Carmel by the Sea

 
Mr. Fox came up big for my 28th birthday this year, a surprise getaway to our honeymoon location- Carmel-by-the-Sea. He's always been pretty romantic that way, but this one will be pretty hard to top! We stayed at the same bed-and-breakfast he booked back in 2010, we had had our own little cottage back then, "The San Antonio House," but they have since sold it off as a private residence. We went back to find it but it was nowhere to be seen. It seems like the new owner demolished it and put a new build on the lot which is a little heartbreaking but the Lavender Room was charming nonetheless. 

Carmel is nothing if not the very definition of a honeymoon destination- I have never been anywhere quite so enchanting. Granted, I am biased because of the nostalgia of my actual honeymoon there but the whole town just makes me swoon. There are no chain hotels or restaurants, just privately owned inns and ma and pop eateries all built in the architectural style of Hugh Comstock. Back in the 1920's, he built a little cottage modeled after English village homes for his wife to use as a store for her Otsy-totsy dolls and the style caught on. My pictures don't do it justice, and my blog can't support the size I want them posted at, but we walked around for hours in the rain ogling them. The brick chimneys, the crooked roof lines, the picket fences, the gated entrances, the rounded windows, and the landscaping, oh the landscaping! Every home is like a personalized secret garden.

A quick glance at the sopping wet beach and a little peek into a few of the extremely high end shops- cashmere sweater for $1400 anyone?- led us to Dematra Cafe for some divine Mediterranean food. The rain gave us the perfect excuse to hide in our room the rest of the night and use our fireplace, coziness at its finest.





I insisted on sneaking around a few more cottages the next morning but they are private homes after all so I really couldn't get close enough.












 We hadn't realized Big Sur was so close so we took a detour on our way out of town to see his majesty and it is now on our camping bucket list! My California boy has ruined me, I think I've officially lost my heart to the west coast.


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