Kat's Notebook

My first trip out of town since I got back here in the US was an invitation by my aunt to accompany them to Carmel. I love Carmel…and Monterey. Those places are just so picturesque and very charming. Carmel is located south of San Francisco, off Highway 101 south. This would be my third trip to Carmel. And it has been a very fine day. Carmel usually have a chilly weather being beside the sea but since it’s still summer, the day has been pretty warm and very idyllic.

What’s in Carmel? From my point-of-view, Carmel is a retirement community of the rich people. Real estate here is priced in millions. There are I believe 4 golf clubs in here, one of which is the famous Pebble Beach Gold Club. There is also a beach where people can just sunbathe, play frisbee or volleyball. Majority of the population are retirees and old people. A lot of celebrities mingle with the locals here (but i didn’t see one). Carmel downtown is also interesting where mainly local stores predominate. Do you know that the locals here are so protective and such fierce environmentalist that they won’t let Starbucks be established here? There are no streetlights in the evenings too because they thought it could distract the animals.

carmel mission church

Our day started with a visit to the Carmel Mission house, one of the oldest church in California where the founder of missions Father Junipero Serra was buried. A quick prayer and photo sessions we were out of the mission house in under 15 minutes. There is a wedding going on here and this can be a church option for those planning a wedding. We drove to downtown Carmel and luckily found a good parking. Parking here varies in duration: 15-minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour and 2 hours. For our lunch, we dined at a Japanese restaurant  named Akaoni. The price is reasonable (8USD-40USD) and the food is good and easy to eat.

the Lodge, Pebble Beach

Then we headed to Pebble Beach Golf Club. Pebble beach has a 9.75USD entrance for visitors. My aunt worked here before so she still retained a free entrance to the club. Parking was hard because there was a Walmart golf tournament happening. We went up to the historical Pebble beach hotel, The Lodge and went past the back to go see the golf tournament. We sat at the bleachers watching professional golfers tee on the 18th hole. It was a very interesting experience. I’m not fond of golf so watching on TV or watching it live on the golf course didn’t stir me up a bit. But it was a novel experience nonetheless.

18th hole, Pebble Beach

After the play, we went to the stores in front of the hotel and basically window-shopped. A lot of people were carrying pebble beach paper bag because they couldn’t resist buying from the stores and enjoying a pebble beach souvenir. After my aunt met up with her former coworkers, we went back to the downtown and they decided to have coffee.

shops at pebble beach

We sipped coffee at Il Fornaio and I was charmed by the cafe’s display. Their coffee is priced at under 3USD. I’m not a coffee-drinker but I ordered the Americano. I put a lot of sugar cubes (cube, they don’t serve sugar packets!) to counter the bitter taste. My aunt had coffee latte. My aunt confided that the place used to be so crowded with people. But apparently with the economic recession going on,  a lot of people were saving instead of spending. We talked for a little bit and enjoyed our coffee before returning to the car and heading to Spanish Bay Golf Links.

Coffee at Il Fornaio

On the way, we drove along 17mile drive. For first-time carmel visitors, 17 mile drive is a must journey because it is where the famous Carmel vista points can be seen. Since I haves picture of almost all the vista points here from my previous trip, we decided to just stop by at point “Restless Sea”, my aunt’s favorite. Unfortunately the weather was so warm and perfect that even the restless sea was calm. To view more of the 17 mile drive vista points, click here.

a very calm restless sea

At the Spanish Bay Golf Club, we sat outside overlooking the sea. It was a gorgeous sight. I was introduced to my aunt’s lovely friends who were locals in the area. They were a great group. One of the friends, Maureen, had a dog and it was just so adorable. We ordered food and wine. The food was really good. The servings were huge and the service was prompt and courteous. But I was surprised that our little order amounted to more than 150USD!!! As the sun set, a bagpipe player played on the horizon. This was actually customary for the hotel. The bagpipe plays to signal golfers to begin finishing their game. A wailing bagpipe music filled the air and completed the majestic view of the sun setting down on the vast ocean. It had been a wonderful day spent in Carmel.

Related posts:

1. what to do…so little time
2. Golf for the dummies
3. A roadtrip to Oregon part 1
4. A roadtrip to Oregon part 2: Things I saw and did
5. A roadtrip to Oregon part 3: Food trip