the hunt

So the main reason Irwin even bothered to come out to Cali this time for such a short visit is so that we could investigate potential wedding locations. I'd done a fair bit of research on-line and had a selection of places, both on the Peninsula and farther south towards Big Sur, I wanted to look at.
In Marina, the farthest northern city among the Monterey cluster, there was the Sanctuary Beach Resort, in the middle of the sand dunes of a nature preserve. The units are spread out over the property, unlike a mongo hotel building, and guests are given a golf cart to get around in. There is also a spa on-site.Kevin gave us a tour of the property, including the short trail to the beach, where their beach wedding ceremonies ordinarily take place. As you can see it was a pretty overcast day. Kevin, who must have been like 20 years old, gave us his very honest opinion about the place. That is was always cold and foggy there, and that a while back, there was a shark attack right off the beach where we were standing -- which was even featured on the Discovery channel. Great.
Next, closer to Monterey (and across the way from a huge shopping outlet housing Costco, Target, and Circuit City) was the Monterey Beach Resort, formerly known to me as the Monterey Beach Hotel. I remembered the place as pretty quaint and rather decrepit (in an old-timey way) when I was invited to an all-county honor student dinner hosted by the Monterey Herald, over 15 years ago.
Now this place had become a Best Western, and near the end of their renovation project. This ocean wall and beach deck would be complete by December 2008.
Pretty glam for a hometown place, I'd say. Valerie, the on-site wedding consultant explained the whole wedding package to us. I mean, if we were different kinds of people, fundamentally, it might have been a perfect situation for us...
We also stopped off at Adventures by the Sea, a company who organizes beach party weddings complete with BBQ, bonfires (both sounding good) and their in-house DJ who would be the MC for the evening. Screeching halt. I could just picture, our families (you know, ASIAN) reacting to some white guy middle-aged DJ on the mic making stupid jokes and stuff.... Disaster.
For lunch we stopped by for fish tacos, which were excellent.

After lunch I took Irwin back to Asilomar, and we both felt it was the right place for us. Secluded in forest and dunes, a walk to the beach, capacity for bonfires, BBQ, ping pong and pool, intimate and in nature, and our guests could stay on site yet be just a few minutes drive away from the rest of Monterey. We could even have the ceremony on the beach if we wanted.
So we put in an application! Wow, very exciting. Seriously I am the least like bride-minded person, so it was a relief to find a great low-key place. Simple and classy and convenient. Fingers crossed.
For dinner we went out to sushi with my Mom and Clint.
We ordered monkfish liver, and it came in a humongous portion. Irwin and I could barely put a dent in it... Generally sushi was pretty good at Akaoni in Carmel.Unfortunately I am sick again. Going to sleep it off...