Surprise Cities: Monterey, California

"CBS Mornings" lead national correspondent David Begnaud embarks on another storytelling journey, this time to the scenic city of Monterey, California.

Each weekday morning, "CBS Mornings" co-hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson bring you the latest breaking news, smart conversation and in-depth feature reporting. "CBS Mornings" airs weekdays at 7 a.m. on CBS and stream it at 8 a.m. ET on the CBS News app.

[Latinart]

A classic California story of Latinos/Mexicans making the best of their situation by via attaining a formal education through the UC system. Congrats Rene!!!

[eddieg]

Monterey and Pacific Grove and Carmel are perhaps the MOST scenic, beautiful communities in the U.S. (……and I’ve been everywhere).

[karinarey]

I loved this story! I’m so proud to be 🇲🇽 and from this area and congrats to Rene for all his hard work paying off. This will hopefully inspire my students to not give up and chase their dreams. Thanks David for sharing his story!

[chrissierra]

How lucky am i to own a beautiful home here on The Monterey Bay. I am so blessed! 🙏

[glennwing]

One of the best cities on earth! I lived nearby several years ago. David definitely captured the high points. And I think that octopus has a crush on the man who feeds him....

[jennifermathis]

Love this story!!!! I love the Octopus in this story!!! 🥰🥰

[breal]

"You just have to be a grain in the sand that is shinier than the other ones."

[RosaRodriguez-ffvu]

This interview, is one of; the most, heart beating and heart warming stories.

Thank you, I live close to Monterey, C.A.

What, an inspirational; story of, hope and determination.

[benbenrosenfield]

What a beautiful story! What an amazing person! Thank you for sharing

[nosir]

I live close to an hour away and sometimes I take that for granted. I love Monterey and their beaches. And everything it has to offer

[ginahinds]

What a great place I get to call home! I love the aquarium cam where you can watch the animals on live feeds.

[IntriguedLioness]

An age-old quip is *"Carmel by the sea" (the city's motto) and Monterey by the smell"* .

I don't mean that to be totally sarcastic but it is a shortcut to history as Monterey was massive in fishing and the boats, harvesting and packaging of anchovies, sardines, and even whaleling back in the day definitely made the cove a smelly place.

When I lived in San Francisco for a while I took a summer place in Pacific Grove which is situated between Monterey and Carmel and I think it was the best place to live as it juts out into the ocean and on my morning run I can see hunchback whales. I would even be out on my SUP and whales would breach near me .... not really that close but close enough that I would grip my paddlelboard and hang on for dear life!

I ended up keeping that summer place through the winter months!

48 hours at the Monterey Bay Aquarium alone is not enough and actually nearly have as as members we were invited to spend the night in sleeping bags and it was one of the most phenomenal memories of my travels!

[lieslvista]

One of my favorite places in the world!!!

[miahill]

Love this Surprise Cities report. David Begnaud you rock. Rene epitomized resilience and good upbringing. I want to re-visit Monterrey now.

[chickachica]

Great job Rene! Thanks @cbs for this story!❤

[DarqJestor]

I was one of the volunteers that raised the baby otters before the Aquarium opened to the public. The cute little pups would crawl out of their enclosure and onto my sleeping bag during the overnight shifts. The local cities are indeed very beautiful but too expensive for many of us that live around there. I've never been back to the Aquarium since it opened because it's just too pricey, but I do have some great memories.

[Green.heron]

Love this story and thank you for highlighting a beautiful natural aquarium and would now like to visit Monterrey.

[underratedbub]

Great! We need more positive coverage of real America.

[danielbautista]

I love Monterrey, ca. lived there for 24 years.

[penmax]

Yeah. I’ll never eat calamari again. Wonderful report. Amazing. Inspiring.