James Jepson Binns - The Binns Family

Dettleback and I started off to
the beach, it is very rocky, a
poor place for boating or bathing,
so we amused ourselves
with scrambling about the rocks
and hunting for shells. Two or
three of the fellows slipped on
the seaweed and rolled into the
water, but there were no serious
casualties. I got a few shells, we
saw lots of crabs from the size of
a sixpence up to the size of a
dinner plate. I looked for an octopus
but I am happy to say I did
not find one. Several of the boys
got star f i s h e s
but I did not have that fortune;
I en- joyed myself
famously though. There was a
pretty little yacht anchored off
shore. I would have liked to take
a cruise in it, but I was not acquainted
with the owner so I
could not get a sail. The train
came up at 2 p.m. and whistled
for us to come, so we got on and
it took us to Monterey. On the
beach near the Station was a big
bathing pavilion. It had 4 or 5
swimming baths in it, the water
in each one was at a different
temperature so that each bather
could go into one that suited
him, they were filled with sea
water. You will see a picture of
it in the pamphlet I will send you
of the Hotel del Monte, and
Monterey. I did not bathe, so
walked along the beach looking
for curios but did not find any.
The beach of the Bay of Monterey
is clear sand for miles and
you do not find much in such
places. There were some porpoises
gambling about and that
amused me for time. There were
lots of sea birds and a fellow was
sat on the end of the pier shooting
at them, but I guess he was a
poor shot. He kept up a regular
sham battle, but only hit one. We
started out to walk to the Hotel
del Monte, it was a big mile
down the carriage drive from the
Station. I think it is the nicest
place of its kind I ever saw. The
grounds were laid out with
drives through the woods; on
each side of the roadways was a
wide border filled with flowers
and foliage plants interspersed
with cacti and other curious
plants, the cacti varied in size
from a cucumber to a man, some
of them were like a prickly ball,
two or more feet in diameter.
There is a lake and fountain in
the grounds. In one place was a
puzzle walk, the trick was to get
to the middle of it. You would
go in and turn one way and another.
You would hear people
talking and laughing just round
the corner. You expected to meet
them, when you came to the turn
no-one was there, so they must
have been in the walk on the
other side of the hedge. After
walking some time, probably
you would find yourself in a culde-sac
and have to turn back. I
tried it three times and each time
I thought I was just in the middle
I walked onto the outside. There
were only two or three of the
whole party that got to the centre
of it, I guess they all got out
again for I did not hear of anyone
turning up missing! The
grounds included a race track
and seventeen miles of carriage
drives. They have Chinese for
gardeners and the grounds are
kept in splendid order. There is a
Rustic Club House with Bowling
alley, but we contented ourselves
with sight seeing and did not try
any games of chance or skill. I
lost both big toenails with walking
so much.
A photographer from San Francisco
should have been there to
take our portraits with the front
of the Hotel for a background
but he failed to put in an appearance,
so the crowd escaped being
shot at. The pictures were to
have been 18x20 so that would
have taken a large camera. It is
no use trying to give any description
of the Hotel, the pictures
in the book will tell you all
about it. We walked back to the
Station and our train pulled out
at 6 p.m. for the return to San
Francisco. San Jose was lit by
electric lights, but we did not get
time for a feed, so we did not get
stuck on the town. We chewed
grapes all the way back so we
did not starve to death. We arrived
in Frisco at 10.30 all tired
but in good spirits.
[To be continued]
2216 E. Main St, Springfield, Ohio
Home of William Arthur Binns in
1930.
Page 7