For Hannelore's (Shawna's mom) 70th birthday gift, Shawna treated her mom to a 5-day, girls only weekend in Carmel, one of Honey's (this is her nickname) favorite places in the US. Honey lived there many moons ago (before Shawna was born) when her first husband was stationed in the Amy at Ford Ord in Seaside. We had an amazing time, touring both Carmel and Monterey and the surrounding area. While the temperature was a little cool, we didn't let that stop us - we stayed busy the entire time.
Accommodation:
Front Entrance of Hyatt Carmel
Keith was quite generous and let us use his hotel points to stay at the Hyatt Carmel Highlands which is a beautiful, rustic hotel about 5 miles south of Carmel overlooking the ocean. The hotel grounds were full of colorful flowers and our room was on the top floor near the pool with an ocean view. It was so relaxing to wake up in the morning and hear the sound of the waves and birds and to look out onto the ocean as we got ready to seize the day!
Activities:
On Friday, we both flew out of our respective cities and met up on the connecting flight in Dallas to San Francisco. We had first class seats on the flight from Dallas so we enjoyed a nice lunch, warm nuts and good conversation. From San Francisco, we drove to Carmel. Our flight was delayed arriving in San Francisco and the traffic was quite heavy which left no time to tour on Friday so we checked into our hotel and headed out for dinner.
Hearst Castle
On Saturday, we drove about 90 miles to Hearst Castle and did about a 2 hour tour of the grounds, pool, guest cottages and the main house. The tour is very interesting and well organized, providing a good overview of the castle. The gardens and pool are quite beautiful. We grabbed a late lunch at the castle and then took our time driving home along scenic Highway 1, stopping periodically to take pictures of the stunning coastline. One of our stops was to see a colony of elephant sea lions - not the most attractive animals! In the evening, we had a lovely dinner in the hotel with great views of the sunset over the water.
Carmel Mission
On Sunday, we visited the Carmel Mission which contains an old Spanish style church along with beautiful courtyards and a few museums. We took our time walking around the grounds and as we left, we heard the choir singing during Mass. We grabbed a quick lunch at a Swiss style decorated restaurant (Little Swiss Cafe) where we had a sandwich and salad - surprisingly the menu was mostly American food. We spent the rest of the day walking around Carmel, stopping in many of the shops along and around Ocean Avenue. Many of the shops are quite pricey so we mostly browsed and did not buy much. We walked down to the beach at the end of Ocean Avenue and put our hands in the water - it was very cold! The flowers were amazing every where you looked in town - with full blooms in every color imaginable.
Seahorse at the Aquarium
On Monday, we drove to Monterey and walked around the shops in Cannery Row - the shops were mostly touristy, souvenir type places so we did not spend a lot of time in them. We then went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where we saw cute and playful sea otters, amazingly colorful seahorses and jelly fish, flamingos and fish of all kind. It is definitely a worthwhile aquarium to visit. For lunch, we ate at one of the seafood restaurants (The Fish Hopper) along the wharf where the clam chowder was very good. We sat outside and watched a few dolphins and sea otters playing in the ocean. After lunch, we quickly drove down the main street of the town of Pacific Grove and then drove along the incredibly scenic 17-mile Drive. The houses in this private community are probably the largest and most beautiful we had every seen. We stopped along the way taking pictures at a few of the scenic overlooks. Sadly, we had to drive back to San Francisco where we stayed at a Hyatt hotel close to the airport as our flights the following morning were early. Once at the hotel, we had a light dinner and retreated to bed.
Restaurants:
While I cannot recall everything we ate at each of these restaurants, I highly recommend them all - the meals were amazing!
Christopher's
Located in Carmel, the food was very good and the environment warm and casual. For a starter, we shared the Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli which was quite rich and tasty. For dinner, we shared the special which was a crab stuffed fish served with a light, lemony cream sauce. Yum!
Pacific's Edge
This restaurant is located in the hotel where we stayed, the Hyatt Carmel Highlands. It has large windows with great views of the ocean, allowing for amazing sunset watching. We shared the Mission Fig Tart for an appetizer and California White Sea Bass for dinner with a side of Parmesan Potato Gratin. Nothing was left on our plates! For dessert, we had the Warm Valrhona Chocolate Tart with Lemon Verbena Ice Cream - we were fighting for the last bite and tried to convince the waiter that they forgot the ice cream (it didn't work).
Cantinetta Luca
Located in Carmel, the restaurant serves Italian food in a casual setting. We skipped a starter and each ordered a pasta which we then shared - we had the Pappardelle alla Bolognese and the Red Wine Tagliatelle with Lamb and Fava Beans -- both were quite tasty!
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