Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Lovers' Point Monterey

Summer is the time for get togethers, picnics and cook-outs / BBQ at the beach or parks or even kat belakang rumah...backyards. Kalau di Malaysia, rumah teres macam kat Shah Alam tu, nak buat apa-apa semua di depan rumah. The houses here on the other hand, are mostly designed with the garage in front so, kalau nak buat apa2 semua kat belakang. Musim panas ni the days are longer - sunset at 8.30pm - so more daylight time for activities. Jenuh jugak nak puasa nanti, kan!? Most children pulak are out of school - cuti sekolah - macam kat Malaysia jugak, time to do some family bonding! Well, a few of us - 17 adults & 17 children - did some bonding at a place called Lovers' Point in Monterey, which is around one and half hours from here. Monterey is one of the more beautiful coastal cities in California. I agree ! That was why I had no qualms or doubts when the group wanted to hold a picnic at Lovers' Point. Dari nama tempat pun dah tahu pasti menarik. With beach access just below, the nice cosy spot which Izzah & Ridhwan booked offers an excellent location to enjoy the beauty of Pacific Grove and Monterey Bay as well as picnic-ing. The weather was a bit foggy & chilly that day, but it got warmer and nice as the day went by. Upon arriving we quickly put up our 8-person tent that have not been opened since our camping trip in New Hampshire during summer of last year. The 2-room tent became a make shift surau for the ladies. The men however, solat berjemaah kat luar. We got the direction of kiblat from the GPS - how convenient! - and we verified its accuracy using Google Map at home. Bringing the satelite and internet technologies to our advantage... apa-apa pun insyaAllah di terima Allah...:-) Menurut internet, Monterey was established in 1770 by someone called Father Junipero Serra. Rupa-rupanya Monterey ni pernah jadi the state capital of California satu ketika dulu. Currently, the capital city is Sacramento which is located somewhere to the north of the state. There is also some military presence in Monterey and I hear quite a number of our military personnels attended training at the Naval Postgraduate School here awhile back. Maybe, a few of our Navy men are still there... stationed macam kat Rhode Island..who knows! Bila dah tiap keluarga bawa
sedikit sebanyak makanan... banyak la jadi nya, sampai sedeqah kat a group of Hispanics who took the spot after we left that afternoon. At first I was taken aback when one of them requested for makanan kita orang yang berlebeh. Kita patut bersyukur apa yang ada, tak semua yang bernasib baik macam kita. Tak sangka pulak dia orang pun makan Nasi Goreng Kampung! :-)


Salman Amir and Yusuf Chang grilling...








Jina with two of her 'men'... Isa keletihan..









:-) ....







The men in our group... July 4th birthday Aziz & July 8th birthday my beloved hubby...






The ladies ...







Untuk sesiapa yang ingin melihat mamalia yang terbesar di dunia ... kalau timbul..!







Mereka yang berani di lambung ombak.....and loads of insides to throw up!...:-)







An adult ticket cost almost $40 each... a pocket full for a 5 adults family..! On top of that, there is no guarantee any whale will surface and give a good show. So, we opted otherwise and reserve our curiosity for later.




The before picture... too bad tak der gambar rupa masing-masing selepas di lambung ombak Lautan Pasifik..! Tak sangka lautan nie mengganas jugak yer...




Bougainvilla - Bunga kertas yang dijumpai melingkar di tepi salah satu tangga di Cannery Row......seronok tengok..! Teringat akan pokok-pokok bunga kertas yang selalu kekeringan dalam pasu depan rumah di Shah Alam.. :-)

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