Ever been to Monterey, CA?

I have! It's a really beautiful place, great to just walk around and sightsee. Of course, the beach is nice, you can go kayaking, which I love to do, or just chill out there. Depending on when you get there, it could either be foggy or sunny. The aquarium there is pretty darn awesome, as long as you stay out of the kids section x) For me, it's a nice place to stay for a couple days, chill out, do a few fun things, then probably not go back, simply because it is a bit of a small, quiet place.

 

What IzzyBoBizzy says has been my experience too. A nice, pretty place. And the aquarium is seriously cool.

Are you thinking of visiting California? There are SO many great places to see here!

 

Oh, cool! I saw your location and figured that a visit from the UK was a likely explanation. Moving, or...?

 

Used to go there every year.

It's a nice town. The aquarium's always cool and there are a lot of good restaurants in the area. And it's not that far from Big Sur, which is a really beautiful drive.

 

Aside from the aquarium, they have a certain language institute, but for those enrolled in the military. Nice weather, supposedly full of laid back stoners who are stick of tourists trashing their town, ha.

 

I've been there and can confirm what others have said. It's beautiful and has good weather year round.

 

I'll echo what everyone else said. It's a great place if you love nature.

 

Hmmm, I hate to the "thorn" in this, but I got stuck in CA for almost 5 years, and I found it to be the most hateful, bigoted, corrupt, filthy, and horrific place I have ever been.

Some places may be scenic as far as nature goes, but when it comes to the people there......thats a completely different story.

 

I've been! Loved it...took a class at UC Monterey Bay, and spent some time in Monterey prior to the class. The whole experience summed up to "incredible". The aquarium is pretty cool, although I've seen a number of comparably cool aquariums...but that Cannery Row area was *damned* cool in general! The bike path along the Pacific is awesome, too.

Curious as to why you ask?

 

California is a huge state, and every region has it bad spots. Out of curiosity, what part(s) of it were you "stuck in" for 5 years where you "found it to be the most hateful, bigoted, corrupt, filthy, and horrific place [you] have ever been."

 

Alright, time to jump in and defend my state. Nearly any place you go is going to have its faults, and despite my California pride, I'll readily admit that my beloved state has its share of them. I'm truly sorry your experience was so bad. However, that does not mean that you can paint every person and place in California with the same brush. Stereotyping and shaming a large group based on an isolated experience (sound familiar to us LGBT folks?) does no one any good.

I was born and raised in California, and in my 22 years of living and traveling here I have met so many wonderful people and seen so many wonderful places. A tiny, tiny minority of my experience has been anything but great. Calling the whole of the state "hateful, bigoted, corrupt, filthy, and horrific" is patently false. California covers 163,696 square miles and has a population of nearly 39 million. There's a lot to experience here.

I hope for your sake you give it another chance. Let's keep this about the Monterey area, which as you can see from the other responses is a lovely place; I'd encourage you to visit.

Also, I'm going to leave a link to a post by OGS here. While the motivating topic is different, the theme of harsh and inaccurate generalizations is the same.

 

It's very pretty up there, but bring plenty of money...I think it would have to among the most expensive places in the US, all in all. My take on Northern CA is that it's pretty, but there's a lot of snobby, rich people, and it's hard to get by unless you're loaded.

That said, I do like the central coast area of CA the best, in terms of scenery, and that it isn't so crowded. San Luis Obispo was nice, and I enjoyed watching the surfer-boys at Pismo Beach, which seemed oddly not as ritzy as the rest of the places.

But overall, CA made me feel poor, and there seemed to be an exaggerated emphasis on outward appearance/keeping up with the Jones' and the superficial. Granted, not everyone, but that's the vibe I got, from San Diego to LA to SF to Napa.