & Final and then Costco looking for Fred’s favorite “Café de Vita” hot mocha mix.  Then we hit Myrick’s Camera looking for a circular polarizer for my camera.  Unfortunately the only one he has in stock is $185.  Uh, I don’t think so.

We then drive up the coast looking for that RV park….I remember it had the word “Dunes” in the name.  We are ready to turn back when we see it:  “Marina Dunes RV Resort”.  Uh oh, any campground with the word “resort” in the name is going to be expensive.  It is $70 a night – expensive by campground standards.  The sites, of course, are great.  They are large spaces, well kept, and there are footpaths to the dunes.  Fred goes into the office when I see a sign that says “Cottages For Sale”.  I wander over to check it out.

It seems they are selling these pre-fab cottages that will eventually sit on each campground site.  They are tiny little things, not much larger than our RV.  When they sell 45 cottages they will start converting the RV “resort” into a privately owned cottages resort.  So far they have sold 24 cottages for $299,000 each.  I tell the nice fellow we will take two, please.

We head for Paradisio hoping it is early enough to get a table by the window.  We are in luck.  It is a golden evening and the appetizers are as good as ever.  We eat cold artichoke, shrimp cocktail, clam chowder, and calamari.  The entrée of short ribs on ravioli is disappointing. How can they create such great appetizers and always disappoint us with the entrée?  We once again decide that next time we will only order wine and appetizers.  We spend the evening savoring the beautiful view of Monterey Bay.