Another plus point for Tradewinds is the breakfast that’s included in the price of the hotel room. The small, yet inviting, dining room provided a selection of fresh fruit, cereal, bagels, raisin bread, pastries, yoghurt, juice and hot drinks - including Twinnings Breakfast Tea. Yay!
As check out time wasn’t until 12.00, we decided to wander to town and explore some of the shops first. It’s definitely worth taking the time to do this. There’s a fabulous mixture of cafe’s, restaurants, wine outlets, leather shops, clothes shops, home & gift shops, and even a Christmas shop.
The architecture of the town is such an eclectic mix of Mediterranean inspired courtyards right next door to the quaint Tuck Box building, which is just around the corner from the charming storefronts of the bakery and other outlets. It's fabulous.
No visit to Carmel would be complete without a visit to the delightful Cottage of Sweets. We struggled to choose between all of the delicious sounding fudge flavours, so we ended up with 3 different types.
Then, it was back to the hotel to check out, pick up the car and drive the short distance to the beach. The sky might have been overcast, the temperature may have dropped from the 27 degrees of yesterday, to a more chilly 18 degrees, but that still wasn’t enough to stop the kids from enjoying an hour in the waves.
Once we’d managed to coax the children out of sea, we drove back into town to pick up some sandwiches for lunch.
We had intended to order some sandwiches from the bakery, but happened to walk past an Italian deli and bakery, on the way, so stopped there instead. Salumeria Luca didn’t disappoint. The menu looked really appetising with a selection of build your own sandwiches, panini’s and meats, but it was the pizza that caught our eyes, so we bought 4 slices. They were absolutely delicious.
A quick toilet stop at the Piccadilly Park restrooms, where a blue bird (which, we believe was a Western Scrub-Jay) was having a wonderful time in the fountain, and we were on our way once more.
Picking up the Highway 1, we drove along the Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur, stopping at various vista points along the way. Although the sun was refusing to come out to play today, the overcast sky failed to spoil this truly spectacular drive, and the stunning views. One of our favourites was The Rookery, where we watched the elephant seals on the beach.
We also stopped in San Luis Obispo, where we couldn’t resist adding our chewing gum to the wall of Bubblegum Alley - disgusting but fun.
Continuing a little further towards the Dinosaur Park in Pismo Beach , the kids enjoyed swinging on the tyre swing while Albert the bear hid in the dinosaur egg, but as there’s very little else to do here at 5.15pm on a cool cloudy day, by 5.30pm we were back in the car and driving the final leg of today’s journey towards Solvang. During the 45 minute journey from Pismo Beach to Solvang, through the hills, it began to rain - at least it made us feel at home, we’re used to views like this in the UK!
Our hotel, for the night, The Landsby, has a distinctive Ikea influence to the contemporary decor. The Classic Two Bed room was spacious enough for the four of us. It was clean and comfortable but a little noisy, as it overlooked the main road at the front of the hotel.
Although the hotel bar and restaurant area were clearly very popular, judging by the buzzing atmosphere downstairs, we’d already decided to try the Solvang Brewing Company, located just across the road from the hotel. It serves good pub grub (the sweet potato fries are particularly tasty), which you can wash down with one of their unique ales. The Blue Eyed Blonde was my favourite, while Simon enjoyed the Danske Amber Ale. Luckily, it wasn’t far to walk back to the hotel.
