Carmel area, Carmel Mission Basililca and more driving on the coast - Feb 15

Wednesday morning sunny, and the wind stopped. Definitely cool outside though, as there's ice on the roof of our car!

Today's adventure is to tour the monastery in Carmel-By-The-Sea (Carmel), the Carmel Mission Basilica and drive some coastline. Out the door at 8:15 am and down Highway 1 for Carmel, about 30 minutes away.

First stop today is the Carmel Beach and have a look about. Pretty steep getting down to the beach so we stayed up on the cliffside. Lots of people walking their dogs on the beach. The sand is a fine white grain.

Beautiful houses line the shoreline.

Next we drove down the one way Scenic Drive along the beach and stopped at various points to take some pictures. There were even a bunch of surfers out there. Only managed to get one getting up though. A very pretty drive with some amazing houses. What a view they have!

Looking towards Pebble Beach Golf Course

Here come the surfers.

Up next, the Carmel Mission Basilica is up next. We tried to see this place a few years ago but it wasn't open when we came. This place is much larger than we anticipated. What fabulous architecture and gardens.

Basilica Forecourt

Bell Tower. This lady asking Ray to take a picture for her.

Jo Mora Chapel

Main Suite

Nativity Scene

Our Lady of Bethleham

Quadrangle Courtyard

Now this is a barbecue pit!

Ray's been fascinated by all the old doors.

After wandering around for an hour or so, it's time for lunch. We're looking for some fish and chips, so Ray found a place called the Pangaea Grill. A pretty upscale place, but the prices not too bad. We both ordered the same thing and I ordered a local lager from the Other Brother Beer Company (it's really a double as the alcohol content is 7.7%) located in Sand City by Monterey. Delicious, the food and the beer.

Debbie in the corner lol

Sea Bass Fish and Chips

With our tummies full, we carried further down Highway 1 to Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. We couldn't see this last time either as no pets allowed in the reserve and we had Freya with us. This time we're good to go, so we drove to various parking lots and did a bit of walking on some trails.

First up is Whaler's Cove and the short trail up a bunch of steps to the overlook. Very rough out here but in the cove it's very calm which is why they brought the whales into here for processing.

Back in the car and we stopped briefly for Ray to get some pictures of the Whaler's Cabin. There's no parking near, so I just stayed in the car. Lots of artifacts and whale bones.

Further down the road is Sea Lion Point. Did not see any of them today, but lots of sea birds. This is the main information station with park hosts to help you decide on which trails to take. They also have washroom facilities here. We parked and went on a 1 mile loop trail to the overlook at Seal Lion Point.  Gorgeous. Lots of surf happening from all the wind yesterday.

Last stop is the Hidden Beach Parking Lot. We saw a few deer here munching on the grass.

Down below. people were walking on the striated rocks and looking in the tidal pools. Lots of surf blowing up on the rocks further out. I did hear sea lions in the distance, but never saw them.

2:30 pm ... time to head home. Once we got to the campsite, we took a short drive further out onto Moss Landing to the boat harbour and managed to finally get some pictures of sea otters. I could hear those damn sea lions, but still couldn't see them. We can hear them in our motorhome at night. :) 

I also managed a picture of a pelican. Much nicer looking out on the point today without the wind. Even the flowers decided to open up to the sunshine today.

Back at the MH it's time for Ray to shuck our oysters for tonight's appetizers. :)

Another lovely day.