Travel Tuesday: Monterey Is Home to More Than Murderous Moms

In “Big Little Lies,” scenes from Monterey, Big Sur and Carmel-by-the-Sea are weaved into the drama beautifully -- you basically feel like you, too, are driving over to the elementary school or watching the sunset over the sandy bluffs. Though the novel is set in a Sydney, Australia suburb, Monterey, Calif. now seems to central to the plot in the HBO miniseries. Like Madeline Martha Mackenzie said, “This is Monterey, we pound people with nice.” (Niceties, maybe.) I don’t know about the rest of the world, but watching this series filled with backdrops of rolling sand dunes, quaint harbors and chic homes made me want to take a trip to the California coast myself. Here’s what to actually see in Monterey when the yummy mummies aren’t there to scheme.