Carmel-By-The-Sea

This past weekend we spent the day at one of our favorite places, Carmel-By-The-Sea. We love to go there for the cooler weather, quaint European style village, the white sand beach, and amazing restaurants. It is a nice and relaxing place to stroll around and everything is within walking distance. We started out our day with a picnic at the lush "Devendork Park". This park is a gathering place for the village. There is a beautiful grass area to picnic and for kids to run around, which is surrounded by massive live oak trees, a little pond with Koi Fish, and nice benches to sit on and relax.  It was the perfect place to start our day and have lunch. 

After we had our picnic at the park we headed down to the beautiful white sand beach, which is down the hill from the village. Even though it was pretty overcast there were a lot of families with dogs hanging out. There is a beautiful coastline to look out at while you sit and relax on the soft sand. My son had fun playing in the sand and tossing the frisbee around.  This is one of our favorite beaches in Northern California to go to.

Traditionally after we spend time on the beautiful beach we walk up the hill to our favorite place for an afternoon treat at the "Carmel Bakery". This place always has a line out the door. Displayed in the front window are delicious looking Cannoli's, many pastries, and cookies. Inside they serve ice cream, cookies, pastries, and coffee. My favorite cookie is a half dipped short bread cookie with chocolate bits in it. This cookie is perfect paired with a latte. After we get our goodies we walk over and sit at the nice benches in front of the "Harrison Memorial Library". In front of the library is a little succulent plant garden and California Poppies. It is a nice place to sit, relax and enjoy our treats. 

Following our afternoon snack we had an early dinner at our favorite restaurant in Carmel, "Flying Fish Grill". This place is located below the Carmel Plaza. The owners have been running it for 23 years. The atmosphere is very dim lighting, with wood walls and cozy booths, in an Asian décor. They serve predominately Japanese style food and seafood dishes. They are most known for their pan-fried almond crusted sea bass, which is served over a bed of whipped potatoes and rock shrimp stir-fry. When you sit down they first serve you their complementary ginger salsa and crispy wonton chips, which my husband could not get enough of. For an appetizer we ordered the spicy tuna tartare with sesame oil, chili pepper, and toast points, which also goes well with the crispy wonton chips. Following the tartare we both chose to order the almond sea bass for our entrees, which is to die for! The whole dinner was a great ending to such a memorable day!