New Hostel Coming to the Monterey Bay Area

There is A New Hostel Coming To The Monterey Area
Hostelling International is building a new Monterey area hostel. They have all ready had the open house and are just waiting to retrofit a group of previously used military buildings on the former Fort Ord to be used as the the latest Monterey area Hostel. This hostel will be located in a great spot near the 8th and Giggling trailheads which is great for cyclists and also not too far from the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail which is great because you can easily get to Marina, Monterey, Pacific Grove, or Carmel on the Recreation Trail. 

Hostelling International 

Hostelling International currently has 27 youth Hostels located on the California West Coast and the Canadian West Coast so it is possible to basically Hostel hop your way from San Diego California to Whistler in Canada. Check out CALITRIPPING It's the blog of a guy who travels from Canada to California by way of all the hostels that are available. If you time it right you can start out surfing and finish your trip Snowboarding in Whistler. In a future post I will list all the Hostels and their locations to help make a trip like this possible.
I am very happy to see another youth hostel in the Monterey area because the one in Monterey gets filled up quite often. Youth Hostel is kind of a misnomer in a name because people of all ages are welcome to stay in Youth Hostels around the world.
Monterey Youth Hostel, a photo by Vineyard Adventures on Flickr.

The Monterey Jazz Festival Is Back

The Monterey Jazz Festival is Back
The 2019 Monterey Jazz Festival is the 62nd Annual Monterey Jazz festival. So needless to say the folks at the Monterey Jazz Festival have been doing this for awhile and know how to put on a good show. The Jazz Festival dates are Sept 27 - 29 2019. The Monterey Jazz Festival will feature over 500 artists performing on 8 stages nonstop for 3 nights and 2 days. These aren't just any old jazz musicians either they are the best in the business. 

 Book Your Jazz Festival Hotel Now

What I like about this venue is you have all these Jazz greats in this small area so you are guaranteed to get a chance to see the artists that you want to see even if the schedule is pretty tight since the venues are so close together. 

Voted Best Jazz Fest
This event was voted the World's Best Jazz Festival By JazzTimes Magazine readers in 2006, 2007, 2008.  What more can you ask for these are the people that know their jazz. 

2019 Musicians At Monterey Jazz Festival

• Dianna Krall
• Snarky Puppy
• Kriss Botti
• Bob James
• Marcus Miller
• David Sanborn
• Eliane Elias
• Kenny Baron
• Christian McBride Big Band
• David Holland Allison Miller 
• Derrick Hodge
• Jazzmeia Horn
• Larkin Poe
• Cha Wa
• Candy Dulfer
• Tank and the Bangas

These Are Just a Few of The 500 Artists at The Monterey Jazz Fest.

So as you can see this is a pretty eclectic bunch of artists from several different generations of Jazz all in one place over one weekend in Monterey what can be better than that? 

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/daddy0h/4259202559/

The Best Place To Have a Bonfire On The Beach

Carmel Beach Bonfire

The Best Beach in Monterey County to have a Bonfire is Carmel Beach. A Carmel Beach bonfire is truly an experience that every visitor and local should experience. Whether that is a romantic fire at the beach with your husband or wife or boyfriend or girlfriend or a group of friends that get together to enjoy the sunset at it drops into the ocean as your kids eat smore's by the fire. 

Rules For Carmel Beach Bonfires

UPDATE Carmel has updated it's rules for bonfires on the beach READ THIS

The City of Carmel has updated the rules governing bonfires on the beach. The new rules were put into place to help with air quality south of Carmel beach as well as to alleviate the problems of ash left of the beach after the fires.

  Hotels Near the Monterey Bay Aquarium 

•     The Monterey Bay Inn -242 Cannery Row 
•     Best Western Plus Victorian Inn -487 Foam St.
•  Monterey Plaza Hotel and Spa -400 Cannery       Row
•  Spindrift Inn -652 Cannery Row
• Intercontinental The Clement Monterey Cannery   Row
•  Holiday Inn Express Cannery Row 443 Wave St
• Cannery Row Inn -200 Foam St. 

Rules For Carmel Beach Bonfires

1. All Wood Fires Must be In city provided fire pits or with the use of propane fueled fire rings. The Hours for wood or propane fueled beach bonfires are from 4pm to 10pm. 
2. No Reservations are required to use the fire pits.
3. Sharing of fire pits is highly encouraged. This just makes it better for everyone.
4. Stairways and pathways must be used for entering and exiting the beach. No climbing up or down the bluff.
5. Free Parking is allowed along Scenic Road and Del Mar parking lot until 12 midnight.
6. Wood fueled fires are only allowed in fire pits supplied by the city of Carmel.
7. Propane fueled fires are allowed at least 25 ft from the base of the bluff, from 8th Ave. South towards Martin way. 
8. Do not burn driftwood.
9. Charcoal fueled briquette fires are not allowed.
10. Do not use sand to extinguish a bonfire put a little water on the fire and let it burn itself out.
11. Temporary structures such as tents canopies or similar enclosures are not allowed.
12. Smoking is not permitted on the beach or scenic pathway.
13. Consumption of alcohol is permitted only on the beach but not on the scenic pathway.
14. Dogs on the beach must be on a leash or under voice command. Dogs on the scenic  pathway must be on a leash. Always clean up after your dog. 

   Buy Propane Fueled Bonfire at Amazon

  The main rule is you can only have a bonfire South of 10th ave. It must be in a city provided fire ring or be a propane fueled fire pit. Anything North of 10 ave. is off limits for bonfires on the beach. Another thing is use firewood not old lumber or pallets etc. Simply because these have nails and metal debris in them that long after the fire is over kids and dogs  get stuck in their feet as they are playing on the beach. The size of your fire can only be 3 feet by 3 feet by 3ft. anything larger than that is not legal. All Fires must be put out by 10 pm. All fires must be further than 25 feet from the bluffs. All fires must be put out by water not just by piling sand over them. That is a big one. You want anyone running or walking their dog in the morning to be able to see where your fire was last night and if it's covered with sand possibly it could still be very hot. Nowadays the crowd having bonfires on Carmel beach is usually groups of family and friends so it is a very quiet crowd with lots of little kids running around skim boarding and playing in the water. The parents of these little kids are probably the same teenagers who used to have huge bonfire parties on the beach when they were in high school. So to say the least the crowd on the beach has mellowed over the years a lot. This is really a great experience whether you are just visiting or have lived here forever.

Carmel Beach Bonfires Rules List  I'm Here On Vacation How Do I have a Bonfire On the Beach.

If you are here on vacation and you want to have a bonfire on Carmel Beach there's a few ways you can do it depending on you accommodations. Now if you are staying in a Vacation Home Rental then it's pretty simple you can get firewood from the wood stacked up where you staying if your rental has a fireplace. Now if you are staying at a hotel this is a bit more difficult you simply need to go to a convenience store or grocery store that sells firewood in a box. Now while your at the grocery store pick up marshmallows, Chocolates, and graham crackers for smore's. you also need a 5 gallon bucket of water to put out your fire. Oh and get some of those metal marshmallow roasters that extend to roast your marshmallows on and you and your loved ones will have the best Bonfire on Carmel Beach.

California Artichoke Declared State Vegetable

The California Artichoke Declared California State Vegetable
     How did this come about? Well the Artichoke was declared the California state vegetable stemming from a contest that started on KGO 810 radio in San Francisco they were talking to the Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom about declaring a state food. So they decided to have a little contest each of the nominees which were California Artichokes, California Avocado's, Crab, Wine Grapes, Sourdough Bread, and California Wine Grapes each had a spokesperson come on the radio and give a passionate speech about why there selected food or wine as it were should become the new California State Food. Then KGO Radio started taking votes on their Facebook page for each of the entrants. Well it turns out that the Mighty California Artichoke beat them all I think mainly because of the passionate speech of it's spokesperson I don't know her name but she certainly expanded my horizons about Artichokes. 

Gavin Newsom's Proclamation

The lieutenant Governor being the politcian that he is not only proclaimed the Artichoke as the state vegetable but also the avocado as the state fruit and the almond as the state nut and rice and the state grain. This was all kind of tongue in cheek as hey what are you going to do to exercise your power while the Governor is out of the country and you have the full power of the office of Governor. This will be a great thing for Watsonville which is already the Artichoke Capital of the World. But now it's truly official. The California Artichoke is The California State Vegetable.
dainties (CC), a photo by marfis75 on Flickr.