Just when you least expect it ... After an early breakfast at Milt's, we headed downtown to check out the antique stores. Any bad tidings we had about Bakersfield from the previous night were erased that morning. They have a beautiful downtown, with lots of distinctive old buildings (we took tons of pictures). We spent a couple of hours at their biggest antique mall in the old Woolworth building.

Back on the freeway, we drove and drove, up through Salinas and finally to our destination -- Monterey! It was charming, definitely making up for the soulessness of the towns leading up to it. We made our way to the Casa Munras Garden Hotel, where we had reservations. It's a lovely old hotel, centrally located with nice amenities. After unloading our stuff in the room, we took a brisk walk though Monterey to Fisherman's Wharf. Very nice, if a bit touristy.