California Road Trip-
Carmel-By-The-Sea
It’s official, I can die relatively happy! I have finally made it back to Carmel, California.
If architecture, the ocean, landscape and a pet friendly environment, is your idea of heaven, then this is it. Just be sure to take a big sack of money with you if you plan to stay.
The real estate agent in me, was curious about pricing, because it can tell you a lot about the demographics of a community. My parents had toyed with the idea of moving there more than 25 years ago, but the sensible one of the relationship decided he liked being five times as wealthy by staying in Texas as opposed to moving to Carmel.
The neat thing about living in a place with high costs, is that you could assume your standard criminal can’t afford to be there! So you are buying a little more peace and serenity with a lower than average chance of a violent crime or robbery taking place! I actually just got sidetracked checking data on a neat site called neighborhoodscout.com Check it out if you want to see if you have a higher-than-national-average chance of getting assaulted, robbed or both!
Even with the economy the way it currently is, $200,000 buys you something to live in that you really wouldn’t want, compared to $200,000 in Texas being a very nice place you would be proud to own.
So, back to admiring the archetecture…. charming cottages that you may drive by and think..”I could probably afford at least that one. Well, you probably can’t. The median home value in The Woodlands, Texas in 2009 is listed at $250,700 versus Carmel-by-the-Sea at $661,466 according to city-data.com .
Still, the charming ocean front homes, landscaping and beaches are breath taking and I wish every town in every state could be so charming so more people could enjoy the beauty on a daily basis.
During the three nights we stayed, we were content to continue coming back to “our spot” which was a bench along the trail which lined the beach. (yes, I know…it’s that damn scarf again! But gee, it was cold and you can’t fit much in a carry-on !)
We drove to Big Sir one day, which was fabulous, but we were always sure to come back to our spot by sunset. We sat, talked, met people whose pets wanted to say hello as they took their evening walk…like “Wink” the one eyed white poodle mix and the tons of other pets people had. Looking back, I should have photographed them all, it was quite a collection of pet and pet lovers we came across. The town is known for being pet-friendly and has numerous hotels, restaurants and retail stores allowing for pets!
Everyone we happened to come across had stated proudly that their pet was a “rescue” animal.
Times have changed, and now intelligent people are proud of their choice to rescue rather than fork out hundred to thousands of dollars for a “documented” pet. I love that we are evolving!
We even came across a sunset-on-the-beach wedding, in which a blonde knock out married an older gentlemen and we watched from out bench.
There were tons of great places to dine, get coffee or , in our case, bakeries…were were on vacation after all and everyone knows you can eat whatever you want on vacation! We did decide we couldn’t keep eating like swine, so we opted for a big breakfast at our Hotel a couple of mornings, then nibbling small the rest of the day.
Our hotel was the Carmel Mission Inn and it was a perfect find! Again, being the weekend, all the cottage styled places were booked up, and we paid at least $200 per night less just by staying a few more blocks from the old main street style area.
Check out the link above for great Carmel Mission Inn pictures!
The last day of the California Road Trip is approaching!
(to be continued)
August 6, 2012
–SDS
We
