Good news this year in December is the whales have yet to pass Monterey Bay in their large numbers h

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December is my favorite month around Monterey, California.  Winter on the Central Coast of California between rainy season storms typically has air so clear that my eyes are amazed by the crisp definition of color in sea and sand and rocky coast.  The lines of mountain ridges visible all around reveal mountains beyond mountains set back from the water s edge.
Walking around the coast the past few days has been like seeing the Monterey Peninsula in high-definition. Winter is when there are the least days with fog in this area which most summer visitors associate with Monterey. Over the years I am always amazed how clear the landscape features appear in my winter photographs.
I mention Hyatt since they are sponsoring Loyalty Traveler with a 110,000 points raffle prize for the 2011 Passports with Purpose fundraiser ( Loyalty Traveler post Nov 30 ). The Passports with Purpose travel blog charitable event has the goal of raising US$80,000 to build two lbraries in Zambia. Your $10 donation contributes to a grass-roots humanitarian effort philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices and enters you into the raffle for 110,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points. Enter through December 16, 2011 for your chance to win this prize or one of many other prizes being offered. Passports with Purpose donation page lists about 100 travel prizes.
Hyatt has two hotels in the Monterey Peninsula area. Hyatt Regency Monterey is close to my home. Tiger Woods could probably hit my roof in three out-of-bounds golf swings from the hotel s location on the Del Monte Golf Course. The Hyatt Monterey property is a Hyatt Gold Passport category 4 hotel reward at 15,000 points per night. Here is a Loyalty Traveler hotel review from February 2010  with links to Picasa photo albums containing hundreds of hotel photos. I see I used the same Tiger Woods distance philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices metaphor back then.
Hyatt Highlands Inn is eight miles south of my home on Highway 1. Locals around here do not refer to Highway 1 as PCH or Pacific Coast Highway. That is Southern California nomenclature for their section of the coast highway. The signpost name around here is actually Cabrillo Highway, but nearly everyone just says Highway 1 .
Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is about one mile north of Hyatt Carmel Highlands.  This park was established in 1933 and protects one of only two native Monterey cypress groves remaining in the area. Yesterday I needed out of the house and I drove south on Highway 1 ten minutes to hike around Point Lobos.
Cars are a $5 fee to enter the park. Walkers and bicyclists can enter free. The park has walking trails off the paved road. There are portable toilets in some car parking locations and fixed structure restrooms at the picnic grounds. The park is walkable, but around the coastline, especially at Allan Memorial Cypress Grove, the trails are more rugged with rocks and require basic agility. In other words, you are not getting a wheelchair through most of the native philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices and endangered cypress grove path along the coast. There are currently two wheelchair accessible paths in the park and a third under construction.
Point Lobos trails offer a good day outing with trails along the coastline and in the woods for two to four hours exploring in a leisurely day in the park. A quick car tour can be done in less than an hour with a hike around Allan Memorial Cypress Grove Trail and Pacific Ocean coastline photo opportunities from several philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices other locations.
The Monterey Cypress is rare in nature philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices with only two remaining natural groves, Point Lobos and Cypress Point, Pebble Beach about five miles north across Carmel Bay from Point Lobos. The trees are often said to be among the oldest living trees on the planet, philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices but that is not correct. The old trees here are about 200 to 300 years old. They just look so much older due to the harsh effects of wind and sea.
Pebble Beach, California a few miles to the north claims the Lone Cypress as a copyrighted image. Point Lobos has some of its own lone cypresses and this one does not even require cable supports philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices like its famous 17-mile drive moneymaker Monterey cypress relative in Pebble Beach.
Good news this year in December is the whales have yet to pass Monterey Bay in their large numbers heading south. Point Lobos is a good viewing location for sighting whales from the coast along with Cypress Point, Pebble Beach. On a good day with binoculars you can spot dozens philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices of gray whales as they surface and blow spray. philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices I consider a day with any whale sighting a special day. [Update Dec 7: This YouTube video shows humpback whales in Monterey Bay  at time I wrote this post.]
Point Lobos also has a nice beach, philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices though there was a bit of seaweed on the sand yesterday. philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices Even yesterday in the 58 degree sun there were two sunbathers on the southern exposure beach. The temperature is more like 70 when up against the cliffs in white sand on a sunny day.
Best of all reasons for visiting Monterey-Carmel-Big Sur in winter is the hotel rates locally are among the lowest rates of the year. Visitors come in August and pay $500+ per night for Hyatt Carmel Highlands. The hotel is under $300 per night most weeknights in December ($251 AAA rate December 14). If you are within driving distance, then come to this area last-minute when you know there will be clear California good weather. We really do get hammered by some Pacific storms philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices during the rainy season philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices and that might keep you confined by the fireplace philadelphia eagles raise ticket prices at the Hyatt Highlands Inn for your stay.