Unforgettable drive to Pebble beach at Carmel CA

Saturday Apr 11 2009

Photos are here

Vivek said "Come let us drive to Carmel" . Carmel is a pretty beach town community about an hour and a half drive from Fremont. It was a bright sunny day . We set off in his car by 10:30 am.


Driving thro' scenic Santa Cruz mountains

We drove through a very scenic route thro' the Santa Cruz mountains (ghats) amidst dense jungle. The entire route is lined with trees and the spring season was so evident with lush colorful flowers blooming everywhere. I was repeatedly telling vivek excitedly "hey look at the flowers". Poor fellow he must have wondered "what is that??" being so impervious to all that flowery scenery and ofcourse focussing on his driving. The weather promised to be great bright and sunny.

Soon we hit the Pacific Coast road which runs along the Pacific Ocean and is also very scenic. The blue crystalline ocean is visible on this drive. Here vivek was very excited and kept pointing to me the ocean whenever it came into view. He loves the ocean I guess. We were heading towards a town called Monterey.

The ocean is visible at a distance

Monterey
We touched Monterey at 12:30 and we were both very hungrey. We parked the car at a very pretty looking hotel (inn??) . It had huge pots over flowing with flowers (real not artificial) , benches, water fountain , a large sit out facing the ocean.

Huge flower pots

Pretty Coffee bar by the sea

Pots over flowing with flowers

But we were in for a disappointment. It was a coffee bar only. So we walked on the road along the ocean looking for a place to eat something.

Monterey is such a beautiful town and on this particular sunny day was decked up in flowers flowers everywhere that one can spend days just walking here. The ocean appeared pure blue and Vivek said it is so deep here that whales and dolphins have been spotted. There is a boat ride to do just that but we did not take that for want of time.

We saw groups of very young and not so young people preparing for scuba diving. Though it was sunny and bright it was also very cold and windy. This chilly wind is a characteristic feature along the pacific coast.

We located a small pizza joint called "Pelican Pizza" having just 2 small tables and 8 chairs. We ordered Pizza and sat in this small quaint Pizza joint. When the Pizza arrived in a large aluminium plate it was hot ( back home we would consider it very poor to eat in this type of aluminium thali) , huge ( half of a 12" diameter circle pizza) cut into 4 slices, covered with nice green veggies, jalapinoes( spicy green chiily - I just love that). Vivek enjoyed the Pizza so much that he kept on saying " THIS is the tastiest pizza I have ever eaten" - Note the emphasis on THIS here. He must know with his vast experience of living on Pizzas in his early student days at UIUC. I have never been a Pizza person but I really enjoyed this one. The whole thing costs as little as 7$ for both of us. We were so full and happy. We thanked the owner .

American salesmanship
In America I observed that most of the eateries are owned and run by one person with may be one or two more help. They are very warm and nice to guests at their hotels. This kind of salesmanship is very obvious wherever we go. We will never come across a grumpy sales person. I think they may be trained for that. We Indians need to master this attitude. Ofcourse I have experienced the same warmth in all the marwadi ( hailing for the state of Rajathan ) owned shops in Nidgi.

We then went to "Baskin Robins" a chain store selling ice-creams. They really have so many varieties.I selected a small size Pista icecream with roasted almonds and Vivek picked up 2 large scoops of "Strawberry cheese cake" icecream for himself. Eating our icecreams we leisurely strolled on the pathway on the road along the beach. At many places you could go down to the beach but I dreaded the ice cold water. It was spring time and the beauty of colorful flowers on the road was so thrilling. I was so engrossed with all this that I missed my balance and came crashing on the road with my icecream.

Monterey has a very huge and world famous aquarium of marine animals but we did not go there as Vivek said there is so much to see and so little time.

We got into the car and drove to Pebble beach.

17 Mile Drive
We did the popular 17 mile Drive 17-Mile Drive at Pebble Beach.
Most of this place is privately owned by a company called Pebble Beach Company ( 1,600 employees) which owns The Lodge at Pebble Beach, The Inn at Spanish Bay, Casa Palmero, The Spa at Pebble Beach, Pebble Beach Golf Links, The Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill Golf Course and Del Monte Golf Course. These resorts and golf courses are world famous.

There is an entry fee. ( I think it was 10$) In this circular route, there are 4 famous golf courses by the sea, many vantage points for scenic views of the Pacific ocean and the drive itself is very beautiful amidst dense woods with houses here and there. Vivek said if u own a house here, it proves u have arrived in life.

The golf courses were vast green expanses on hilly terrains in some places.



Golf course by the sea - Sprinklers at work here

Golf courses on hilly terrain along the Pacific Ocean

The ocean is visible thro out and there are many beaches on the way. At one place the ocean is called Restless Sea as the waves here clash in different directions with great force and the sea appears restless. It is a dangerous spot.

The spring season was very evident with flowers covering the whole landscape and painting it in such pretty stunning shades of bright colors.

Spring in air

Once we completed the circular 17 Mile drive we headed to Pebble beach. The sand is pure white fine powder. It is difficult to walk on the beach sand as it is hilly and your feet sink deep with every step. It was difficult to go down to the beach and even more difficult to climb back for me with my knee pain. The Pacific coast is always chilly.

Pebble beach

Carmel-by-the-sea
We drove around the town of Carmel which is a beach community . Vivek explained that it is a rich man's abode. Many celebrities own property here and it is extremely expensive in the range of 100 million $ upwards.

Driving thro' the town of carmel

We saw a yellow Ferrari parked on the roadside and vivek was so excited to see that.
It is his dream to buy one I think.

Ferrari Close-up

After a fulfilling day of being so much at peace with nature, the sea , woods, hills and the flowers of the spring we drove back home once again along the scenic route via Santa Cruz mountains.