Tag Archives: Tuesday Travels

Tuesday Travels: Monterey Peninsula

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Tuesday Travel buttonAt this time of year, my husband and I used to head for the Monterey Peninsula to get out of the LA heat and watch the historic automobile nations. We haven’t gone for a while now, but it’s still one of my favorite places on earth.

Sailboat on Pacific Ocean

There are three cities on the peninsula: Monterey, Carmel and Pacific Grove. The area has a lot to offer visitors, including the wonderful Monterey Bay Aquarium, located on Cannery Row in a renovated sardine cannery.

Pacific Grove coastlinePacific Grove has some of the prettiest, whitest beaches in California. It’s a small, picturesque city, without as many motels or tourist traffic as the other, better known, cities. We find it peaceful, and apparently so do the deer who are frequently seen strolling through town, like this pair placidly dining on our motel lawn.

Deer

In October, the monarch butterflies stop in Pacific Grove, and you’ll see butterfly symbols all over town. We sometimes see them here in south Orange County, too. I took this picture of one who visited in early September of 2011.

Monarch butterfly

What is your favorite place to visit? Leave a comment to be entered in my monthly drawing for a $15 Starbucks gift card.

Linda

Tuesday Travels: Quebec for Canada Day

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Tuesday Travel buttonThis is the first in a new Tuesday feature on places I’ve been, places I love, and places I’d love to visit, and since today is Canada Day, our first armchair excursion is to Quebec. (Note: I took this trip back in the pre-digital photography days so the photos are from my Art Explosion CD collection.)

Quebec CityQuebec is one of the settings used in my French & Indian War-set historical romance, Rogue’s Hostage. When I was writing the book, my husband and I took a vacation to Quebec Province so I could do some research. We started in Montreal, where I managed to find my way around the Metro using my college French.

Chateau Frontenac

Chateau Frontenac

After a couple of days we took the train to Quebec, and I fell in love with the charming old city, though I had to keep reminding myself that the city in my book was the previous city, the one that was destroyed by the British shelling.

Since I wanted to stay in the old part of the city, I booked us a room at Chateau Frontenac, the venerable Canadian Railway hotel. Picturesque setting, but we were pretty sure they gave us the smallest room in the place! Instead of a view looking out toward the river, our window looked down onto an alley. Oh, well, we didn’t spend much time in the room anyway.

We were far more interested in wandering the streets, taking pictures of the old houses and the fort and battlefield. Monument of the Battle of the Plains of AbrahamOn the last day we took a boat ride on the St. Lawrence for the spectacular views of the city and countryside. What a beautiful area! I’d love to go back some day.

Quebec Street SceneBut the house needs a new roof so we’ll be staying home this summer. How about you? Do you have vacation or staycation plans? Leave a comment below to be entered in my monthly drawing for a $15 Starbucks e-gift card.  Follow the blog and earn a second entry. (If your comment doesn’t pop up right away, it’s because first time comments have to be moderated by yours truly.)

Linda McLaughlin