Live out an ideal 24 hours in your head. And then go do it.

Dawn comes slowly, giving the Santa Lucia mountains an electric edge.

It runs from the sky to the sea to the horizon, bouncing at us off the ocean’s roiling mirrors.

We swim out, bobbing between kelp and whitecap in Lovers Point Cove, wetsuits warding off wind and chill, swallowing the occasional mouthful of sea between smiles and shouts.

The day brightens. Watchers on the bluffs stare into its beginning. Under water, the endless blue feels similarly humbling.

The dawn dip provides perspective, beauty and a jolt of adrenaline best found diving off a cement pier into partial darkness. It marks the start to one glorious day in Monterey. From there it would have to include fried abalone and cracked crab, Jacks Peak pines, Monastery Beach dives and a 12-course dinner that stretches out forever, right?

Apparently not. We asked a group of writers and non-writers – across ages, ethnicities, occupations and family dynamics – how one great day in Monterey County would go. None said that. But every answer was illuminating. And energizing. And inspiring.

As a group they included plenty of nature, plenty of eating, plenty of Big Sur and plenty of specifics. People know what they want to do when time is short. And while Theodore Roosevelt might’ve said, “The best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing,” there wasn’t much job talk. The only important appointments were for sunset.

The plans were also surprisingly understated. Not so much sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll but simple pleasures: beach walks, favorite foods, good movies.

They also seemed incomplete. Nobody mentioned surfing, yoga, a Warriors game or an ice cream cone. Or a cold dip at dawn. But that’s only appropriate, because you can’t really dictate another’s conception of perfection.

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From the college graduate

Tres Gray | 23 | Seaside | Designer, beat maker, basketball player

1. Having grown up in Los Angeles and gone to school in San Francisco, I have a healthy hunger for Mexican food. And a deep need, so my last day in Monterey County would require a big, flavorful Papa Chevo’s camarones burrito.

2. A stop at Vinyl Revolution would allow me to commune with essentially every part of my past and the core of my passion, music. Great place to find funky, quirky and generally great records.

3. Any last day should involve a little nostalgia – like Gianni’s Pizza. Had my first slice of pizza (ever) from this place.

4. Carmel Mission Basilica isn’t just one of the most beautiful and historical buildings in California, and the United States as a whole, but a great place to reflect. Mass is held regularly and is open to the public. At the very least, I figure it’ll help my chance on the other side.

5. Head to Seaside sand dunes with some beers and old snowboards, surf the sand and watch the sunset.

From the Big Sur native

Chelsea Davey | 27 | Monterey | ad executive, painter, dog mom

Breakfast at Deetjens – half Benny, half stuffed French toast, coffee, mimosa.

Amazing hike in Big Sur for the vista followed by an afternoon soak at Esalen.

Ambrosia burger and fries and a Phoenix Sunrise cocktail at Nepenthe and some Matt Glasby Jade earrings from the shop.

Back to town for the Scenic Drive cruise along Carmel Beach, windows down and tunes blarin’.

Rio Grill for some local love.

Back to the casa for homemade snacks and vino.

Over to High Tide for groove thangs.

Then a slumber-PJ dance party.

End scene.

From the home chef

Justa Mendez | 45 | Seaside | Housekeeper, volunteer

Relax all morning, take a walk around my neighborhood, greeting and visiting with neighbors, friends and family. Do some shopping, make it over to the market for tortillas, tomatoes, chilis, meat, maybe some chicken for a caldo, vegetables, rice.

Time for a feast, with all the family – my husband, nieces and nephews, in-laws, everybody. We eat deeply and richly, sip homemade horchata. Una cena.

Then it’s simply wash the dishes, tidy up, settle in for a telenovella.

From the globe trotters

Ilka and Bogidar Avramov | “ageless” | Monterey | World class music enthusiasts, skiiers, orchestra conductors

Wake up early. Jump in the Corvette, go to Carmel Valley for best pancakes this side of Mississippi at Jeffrey’s. As we get to the mouth of the valley – and this is Ilka talking – I pass every car in both lanes, to be in front when road narrows, for a nice fast drive through the pastoral vistas with the horses, some of which I recognize and wave to when I go by.

You feel like you’re really in the country. Such a contrast from the seashore. We have all of it within 10 minutes.

Sit outside on the patio with your dog and sun shining on nearby flowers, take a peek at newspapers, avoid the bad news.

Then we feel drawn to Carmel Beach like a magnet to see how big the waves are and get down there with our four-legged black-and-white French poodle with an Italian name, Piccolo Paganini.

Back in the Corvette, and down to Ventana to sit on the terrace and watch condors drifting in and out of the mist. Feet in the river at River Inn. All very good for the soul.

If it’s your last day you want to get back home and say farewell to your books that have been on the shelves waiting for you to pick them up now and again, take a walk in the garden and study the flowers that make you happy when you see them.

By this time, it’s late afternoon, time to start a fire, have a plum brandy that warms up the cockles. You philosophize about existential questions, put on a Chopin Concerto #1, the most romantic of the composers, who died very young, but had composed very heavenly music, maybe say farewell to yourself in this world, sure it continues on the other side.

There’s nothing in the fridge, and you don’t want to spend time doing that. Back back to beach for a stroll. Throw your cell phone right into the sea. No technology, just nature to gently take you on your last voyage. The huge full moon seems to drift along with you. Certainly, on a night like this, it wouldn’t abandon you.

From the fourth-dimension elf

Rushad Eggleston | 34 | Carmel | Cellobandit, music tutor, jester emeritus of Sneth, proprietor of Igwarfnees

A coffee and pastry at La Bicyclette, brunch at Little Swiss, a beach cruise on the way to searching for magic kingdoms deep in the Highlands, tripping/trespassing way up the Old Coast Road harvesting melodies, dinner at Robata or Sushi Heaven, five rounds of bowling at Monterey Lanes, cocktails at Mundaka, then a night prowl through the dark streets of north Carmel, recording wild cello fantasies till the sun comes up.

From the minister

Ryan Tinetti | 30 | Seaside | Married to Anne (32) with three kids (5, 3, 7 months)

Like a picture’s frame, like a poem’s form, it helps to begin with the limitations: any family with young kids can tell you that aspirations need to be modest. That means an itinerary that would bore you to tears B.C. (Before Children) might now seem like running a marathon in your slippers. And requires nap time.

Start the day off with the breakfast of champions: donuts. A visit to Red’s in Seaside leaves you with a delectable kickstart to the metabolism, makes you a hero with the kids, and – an added bonus – gives you a Steinbeck-esque slice of life with the chatter at the counter.

Then over to the Frog Pond in Del Rey Oaks. We meander along the trail as the boys investigate hither and yon, then make an extended stop beneath that giant oak tree, an ideal place to tell stories about the resident Wood Elves.

Then we have our neighborhood friends over for a backyard picnic with tuna sandwiches and pita chips, let the chickens out of the coop, and have the dog entertain us by chasing them (the chickens, not the friends). The baby naps, and maybe not only the baby.

When everyone’s up and at ’em, we load up the bike trailer and affix the baby seat, we’re taking a two-wheel trip to Dennis the Menace.

After countless trips down the rolly-slide and one or two missing child scares, we make our way home. Everyone gets cleaned up and the babysitter arrives. The kiddos get a mac-and-cheese supper and fun with the sub, and the parents get to relish uninterrupted conversation. Friends meet up with us at il Vecchio or Dametra as we eat, talk and drink wine until they kick us out. By the time we get home, the kids are out like a light with nary a complaint from the sitter.

It’s a modest itinerary, I say, but with family and friends and food – all against the backdrop of this marvelous place we call home – it’s no less glorious.

From the high school senior

Shirley Chen | 17 | Marina | Ex Weekly intern, tennis star, ketchup fanatic

How should I condense the 50 some years ahead of me into this short time? My approach is nothing new. My schedule is limited to the old – to revisiting memories, remembering the good times, the most striking experiences. For one day, I will be a child again:

1. Eat clam chowder by the sea

The first bite I had of Old Fisherman’s Grotto chowder, which my family shared, was hot, buttery and washed a feeling of comfort over me.

2. Get sugar high on Cannery Row

Once in a while, after a piano recital or tennis tournament, my mom would reward me with a candy apple – the ones with marshmallows, chocolate syrup and nuts – or a bag of salt water taffy from Candy Baron.

3. Visit the penguins and fishies

Eerie jellyfish tendrils. Swaying kelp forests. Blue-lighted walls. A shark streaking by. A fish opening its mouth like words could come out. The exhibits at Monterey Bay Aquarium aren’t only eye-candy; every time I visit, I learn a plethora of new info. The touch pool is always the highlight of my day – stroking a sea cucumber’s back or letting a hermit crab scramble over my palm.

5. Whale watch

Nothing is more humbling than seeing a humpback leap of the water and crash back with a thunderous spray. But these whale-watching cruises don’t guarantee there will be whales. Instead, we do ducks at El Estero Lake. The weather would be sunny. I would make my sister pedal. I would bring a loaf of bread.

6. Go hiking

I like a challenge. And that’s why my favorite hiking is at Garrapata. The trail takes three grueling hours of leaping over logs, slipping over washed-out soil and traipsing rocky inclines, but when I finally reach the top, I feel like king of the world, with that sort of tired but triumphant feeling as I gaze down on ocean and cliffs, fog rolling at my feet. I would want to experience it one more time.

7. Barbecue at Lovers Point

My last moment should end with lots of food and orange soda drinking. The menu would include lamb kebabs, chicken drumsticks, corn-on-the-cob, roasted yams and watermelon. Toasted s’mores and my life would be complete.

From the Oldtown local

Mary Duan | 45 | Weekly editor

Two-shot peppermint mocha and snarky conversation at the Cherry Bean. The best place this side of the lettuce curtain to see life’s rich pageant walking by.

Book hunting. Hard in Salinas, it would seem, but within a three block walk there are two very good used book stores. One is Book Nook, and other is in Salinas 411. Both on South Main Street.

On the way back from Book Nook (and while walking toward Salinas 411) stop at Beverly’s craft store for some Canson 65 pound paper and some black sketch pencils. Then to Star Market to pick up a few cheeses, some fig jam and crackers and a bottle of wine. The paper, pencils, nibbles and I are going to Garden of Memories for a picnic and to make a grave rubbing out of Steinbeck’s headstone. I’m Catholic. We make an event out of our cemetery trips.

Back from the grave, I stop at Artistic Hangups to get my headstone rubbing framed. I head to El Charito, buy a chile verde burrito and sneak my late lunch into a movie at the Maya.

Post movie, into the car and a drive down 156 to Moss Landing. I park near Phil’s, go sit on the beach there and either watch the sun go down or for the world to end (depending on which variation of last day I’m having).

If it’s not the last day of the world, I end it with a backgammon board and a good cocktail at Patria with my husband.

From the PR maven

Marci Bracco | 42 | Salinas | Chatterbox Public Relations chief and mother of five French bulldogs

My tail wagging. Wine tasting with the four bulldogs at the dog-friendly Carmel Valley Village tasting rooms, tractor ride with Tractor Pete with a picnic from Wild Thyme and Sweet Elena’s at Carmel River, then massage at Bernardus and off to dinner at Bistro Moulin and French bubbles! My perfect day! Take me there now!

From the travel book writer

Stuart Thornton | 40 | Marina | Freelance journalist, author, surfer

9am • Sip on an Americano and nibble on a pumpkin scone at Cafe Lumiere while plugging away on my years-in-the-making memoir Sweet T: Confessions of a Southern Gentlemen. Take breaks to eavesdrop on the animated conversations of a table of local Sicilian fishermen.

10am-noon • Stand-up paddleboard from Del Monte Beach by the Municipal Wharf into the harbor. Watch in amazement as harbor seals twirl below and then paddle to the south end of the protected waters to glide over giant starfish and sea cucumbers. Paddle out of the harbor rounding the Coast Guard Pier, where sea lions bark and plunge into the sea. Turn my vessel towards the shore past El Torito in an attempt to catch some of the perfect SUP waves that crumble into McAbee Beach City Park.

Noon-1pm • Being on the water makes you hungry – for the local salad bar deal at Jacks in Portola Hotel & Spa or Carmel Belle’s exquisite pork sandwich with onion-currant chutney.

1:30pm • It’s a great day for a drive down the coast. Pull out at the Garrapata State Park turnout and take the short walk to Soberanes Point. Pull a well-worn copy of Robinson Jeffers’ Collected Poems and read “The Place For No Story,” a nature poem about this very spot. If I have time, I’m sure I’d read “The Purse-Seine” as well since that is my all time favorite Jeffers’ work.

2-3:30pm •Visit one of my favorite underrated Big Sur spots: Partington Cove near Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park. Take the mile long walk down the hillside, over the Partington Creek Bridgeand through the 60 foot tunnel to the tiny, natural port. This was once where tanbark oak was shipped out after being cut and collected from the canyon above. For the adventurous, take the tiny cliff hugging trail right past the bench overlooking the cove. Past the scary section above the sounding sea, the path ends in a wonderland of jumbled rocks and tide pools (at low tide). Once, I saw a whale breach here just feet offshore.

3:45pm • Stop in at the Henry Miller Library to browse their eclectic and always interesting collection of books. This is a place where you can find copies of Beat literature, books on rock music and all sorts of counterculture classics. Be sure to strike up a conversation with whomever is manning the register.

4:30pm • Underrated Big Sur Taphouse over-delivers. A great spot for a couple sliders and nice California microbrew from the rotating taps.

6pm • Hula’s is a go-to spot due to its tropical cocktails and fun atmosphere. And the island style poke appetizer and the blackened ahi steak sandwich.

7pm •Head to Osio Cinemas to take in one of the theater’s indie, foreign or documentary offerings.

9pm • The deck at The Crown and Anchor is an ideal place to sip a Smithwick’s ale while arguing whether or not the film was a load of pretentious garbage or a finely wrought character study.

10:30pm • Return home to watch an old episode of The Office.

From the playmaker

George Kassal | 57 | Senior advertising rep, athlete, sports fan

Wake up to a crystal clear day. Get to the course – maybe Spyglass or Pebble or even Cypress (hey, it’s perfect) – with time to hit a few balls on the range then roll a couple putts on the practice green. From there it’s on to the first tee to let the fun begin, playing a four-hour round and winning cash from the golfing buddies. The 19th hole is mandatory, a nice ending to a perfect day on the links. Followed by a great dinner with a great bottle of wine – maybe The Whaling Station for oysters Rockefeller and prime rib paired with a local Pinot.

From the comedian

Michael Fechter | 50 | Carmel | Free-lance humorist, writer, aspiring athlete

Bob Dylan mumbled, “A man is a success is if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants”… which makes me perhaps the most successful man of all time.Try to get me to do something of which I want no part. It’s like asking a Kardashian to leave home without a film crew.

A day in Monterey County? I’ll go with a day like last Sunday.

My wife Tia and I wake about 7am after hugging that begins at sunrise. (We try to be together for both sunrise and sunset… disgusting isn’t it?) We prepare the last of the food we need to feed about 50 homeless folks and take it to them about 9:30am. (OK, perhaps I also sneak off to the gas station to get a Coke and then drive to watch the waves from Pebble to Pacific Grove.)

We attend Minister Brian Bajari’s “Beach Church” across from McDonald’s with our homeless, homed, handsome and hungry friends. It’s 15 minutes of services and fellowship and 45 minutes of food and laughs. Theists and atheists welcome. After doing dishes, it’s a bike ride with Tia that takes us up David Avenue, all along the coast with spraying waves to Marina – 17 miles – where we stop for coconut water at a gas station. (I am a super sexy date.) And then back the way we came… watching the sun set at Asilomar.

I am exhausted and Tia is barely spent. I stretch and get weeded up. Tia does more good deeds.

We have dinner at Taste of Vietnam with owners Danny and Kim. (Tia drives, officer.) There’s not much better than ethnic food on Fremont.

With luck, women’s tennis or volleyball is on the giant TVs. (We live boob-tube-free at home.) After a meal of vegetarian pho and spring rolls, it is back home for more hugging and bed.

This is perfect. As is Monterey County. Unless you are homeless or hungry.

From the eco-warrior

Katie Pofahl | 30 | Pacific Grove | Outreach coordinator at the Elkhorn Slough Foundation

Winter: Wake up at Plaskett Creek Campground and surf Sand Dollar Beach or Willow Creek. Brunch at Deetjen’s. Hike Ridge Trail at Andrew Molera State Park. Evening surf session at Molera followed by a campfire. Sleep at Andrew Molera SP campground after dinner at the Big Sur Roadhouse, drinks and music at Fernwood or a show at Henry Miller Library.

Summer: Instead of surfing, hike up through Pfeiffer State Park and along Big Sur River to the sunny gorge. Jump in and navigate downriver till dinner time, stopping for lunch on a sand bar.

Spring or fall: Sunrise drive through the Salinas Valley to Pinnacles NP. Hike to Machete Ridge. Lunch overlooking the climb and then explore till just before the golden hour – or leave the park a little earlier and stop by Hahn Winery to enjoy a glass overlooking the Pinnacles from the other side of the valley. Dinner in Greenfield. Tacos.

From the prodigy

Elva Luna Bruecker | 4 | Pacific grove resident and lover of playgrounds

Play My Little Ponies. All day. That’s all.

From the short attention span

Mark C. Anderson | 36 | Weekly managing editor, undiagnosed ADD

Dawn swim. Crab cake and eggs at Loulou’s Griddle in the Middle. Backyard gardening. Sports Illustrated and Vanity Fair in the sun. Brunch in more sun – C Restaurant or Mission Ranch. Art atMMA or beachcombing in Big Sur. Lunch at Sierra Mar. Scuba dive Stuart’s Cove. A sauna, steam, soak and massage at Refuge. A ballgame and craft draft at Post No Bills. Sunset in the sand. Abalone and crab at Aubergine. A moonlight hike up Jacks Peak. Live music. Santa Lucia Highlands wine. Then a good book in your hands, sweetie by your side, smush-face dog at your feet and fat cat in your lap.