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Old 27 Sep 19, 11:49 PM  
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smithlane
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The BIG Little Lies California Road Trip - 22nd July 2019 - Carmel, Beach & 17 Mile Drive

Day 5

Time to get the passports back!

Alarm woke me up at 5am, I was up and ready to leave by 5.45. Jim had said last night he wanted to come too as he didn’t want me driving there and back alone.
He drove the first leg to San Fran which was handy as I was still half asleep! That’s why I only have 2 photos of the entire journey .





We stopped off for gas and $48 filled the tank. Also got some pastries to munch on the way. These were some of the tastiest doughnuts we’d eaten so far, plus a slice of Marble cake which is my favourite. A nice healthy breakfast to start the day

The drive was very stop and start even at that time in the morning but we pulled up outside the Columbus Motor Inn at just after 8.30 and I ran inside to the office. The manager was there who I’d spoken to on the phone and was just lovely. They definitely would have been safe left with them but I felt so much better for having them in our possession. I thanked them profusely and promised we’d definitely return one day.

Woohoo!



My turn for driving now.
The Sat Nav took us a different way out of the city than we’d gone the other day, through the financial district and towards San Jose.
The roads were a lot clearer going back South and I barely stopped the whole way back to Pacific Grove. Pulled up outside the house at 11.15am so all in all took us 5 and a half hours including stopping for fuel and obviously the passports.

Helen called on our way back to say their apartment they had booked for LA had water damage and had to be cancelled so now had to find another. We checked our emails but it appears our apartment even though in the same block was fine. PITA for them though!

The Leans came over and once we were ready we set off for Carmel. The plan was lunch then beach. We were starving by now, the cake and doughnuts were a distant memory!
Drive took about 20 mins. We drove along the beach but decided not to park there as we weren’t sure how far a walk it would be into town, instead found a public parking lot closer to the action.
Stumbled across a restaurant called Tree House Cafe that had a good selection of food we’d all eat so we settled on there.









We were seated straight away inside as it was overcast outside and not that warm. Doesn’t bode well for some beach time this afternoon!
A very friendly server came to take our order.











Chicken pesto pasta for me, calamari and garlic mash for Jim, Sam and Jen shared the lasagne and Hope a cheeseburger.
Took a little while to arrive but when it did boy was it good!
Just what I needed, hot, fresh and full of carbs.



I couldn’t quite finish it and as Jim’s was quite small I gave him my leftovers.
The server asked what our plans were for this afternoon and when we told him Carmel Beach he recommended we drive 10 mins further south to Garrapata Beach where it should be sunnier and a bit warmer. After a family pow wow we decided to give his recommendation a go.
Paid the bill, $93 including tip per family.

Took a walk back to the car and made the short drive through Point Lobos State Park and parked along the road. We took the path down to what we thought was the beach but we couldn’t find a way to get down, it was very high up. We could see people down on the sand but couldn’t for the life of us work out how to get to them









Hope and I were bursting for a wee at this point and without a public toilet nearby we really needed the sea
Walked back to the car and drove a few mins down the road to where we could definitely see the beach from the road.



There was plenty of parking available so as soon as the car came to a rolling stop we made a very quick dash down to the beach, stripped off and threw ourselves into the sea. Jesus it was freezing, I couldn’t feel my feet

It was quite cloudy to begin with but certainly warmer than Carmel. After an hour the sun came through and was just perfect! There was zero phone signal so the teens had to put down their phones and just enjoy being at the beach. We spent the rest of the afternoon just chilling and playing ball games listening to music. The beach was deserted apart from the odd tourist coming down to take photos but they were gone in minutes. Only us hardy Brit’s can handle this weather

























Nick had great fun with this phallic shaped seaweed







I got all David Bailey and did some photo shoots with various combos of kids and adults.























Sean was making me laugh being a drama llama about his sunburn. He wanted me to take photos of it from all angles and to send them to his Grandad . To be fair it was pretty bad. This was from our day at Santa Cruz. The spray SPF obviously didn't cover him as well as we'd thought!











Took some up from the road too.







We packed up at about 5 and made our way back to the car. We drove back through Carmel and towards the 17 Mile Drive.









Fun fact about Carmel, there are no street addresses.
Unwilling to see their village become "citified," Carmel's founding fathers rejected the practice house- to-house mail delivery in favor of a central post office. To this day, there are still no addresses, parking meters or street lights, and no sidewalks outside of Carmel's downtown commercial area. Those seeking directions receive hints such as "fifth house on the east side of Torres Street, green trim, driftwood fence" or by the legendary names adorning most houses, such as "Hansel" or "Sea Urchin." It is, by the way, bad luck to change the name on a Carmel cottage. Can you imagine being the postie here!











We paid the $10.50 entrance fee and made our way to our first stop, Pebble Beach Golf Club. This was mainly for Jim but I have to admit it’s beautiful here. At $600 a round it’s too pricey though, one day maybe!



























We looked in a few of the shops they have here, Jim bought a golf polo and I got a magnet and postcard.









Had a walk through the very fancy bar area and down into the grounds. Just stunning!



























We stopped in the Deli here for an ice cream and hot chocolate. Bit of an odd combo but it worked. This was chocolate hazelnut ice cream and tasted just like Ferraro Rocher . I’m not gonna lie, the shortbread is mine too



Back to the car our next stop was the Lone Cypress.













Now onto Cypress Point, this was stunning. Just look at that view.
The houses around here are fabulous, serious envy!











Last stop was Bird Rock. Thousands of birds flock here, a good few very noisy California sea lions too





It was now gone 7pm so we headed back to our own apartments to get showered and changed for dinner.









Got to the Leans at 8.30 and ordered the kids a McDonald’s delivery as they wanted to stay in and chill for the evening.
2 10 McNugget meals, 1 Quarter Pounder with cheese meal and one chicken and bacon sandwich meal. $45 altogether.

The 4 adults then drove the short distance to Cannery Row to find somewhere to eat. It was deserted! A far cry from what it’s like on the weekend.
Had a look at the menus of the Cannery Row Brewing Company and the Whaling Station steakhouse but we settled on Laila Oceanside Grill which is part of the Spindrift Inn.









Shame it was dark outside as it would have been a beautiful view of the Ocean.
There was only one other table of people in here. It was gone 9 o’clock which would have something to do with it but staying midweek in Monterey is definitely the way to go.

I ordered the skirt steak with arugula potatoes, carrots and a creamy garlic sauce. It also came with 3 shrimp but I gave those to Jim.
Jim had the shrimp and lobster enchiladas, Nick fish and chips and Helen the jambalaya.
Dear god this was hands down the best meal of the holiday! The garlic sauce was to die for, I ate every single morsel that was on the plate



It was gone 10 now and they were closing up. Another thing to note is that most restaurants will close at 10, some we saw shut at 9. Living in London that’s unheard of
The bill came to $93.75 including tip per couple. Well worth every single cent!







We drove back to the Leans now to pick up the kids. They’d had a lovely evening watching Friends on TV.

We were back home for 11 and all went straight to bed once I put the beach towels in the tumble drier. It was great having washing facilities here, I had caught up on all our dirty washing from San Francisco. Packing would have to wait until the morning!
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Edited at 08:19 PM.
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Old 28 Sep 19, 08:56 AM  
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Really enjoying your trip reports, sounds like you had an amazing time
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Old 28 Sep 19, 03:52 PM  
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Phew, passports in hand. Sounds like a nice chilled out day on the beach, lovely that it was so empty and you could enjoy it all by yourselves. The photo shoot looks great, but ouch that sunburn does look nasty.

Your steak and garlic sauce sounds delicious and another fab end to the day.
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Old 28 Sep 19, 10:05 PM  
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KayLouise
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Gosh that sea looks freezing, you were all so brave! Haha
Carmel looks so pretty 😊
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Old 30 Sep 19, 11:22 AM  
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What a great day.

I loved Carmel and want to go back. We stayed at the Fireplace Inn, smallest room ever, 7 steps from bed to loo.

I remember reading high heels were illegal in Carmel.
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Old 30 Sep 19, 07:16 PM  
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Originally Posted by Lovedisney123 View Post
Really enjoying your trip reports, sounds like you had an amazing time
We really did. It was a holiday of a lifetime! Thanks so much for reading 😀
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Old 30 Sep 19, 07:19 PM  
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Originally Posted by Goldia View Post
Phew, passports in hand. Sounds like a nice chilled out day on the beach, lovely that it was so empty and you could enjoy it all by yourselves. The photo shoot looks great, but ouch that sunburn does look nasty.

Your steak and garlic sauce sounds delicious and another fab end to the day.
Such a relief to get them back, I could now relax and not be constantly anxious about it!
It was such a great day, we didn’t think we would be on the beach for as long as we did. Sean’s and Hope’s sunburn was certainly the worst. We realised that the spray SPF that we normally use was just no good if there was a slight breeze, from that moment we bought industrial strength lotion 😬
Hands down THE best meal of the holiday! What I would give to eat it right now 😩
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Old 30 Sep 19, 07:21 PM  
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Originally Posted by KayLouise View Post
Gosh that sea looks freezing, you were all so brave! Haha
Carmel looks so pretty 😊
It really was! I only braved it the once but everyone else stuck it out, they must have thicker skin than me 😆
Carmel was just so lovely and quaint, I can see why people would want to live there. Maybe one day when I win the Euro’s!
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Old 30 Sep 19, 07:24 PM  
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Originally Posted by Nesbits View Post
What a great day.

I loved Carmel and want to go back. We stayed at the Fireplace Inn, smallest room ever, 7 steps from bed to loo.

I remember reading high heels were illegal in Carmel.
Thank you 😀
Was that in Carmel? If we had more time I would have loved to have stayed a few nights there to explore a bit more, we only scratched the surface. Wow that is a small room!
Yes! I read that too, completely forgot until you mentioned it. So odd the little laws they have!
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Old 19 Oct 19, 05:02 PM  
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So glad you got your passports back, it must have been such a relief.

Lovely afternoon at the beach, although it does look a little cold. Nice to have the beach all to yourselves.

Carmel looks like a beautiful place, I like that there are no street names just house names. Had to laugh at seeing you got Walkers shortbread there, the Walkers factory is near where I live and my daughter worked there this summer.

Great way to end the day with a fabulous meal.
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