Carmel - New Years 2019

Our yearly New Years  trip to Port Aransas, Texas is off because of Hurricane Harvey in 2017, so we picked another destination, our "Happy Place"! We learned that the best planning  won't stop the weather, so we lost our first day (and 2nd day activities) because of bad weather on our departure day. We tried to make lemonade and pretend like we were on vacation in Houston. Walked in Buffalo Bayou Park, and a nice lunch, and did some after-Christmas shopping.

This trip got delayed due to weather in Houston. THEN, American Airlines wanted to move our flight from day 2 in the morning to day 3 at night! Yikes! We paid extra to fly out on day 2 with Southwest Airlines. 4 days in Carmel is  lot better than 2 days. We did lots of walking on the beach, met a Facebook friend for lunch at Spanish Bay, and did our hike in Garland Park (about ten miles out Carmel Valley Rd.) This trip included a Sunday, so we had a nice visit at Church of the Wayfarer - they LIKE tourists! Oh, one big plus... Our "Facebook fiend" is a member at the Beach and Tennis Club, and she gave us guest passes. What a treat! AND, we met a new artist on the Beach, Barry Marshall. 831-277-5445 Look for his painting in the photo section.

We found a new place, Affina restaurant, on San Carlos & 6th. 831-250-7744 www.affinacarmel.com The chef buys local ingredients every day, and they have live music as well. We did cook twice in our room at Fireplace Inn (Look for the Dolores suites). If you plan to cook there are two markets in Carmel, Brunos and Nielsons; both are within walking distance if you're staying in town. And, there is a chocolate shop in an historic building down Ocean Ave on the left side. Yum, yum.

Well, we certainly won't try to fly using miles again! It was clear that American just moved our "non-revenue" tickets along so we would fly on their schedule and not our schedule. Southwest Airlines is looking better and better. AND there are non-stop Southwest flights in and out of San Jose. We did like having the option to cook some of our own meals, so we'll pick a room with kitchen again. There are several options on our download "Carmel highlights" page.

We put captions with all the photos and are trying to improve our video productions skills. Hope you enjoy!