carmel
A few weekends ago, my family and I decided to take a trip to Carmel. I’ve always wanted to visit Carmel, and I was super excited when we finally got a chance. My goal is to visit more places in California. I’ve loved getting to see Yosemite (so many beautiful hikes), Lake Tahoe, and Los Angeles. It’s amazing how much diversity there is in California alone. It has beaches, mountains, cities, farmland, sun, and snow. You can never get bored!
Our trip plans were made in the spur of the moment. I had a three day weekend for MLK day, and I suggested that we visit Carmel. I heard a bit about Carmel from my friend, Meera, whose family has a house there, and I imagined it to be a cozy little town with lots of shops and restaurants.
The plan was to drive down to San Louis Obispo, walk through the town a bit, and then drive up Big Sur to Carmel. We left later than expected, so by the time we were driving up Big Sur, it was pitch dark outside. I have to say, it was a little freaky driving down all those windy roads in the dark, but thankfully my dad is a safe driver (who manages to stay in control despite going really fast). Even though I couldn’t actually see anything, I could imagine how beautiful the drive would be in the daylight, with the ocean to our left and the waves crashing below on the sandy shores. Maybe we’ll try round two of Big Sur soon…
When we arrived, we ate a late dinner and then headed to sleep. I was sooo tired (probably from staying up super late the night before watching the First Man with my friend…still worth it). We woke up the next morning to blue skies with a bit of fog and chilly morning air. We drove to downtown Carmel with our cameras fully charged and spent a couple hours exploring the area and window shopping. Window shopping and exploring are two of my favorite things to do. I love looking at shops without necessarily intending to buy anything. it was nice just sniffing the soaps, admiring beautiful paintings, and flipping through books. For me, window shopping is one of the most relaxing things (not for my dad though…after a bit he went back to the car for a snooze).
One of my favorite shops was this pen and paper store called Bittner where I got my dream notebook (it was a Bindewerk linen notebook with blank white pages, hard-not-too-bendy cover, and easy to open and write in). Another thing I enjoyed were the many little hidden alleyways that you could explore. We went down this one alley which was lined with plants and tiny ceramic sculptures. At the end of the alley, we found a little outdoor shop that had scented candles, garden pots, and lots of other knick knacks. Can it get more whimsical?!
After window shopping to our hearts content, we walked down to the beach. It was gorgeous. The waves were pretty big, so there were no swimmers or surfers, but there were lots of people walking along the shore. Something about watching the water extend for miles and miles into the horizon makes you feel so much more at peace.
I’m glad that we got to see a new place. It was a lot of fun! I hope to do more of these mini trips now that I’m a second semester senior (and senioritis a.k.a. loss of motivation kicks in).
Have an great week!
