17-Mile Drive & Point Lobos

Since I'll be in silicon valley for a work trip all week next week, we took advantage of the work-funded travel and spent the weekend in Carmel-by-the-sea.

We got into San Jose Friday night and used the remaining daylight to drive down highway 1 to our hotel in Carmel. We checked in at the hotel Carmel, and then headed out to find a wine tasting and snacks to hold us over until our pacific-time dinner reservation.

Dinner was a low-key affair at Flaherty's, where we enjoyed some fantastic West Coast oysters, bubbles, and fish. We walked around the town looking at the shops before calling it a night.

Bodies still on central time, we woke up early, which was problematic since the hotel didn't do coffee or breakfast until 8am. We decided to walk down to the beach as the sun came up, which proved a brilliant idea when we found that it was doggy play hour down there. We walked along the beach watching dogs chase after balls, birds, and each other before heading back for croissants and coffee.

We rented ebikes, and, after some tentative test laps around the parking lot to ensure we didn't have operator error at a critical moment, made our way to the start of the 17-mile drive. The ebikes were great helping get up some of the steeper and longer climbs, but we both got a good workout in over the course of the loop. We stopped a few times along the way to take in the views, and generally had a great time.

The bike ride worked up an appetite, so we dropped our bikes off and headed back into town to have lunch at Alvarado Street brewery, washed down with some local beers. That made us both sleepy, so we took a nap, but woke up in time to do some hiking at Point Lobos national park. We saw a few seals sunning themselves, and a few otters flipping in the water, grooming themselves, and generally being adorable. It was exactly what we had hoped from the hike.

From there, it was back to the hotel to shower and get ready for the main attraction of the trip.Read more