Carmel-by-the-Sea

Carmel-by-the-Sea is a lovely resort town located about 190kms south of San Francisco. There is some serious wealth here if the real estate property values are anything to go by. The area has an early European history as a Spanish mission settlement (the Carmel Mission was founded in 1770). In more recent times the settlement has been renowned as the home for many artists, poets and writers. It has incredible art galleries, shops and a spectacular beach. Clint Eastwood owns a ranch here and served as Mayor for a term in the 1980's. He sometimes calls in to a restaurant he part-owns (Hog's Breath Inn) and plays piano at the bar (he is a jazz enthusiast as well as a famous actor/director). We had dinner there last night hoping to do some celebrity spotting. Unfortunately Clint must have decided to stay home and wash his hair (or more likely he was in LA doing Hollywood stuff).

Tracee and I had a walk around the many shops, bought lunch and coffee, had a walk to the beach. What struck us was the 'dog friendly' by-laws in the town. many shops had signs that read 'dogs welcome', bowls of water were outside shop entrances and we observed a shop assistants giving treats to a dog in store!

There is a fantastic Christmas shop here that Tracee loves - and of course we had to buy one of their unique music boxes to ship back home!