Santa Cruz and Monterey
We love going to Monterey. Our cuisine of choice is French, and the area's a hotbed for excellent bistro fare. Our one unusual trip here was through Road Scholar/Elderhostel, for a five-day Buddhist retreat at The Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel, CA (near Santa Cruz). The LMB organization offers many regular classes for the public, and gives organized week-long retreats to both corporations and organizations. A Tibetan Buddhist Mahayana sect (the Dalai Lama visited in 2001), they own 170 rural acres near a state park.
Their website http://www.landofmedicinebuddha.org/ has the schedule and information on their classes. There’s also a quick photo slideshow at: http://www.landofmedicinebuddha.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=61&Itemid=120 – although I have to say, it makes the bedrooms look quite nice, whereas ours was a single queen bed with very plain decor. Still, it’s very clean and you have a separate bathroom for each bedroom.
SANTA CRUZ: Staying at the Land of Medicine Buddha Monastery
Almost all the rooms are in buildings that are handicap-accessible. Visitors, whether drop-in or resident, are welcome to participate in any classes or lectures. One can stay at LMB – rooms cost $85-$110/night – or drive in each day.
Meals (only for people staying overnight on the grounds) include a modest breakfast and a substantial lunch, both served buffet-style. No dinners are offered unless the tour organizer pre-arranges it (Buddhist monks traditionally don’t eat after midday). Road Scholar arranged that every night we had a vegetarian dinner. There’s always several vegan options at every meal.
Our retreat had daily classes on qi gong exercises and meditation, along with lectures on vegetarian cuisine and nutrition, nature hikes, etc. Like all Elderhostel/Road Scholar programs, participation in group activities is optional. There was free time in the mid-afternoon; the out-of-towners went sightseeing, while the locals either hiked or just relaxed by the sunny pool. There’s excellent hiking trails, both on LMB land and the state park behind it.
Above: Detail, Dragon-head corner tile, Wish Fulfilling Temple
The area is forested and peaceful. Although very close to the coast, it is all third-growth forest and hills. This does mean no cellphone reception, nor do they have a TV anywhere. There’s also no Internet, although you can travel 15 minutes to Santa Cruz and find a cybercafe if you’re desperate for e-mail. There’s a single computer in the LMB office with DSL for guests, but they charge a fee for usage. You're just over the hills from Silicon Valley, but it feels like a world apart. It's an excellent way to disconnect yourself from the constant electronic contact today's life demands of us.
In the main compound area near the parking lots, are the two conference rooms, the dining hall, the reception office, and the swimming pool. There’s lots of small tables and chairs to sit and relax in. Also, there are three prayer wheels. Two of them are on the main buildings area, and the other is on a clearing in the hills above.
Left: This is the largest prayer wheel, located between the parking lot and the building office
We both enjoyed the qi gong classes. We used to do a lot of martial arts, so the theory and practice was familiar to us. Carlos was a little frustrated with the meditation classes scheduled for our group, as they were aimed strictly for beginners.
As a follower of Paramahansa Yogananda for the last two years, Carlos now meditates for a couple of hours almost every day. I suggested instead that he drop-in on some of their regular classes and lectures, which he did, and enjoyed.
Halfway up the hills above the main compound, is a clearing that holds the Namgalma Bell and a statue of Ksitigharba. Ksitigarbha is one of the four principal bodhisattvas in East Asian Mahayana Buddhism. He pledged to take responsibility for the instruction of all beings in the six worlds, in the era between the death of Gautama Buddha and the rise of Maitreya Buddha (the ‘future’ Buddha, who will come after Gautama Buddha’s teachings, the Dharma, are finally forgotten).
The Ksitigarbha statue was donated by the Chinese American community to the LMB.
Below: Statue of Ksitigharba
Below: The Namgalma Bell
Following the same trail about 1/4 mile further up the hill, is the Wish Fulfilling Temple (formerly known as the Memorial Shrine Temple). Meditation sessions are sometimes held here. Visitors are welcome but you need to obtain the key from the Reception Desk. It’s easily accessed whether walking or driving; just follow the paved trail from the map available at the building office (however, one has to be careful while walking because of the occasional car coming down).
The LMB hopes to build a very large temple someday, but in the meantime the Wish Fulfilling Temple serves as a stand-in. It’s elaborately painted and quite beautiful in its detailing.
Below: The 30' statue of Maitreya, the 'future' Buddha
Left: The Wish Fulfilling Temple, Santa Cruz CA
Below: Detail, Wish Fulfilling Temple
The interior of the Temple is one big room. From the photo of the Maitreya Buddha, at left, you can see how elaborately the walls are painted. The top level paintings are of the gods. Then there's a colorful cloth hanging, made of small petal shapes. Below that are eight panels running around the room, showing the life of Gautama Buddha.
Several of the 8 Buddhist Sacred Symbols are painted on the driveway leading up to the Temple. The Endless Knot in the photo below, symbolizes longevity and eternity.
Below: The Endless Knot, which sits atop a stylized lotus.
MONTEREY/CARMEL - one of our favorite places
Monterey is only a short 20-minute drive from Santa Cruz. As long as you avoid commute hours it’s a scenic drive along the perimeter of the Bay. We come down here 3x/year, as it's an easy trip from where we live as long as one avoids commute times through San Jose.
We've been trying different hotels and still haven't found the "perfect one". One of our better choices was outside downtown Monterey, close to freeway access and away from the Aquarium/Cannery Row. The Mariposa Inn had a particularly good suite set-up that worked very well for us, and it's a breeze to get around the area. We don't enjoy staying too close to Cannery Row - distances are never far in this area, and the crowds around the Aquarium are constant.
One of our stays was in Pacific Grove's Martine Inn, which offers easy access to the Pacific Coast Trail, a popular hiking/biking trail running from the Monterey Aquarium to the
We peeked into The Suite, which is quite a bit larger but in the same separate house as Mahogany. It’s the only room in this 3-room annex with an ocean view – quite lovely, but also more expensive. Like many B&Bs, you have to be careful with the lower-priced rooms. Many of them have sinks, or even the bathtub, in the same room as the bed. We don’t care for this arrangement, so we always look for the magic phrase “full private bath”, which should mean a separate, complete bathroom.
The Martine Inn’s owner collects MG sportscars and has quite a few of them. One was garaged right next to our cabin. Of course it was painted the classic British Racing Green!
There’s a lot of roses and shrubs surrounding both a large patio area as well as a beautiful courtyard in the main house. An amazing number of container plants add even more color. One morning we drove over to Parker-Lusseau Pastries, which is our favorite bakery of any we've tried so far. We picked a selection of quiches and pastries along with some strong espressos, then brought them back to the hotel. We sat in the courtyard for an inpromptu picnic lunch, surrounded by hollyhocks and roses.
We did enjoy staying at the Martine Inn, but will continue to try some of the other moderate-rate lodgings in the area . It's part of the fun of traveling, especially when it's an easy drive from our house.
We love dining in Monterey and Carmel. There's some wonderful restaurants down here that we really enjoy returning to. We had wonderful dinners at Passionfish (thanks for the recommendation, Beth and Rob!) and (our favorite) Andre’s Bouchee, which have been added to the restaurant reviews which I post on my Exegesis blogsite.
Below: Morning glories and impatiens cover a fence outside our room
Below: MG sportscar, Monterey CA
Below: Pink rose, unnamed
Below: Bi-color hollyhock
GOING HOME
When starting our drive back, we were trundling along Lighthouse Avenue in Pacific Grove when we saw a spectacular rock carving atop a magnificent old stone retaining wall. Well, we had to stop the car so I could take some photos. We've never seen anything like this before. Unfortunately, it's a private residence and a quick Googling didn't find anything about it. My guess from the age of the house is that it's from the 1920's, probably by some local craftsman as it has a rather rough look about it.
Below: Panoramic view, stone wall, Pacific Grove CA
Below: Close-up of the entry gate, Pacific Grove CA
Below: Close-up of a hungry-looking mountain lion, , Pacific Grove CA
There are some beautiful old churches in Pacific Grove, which was a very conservative religious community (Prohibition lasted until 1969 in this town). One church had a magnificent specimen of Romneya coulteri, the Matilija Poppy sometimes called the ‘fried egg shrub’, for obvious reasons. I love this shrub, but don’t have the right exposure for it, so I’ll have to be content with photos of it in other people’s gardens.
Left: Romneya coulteri, the Matilija Poppy
A personal note: On our return home, we ended up getting caught in traffic, so must remember: never try to drive back on Sunday afternoons again!
