Time to leave the fabulous city of San Francisco and begin the road trip leg of our trip. First, we needed to pick up the hire car, from Alamo based on Bush Street. As this was situated near Union Square, the boys caught the cable car back into the city centre, whilst the girls returned to Boudin Bakery for breakfast in the sunshine. The boys managed a diversion to grab some breakfast at the Beanstalk Cafe on Bush Street before arriving back at the hotel with a huge Dodge SUV.
Santa Cruz
First stop was Santa Cruz, a seaside town with a large funfair on the boardwalk. We left San Francisco just before 11am (slightly later than anticipated), and aimed to be in Santa Cruz by lunchtime. Due to some traffic issues, the expected travel time of just under 2 hours took a little over 2 ¼ hours, so by the time we’d parked the car it was around 1.15pm.
There are plenty of places to park on Santa Cruz boardwalk (Beach Street), with all day parking costing $15. As we were only planning to stay for a couple of hours, we parked in Depot Park - a playground and ball field (just off the roundabout leading off Pacific Avenue, West Cliff Drive and Center Street), which, at $4 for 2 hours, was significantly cheaper.
The glorious hot weather, and the fact that we had been in the car for over 2 hours, encouraged us to find somewhere we could buy sandwiches to eat on the beach. We discovered a small, busy cafe called The Picnic Basket on the boardwalk (Beach Street). As most of the food was made to order - there were a limited number of grab and go options - we waited nearly 30 minutes for our food, but it was worth the wait. The sandwiches had slightly unusual ingredients (in a good way), they were fresh, filling and nicely boxed up, so we could carry them across the road to enjoy on the beach.
We enjoyed a relaxing hour on the beach, soaking up the sun, building a sand fort and dipping our toes in the sea, until it was time to return to the car around 3.15pm. Driving the short distance to Monterey, we passed the magnificent sand dunes of Sand City.
Monterey
We arrived in Monterey around 4.45pm, parked in the car park at Monterey harbour ($1.50 for 1 hour) and wandered past the yachts to Fisherman’s Wharf. There are plenty of restaurants, and various shops on Fisherman’s Wharf selling clothes, jewellery, gifts and souvenirs. Even if you don’t plan to shop here, we recommend a visit to Carousel Candies, a vibrant sweet shop where you can watch the famous salt water taffy being made, sample their delicious fudge and buy an ice-cream to enjoy as you wander down the rest of the wharf...yum.
We could have spent longer in Monterey. If time had been on our side, we’d planned to spend a couple of hours at Monterey Mirror Maze or Monterey Aquarium. However, eager to get to our final stop (Carmel) for the night, we were content to enjoy the ice-cream and sunshine on offer instead.
17 Mile Drive & Pebble Beach
Leaving Monterey at 5.30pm, we continued towards Carmel, via the 17 mile drive. There's obviously a more direct route, but if you have the time and the $10 fee, (refundable with purchases over $35 on PBC rounds and PBC Restaurants) that it costs to enter the 17 mile drive, to spare, it’s definitely worth it. The views over the golf courses, the homes and the beaches are all stunning.
On entering the 17-mile drive, we were handed a leaflet highlighting points of interest. As well as the world famous golf courses, there are also shops and restaurants to enjoy but, as we were aware that some cloudy, wet weather was on the way, we took the opportunity to enjoy as much beach time as possible, and stopped to let the children clamber over the rocks and down to the sea. It created one of their favourite memories of the holiday - jumping in the waves, with the sun going down, on an almost deserted beach.
Wet and sandy, but wearing huge smiles, the children eventually returned to the car so we could continue our journey to Carmel. Exiting the 17-mile drive at the Carmel Gate, we drove to Tradewinds hotel, arriving by 6.30pm.
Carmel-by-the-Sea
Not wanting to subject the reception area to the sea water and sand of Pebble Beach, Simon checked in while the rest of us waited in the car. He was greeted warmly and shown personally to the room - with an orchid stem, which was then placed in the room, before he gave us the all clear to join him. This has to be one of our favourite hotels, ever! The calm, Zen-like atmosphere was very welcome after the busy few days we’d had.
The room was spacious, clean and comfortable. There was plenty of storage space, a large bathroom, a fridge, plus coffee making facilities. But it’s the personal touches that really set this hotel apart from the others we stayed in - the relaxing music on the in-room CD player, the plate of delicious chocolate dipped strawberries, a personalised greeting, chocolates on the bedside table, plus Eloise’s favourite - the relaxing bamboo water feature.
The calming atmosphere continues outside with a fire pit, waterfall, Buddha statue, and exotic plants and flowers dotted around the courtyard.
As much as it would have been lovely to sit there and enjoy a nice glass of wine, there’s something special that should be on every Carmel ‘to do’ list - watch the sunset on the beach. It’s approximately a 10 minute walk from Tradewinds to the beach, so we hurried through the town to catch the last moments. We'll let the picture speak for itself:
A ten minute walk back to the town centre, had us heading to the corner of Ocean and Lincoln to the Dametra Cafe: a small but lively restaurant serving Mediterranean food. What a great night. After a short wait (approximately 10 minutes), we were seated and thoroughly enjoyed the friendly service, infectious atmosphere, delicious food, and even (much to Eloise’s horror) a dance to the live music - well, it would be rude to refuse when the guitar wielding waiter beckons you to your feet.
We all enjoyed the food. The lamb shish kebabs were beautiful, tender chunks of lamb. They were served with plenty of rice and a greek salad, as were the tasty chicken kebabs.
Bread, oil and vinegar was served before the meal, water glasses were constantly topped up and, although we declined the dessert menu, we were still presented with a plate of delicious baklava, served with cream and a caramel sauce. I can see why this place is top of the Trip Advisor ratings. A wonderful end to a tiring but fabulous day.
