California Part One – Carmel,CA

This past April Michael and I traveled to California for his cousin’s wedding in San Francisco. We decided we’d head out west to vacation a few days early and do a little sight seeing in Carmel, CA before we headed up north for the wedding. I am just now finally flipping through all these photos and thought I’d share a few of our favorite memories and places we went to while we were visiting!

Carmel is known for its scenic views, white sand beaches, and rolling hills. It is located right outside of Pebble Beach and is about a 20 minute drive from Monterey, CA. While we were in Carmel, we went on a lot of scenic drives along the coast and stopped at this amazing little restaurant for lunch called Nepenthe. This restaurant was at the end of our ride along Big Sur and it had the most breathtaking view of the Pacific Ocean! Michael and I still talk about this restaurant and how relaxing it was to eat there.

Later that night for dinner we went to this restaurant called the California Market at Pacific’s Edge. This restaurant is located inside the Hyatt Carmel Highlands hotel in Carmel, CA. This restaurant is a great place to go to if you are looking for a nice evening out. It has floor to ceiling glass windows and a beautiful glass viewing area to have the ultimate West Coast sunset viewing experience.

The next places you have to visit while in Carmel are the Pebble Beach Golf Course and the 17 Mile Drive. The Pebble Beach Golf Course is absolutely beautiful! The famous golfer Jack Nicklaus once quoted, “If I only had one more round of golf to play, I would choose to play it at Pebble Beach”…and I couldn’t agree with him more. The golf course has some of the most amazing views along the coast and has a beautiful clubhouse with a restaurant right on the 18th hole called The Bench. I highly recommend taking a day out of your vacation to spend walking around here and visiting the gift shop! The 17 Mile Drive goes along the Pebble Beach Golf Course and is one of the most iconic drives you will ever go on. At the entrance of the 17 Mile Drive, you can get a map with all the best stops to take. One of our personal favorites was The Lone Cypress!

We didn’t have a lot of down time when we were in Carmel between all of our sight seeing, but we did manage to get a little retail therapy in! Carmel has a ton of local boutiques off of Ocean Ave. and this one boutique in particular stole my heart…it’s called Paloosh. I would definitely recommend stopping by here on your walk around town along with the Cottage of Sweets to quench your sweet tooth! Michael and I brought home way too much black licorice for our family and it was all gone within the week we got home.

Feel free to flip through these pictures and see some of the places we went to while in Carmel and leave some comments with some of your favorite travel recommendations!