Day 4

Today we did the 17 mile drive starting in Carmel. It costs $9 to do the drive, it's quite a sight to see. I think that I preferred the Big Sur drive...that was truly nature at it's best. The 17 mile drive was pretty but was more focused on the opulence of the homes along the drive and the gold courses. If you want shock factor, I would go for the Big Sur drive instead.

After we got back, we stopped in Carmel By The Sea. It was cute, typical tourist type shops kicked up a notch. It sort of looked like an Old English village. We walked down the hill to the beach and watched some surfers for awhile.

We headed to our hotel in Watsonville...we were trying to save a little cash after staying in Carmel and Monterey. Watsonville was inland and a big agriculatural center. The hotel itself was clean but was kind of in a sketchy area, the kind of area where we felt like we should park the car in a well lit area. There was little to do in Watsonville, so we headed north up to Santa Cruz and Capitola. Capitola was another beach town, this one had a more blue collar feel. There was a main street with typical beach stores on it, we had a way too expensive dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Nothing special but fun to sit right on the water.