While we were in the central valley, Andrew drove to pick up our daughter as a surprise for her birthday. Of course, as we were heading to the coast, we stopped at Casa De Fruita and spent about an hour there enjoying the sights of the stop.
For as many times as we have stopped here over the years, we didn’t know there were turtles in the lake. So we walked around the lake to enjoy the many turtles sunning on the rocks. There are even Koi fish in the pond as well.
We spent some time looking in the shops and doing some shenanigans.
Andrew and our friend Merry are obsessed with the rubber chicken and their videos. Their favorites belong to King Chicken https://www.youtube.com/@RomeroMay. They are fun to hear.
After playing at Casa, we headed to Monterey’s Cannery Row for the afternoon.
If you go, plan to park far and do a lot of walking, but with so much to see, if doesn’t feel like a lot. Because it was a birthday celebration, we had more shenanigans. We did a pirate adventure just on a spur of the moment. It was a bit pricey, but we had fun. It is a bit like the Buzz Lightyear ride in California Disney. https://canneryrow.com/experience/treasure-hunt-the-ride-is-filled-with-pirate-lore-and-fun/
The monuments of Canery Row
Best Lunch on the pier was at Fish Hopper https://www.fishhopper.com/. We wanted to have a view of the ocean, and this met that criterion.
We started with bread and drinks. I’m not the biggest fan of bread, but Wowzers, this was so good. The Cabernet Sauvignon Francis Ford Coppola was very good and refreshing.I had the Salmon and it was soooo good with a creamy sauce. The portion was small but very filling.Andrew had the fish and chips and he loved it.Autumn had the filet mignon for her birthday lunch, and she said it was cooked to perfection.She had chocolate cake with ice cream to celebrate. I will admit that we shared the dessert, and it was yummy.
It was a great meal, with great views. It was pricey, but very well worth the money spent. We were able to get a seat right away, but I would recommend having a reservation at night.
After lunch, we walked around Steinbeck Plaza and enjoyed the views.
The views were amazing!
The end of a great birthday celebration was had and we close with our birthday buddies. Fun fact, they share a birthday a day a part.
Hello, we are the Scherfs!, We travel around the country (the western United States so far) in our Keystone Cougar 2100 RK to see and learn about our great country. Check out our story of how we got here https://thescherfswanderingwheels.com/the-beginning/ We would love for you to join us on our travels.
On our drive from the central valley we headed east on 152 and stopped at the famous Casa De Fruta for a break for Jessie our dog. When we stopped, little did we know we would get caught in a downpour, which needless to say, meant the truck smelled let wet dog once we got back on the road. While here I bought a whole apple pie and a slice of chocolate marble bread to snack on. This is such a great place to stop when its not raining because there is something for everyone here. A train ride, a merry go round (which was under renovations), a play structure all for the kids. My husband and I have stopped and had dinner at the restaurant before and we would do it again. The fruit stand is a bit pricey, but fun to walk around. There’s also wine tasting for the adults as well as a gift shop. Oh, and keep an eye out for the peacocks – they’re beautiful!
We decided on a whim to head to Morgan Hill to go visit our son who is moving to the area. I called https://coyotevalleyresort.com/ the day before to get a reservation for two nights and it was not a problem.
This if the office, just pull into the right side of the island.
When you enter these gates, make a right and follow the signs to the office. After you check in, you get an escort to your site. Our escort is a truck driver when he is not at the resort and he definitely knew what he was doing when helping us in to a blind passenger side back in. My husband and I have great communication when getting into a site and typically we don’t need help but we will not say no thank you either. It was a great experience! He even came back to power blow our site and rid it of the leaves the recent winds and rain had left behind. He also happily took and filled a propane tank for us, returning it a short while later. The price was about what you might expect, and it certainly was convenience of charging it to the site tab was well worth it.
Our 26 foot 5th wheel and our truck. There was plenty of room for our son’s car as well. Nice spacious sites.
The main clubhouse is connected to the office with a pool and a lounge area off to the side. It seems a really great place to have a group gathering, or a rally, or even a family reunion.
The dog park is just on the other side of the building. It was big enough for him to run around and enjoy his off leash time which he hasn’t gotten a lot of since the weather hasn’t been great lately.
Because the park is so big and I think it was recently expanded, they have two clubhouses, pools, laundry facilities and dog parks. Who doesn’t want to have choices?
Dining
Sometimes when we have been driving a bit or I haven’t taken anything out for dinner, we will enjoy the local eateries. This time, we enjoyed Red Robin for dinner and it was delightful! The Morgan Hill location had our order to go ready when we got there. Unfortunately we were so hungry we forgot to take pictures so trust us that is was good! The next day, we had Chipotle for lunch and had it out on their patio since Jessie is not a service dog. So they had 2/3 of the order correct but I didn’t eat mine till the next day only to find out it was not what I ordered. Oh well, most Chipotle’s get it correct and it was too late to do anything about it. Do you have any recommendation’s to eat in town? We would love to hear it! Perhaps in downtown where we drove and it had that small town vibe.
Gilroy, California
Gilroy is only a 20 min. drive from Morgan Hill and there is so much to do there. Shopping is not something I enjoy doing unless it is outlets. The Gilroy Premium Outlets are one of my favorites because you can spend the day there with over 145 stores and several restaurants to have lunch at in the middle of the shopping day. Check out all they have to offer here https://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlet/gilroy .
Gilroy Gardens Family Theme Park is in the area and a great time if you have younger kids. We visited many years ago. Someday we might need to recreate this photo – with the grandkids!!
We went because we heard about these really cool trees and landscaping and learned it was a theme park for children.
Our kids had fun especially our youngest and we all learned a lot as well. Be sure to check the website for more information https://www.gilroygardens.org/
So if your ever in the area, Coyote Valley RV resort is a great place to stay if you want to visit Gilroy, Ca. Subscribe to stay updated as we travel down the 101 along the Ca. coast.
