Carmel, fall 2019

This trip is like a "bookend" to our 2015 vacation during which we saw Herb Alpert and Lani Hall perform at that year's Sunset Center Gala. (Lani Hall was the original lead singer for Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66).  No Gala this time, but the performers are Sergio Mendes and Bebel Gilberto! Turns out Sergio is only 78, AND he can still play! It's a small world... while waiting before the concert, we ran into a Houston client outside the theatre. The staff at Sunset Center was very nice, especially since they knew we were "just tourists". 

Bonus: On this trip I found the rock on 17 mile drive at which we took a "siblings photo" in 1974. You can see that the photo location is Point Joe.

It was very nice not being on a schedule for five days, but we did have some planned adventures. We started by driving from San Jose airport towards Santa Cruz, and visited the Henry Cowell redwood grove. It was larger than we expected, and the "old growth" redwoods were every bit as impressive as the Muir Woods area. AND, there were a LOT fewer people! NOTE: Here is the real GPS data (the internet sent us to a different place): 525 N. Big Trees Park Rd., Felton CA 95018. Henry Cowell has an easy one mile loop. There is more hiking available, but we were ready to get to Carmel. 

In Carmel we did hikes every day, and are very glad we re-visited Point Lobos reserve. It IS true that this is "one of the greatest meetings of land and water in the world." NEW HIKE: Palo Corona regional park. The entrance is on Carmel Valley Rd, just past Highway 1. If you know the area, the access is through the former Rancho Cananda golf course, which was sold recently. They are using the former club house as the "Discovery Center". This is actually an access area to get to the Palo Corona trails, which have existed a long time, but very difficult to access. The first part is very open (mostly meadows and not many trees), so you'll want to be sure you are fit enough to get to the area that is "up the hill" and into the forested part.  Here's the link: https://www.mprpd.org/palo-corona-regional-park

On our "Monterey Day" we met with local artist Barry Marshall at his studio and had a nice walk on the trail at Pacific Grove. www.barrymarshallpaintings.com 125 Oceanview Dr. #107, Pacific Grove CA 93950 (He is there mid-day Sat and Sun).

We just went to the "usual places" - Had a couple of dinners at Affina, also one night at Porta Bella (Bashaar, the owner was very nice) and one night at Forge in the Forest. For breakfast we tried The Village Corner every day. They were very nice and have an outdoor seating area. Friar Tucks is still open, but Greg is now only open at 9 am on weekdays, so we picked Village Corner.  And, we always visit Sticks at Spanish Bay hotel (it has a 180 degree view of the ocean). Got a nice video of Ellen petting a dog at Spanish Bay. 

We will definitely save our allowance and fly directly into Monterey airport. It does cost more, but getting in and out of San Jose airport can be a real challenge (and was during this trip). The Monterey airport only has about one flight every 1/2 hour, so EVERYTHING is easier: check in, TSA, car rental, AND you're only a nine minute drive from Carmel. We will make sure that we add a hike at Point Lobos to every future Carmel trip.

New video format! We have found it's a lot more efficient to use Vimeo, as that allows us to put multiple videos on one page.  Be sure to look at the before-and-after photos of the Lone Cypress, which was damaged in a 2019 storm. One of the three main branches is GONE.