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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Six Sisters Celebrate

I am so lucky. I have five sisters who are my best friends.

We all went to Monterey this past weekend to celebrate the two sisters who had birthdays in February, one on the 9th for her 59th and the other on the 19th for her 50th.
On our way down, we stopped at the Succulent Gardens . I've never seen so many succulents in one place...my heart skipped a beat the moment I entered the greenhouse. This is an amazing place and if you are ever in the area (near Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough) I highly recommend you stop in for a visit.

Monterey is a quite the charming seaside town, I must say. We spent the night at The Clement on Cannery Row, the most exquisite hotel I've ever stayed in.
Doesn't it look magical? It is right on the water, clean, sleek, and staffed with friendly and helpful people...
We were greeted with a furry little otter and her pup and very luxurious shampoo/conditioner and soap on our beds.

We each had our very own big fluffy white robe, white puffy towels and a pair of pristine white terry slippers,
and had a bonsai and a mini Japanese garden to enjoy.

The granite/slate tiled bathrooms were exquisite.We had a 36" flat screen HD television, a cozy fireplace in the corner, our own deck, a fitness center that is to die for.. the most comfy bed with my favorite kind of white sheets....and a skinny lap pool to frolic in (and try and get skinny).



The city looked mighty fine with it's sparkly clean sidewalks and streets ( I swear little elves come out at night and scrub everything down!)...

...blooms were everywhere in "pocket gardens" throughout the town ...not a weed in sight.



At night, we ventured on down to the terrace and sat in front of a blazing fire under a gorgeous glowing full moon while the waves lapped the shore below ...


...and we toasted our sixty toes in twelve shoes by the flame.



Early Sunday morning, we all took a stroll along the shoreline trail .....

...and enjoyed the crystal, clear, salt air..



On our way home, we stopped in Castroville, the Artichoke Center of the World. It provides nearly 80% of the U.S. crop ( the other 20% of the US crop is grown elsewhere in California). We picked up the deal of the century...12 Green Globe's (the only kind grown commercially in the U.S) for one buck. So deelish.

Have you ever seen a choke as large as this?:

Oh, I am so lucky to live so close to such a beautiful place....


I am ready to return.

4 comments:

Natalie said...

I love that last photo of you. Hilarious! And what a great deal on the artichokes!

Jeanette Millward said...

Wow. What a great getaway. I was going to ask you who belonged to the cute colorful ballet flats. Then I saw that they were on your feet in the next post :)

Judy said...

Such a great summary of our weekend. I just missed out on the green globes. I did stop and take a picture and enjoy looking at the lush artychokes. We are looking forward to eating many of them in the next couple of months. loved it..

Molly said...

You know, I had never heard of that succulent gardens place before you posted this. I want to go now...