Gosh, there's a handful of days from the past week to cover under one blog entry, and often for multi-day trips, I'll break things out into more than one entry. But I think I'll take this all as one. It may result in a longer entry, but that's ok. I also don't think I'll chronologically catalogue what happened. Instead, let me highlight some things in whatever order I feel like. Starting with...
Farm animals! Oh yes, the resort we were staying at, the Carmel Valley Ranch, has farm animals at its corral up on the ridge above. In fact, the goats
provide milk for the cheesemaker at the hotel (we chatted a bit with her on Wednesday when she offered a cheese-tasting to folks - it's a small operation, a handful of gallons a day, she makes three cheeses). There were alpacas,
sheep, a couple of highland cows (miniature, but they looked plenty big),
donkeys. Van was in his element - he loves animals of all sorts, and he's always happy to pet them if they are happy to be petted.
Conrad was surprisingly reticent,
and when I asked him later, he said that he was wary of touching them because of a recent incident in which a colleague's dog was in the office and nipped him. I get it, totally. He loved seeing the animals even if he didn't touch them much. It was a steep if short hike up
to where the corral was
(the hotel has a shuttle that runs up there), but it was worth it. So much cuteness. And at a hotel that once in a while felt overrun by families with small children (sorry, but true), it was nice to see so many kids and their parents and others learning about the animals and engaging with them. Plus, the views from up there were outstanding.
A real highlight of the trip.
Bud's at La Playa in Carmel-by-the-Sea. A hotel bar in an historic hotel
in a wealthy little seaside town. Van had been there before and wanted us to try it, and as with so many things that Van recommends, it did anything but disappoint. Oh no. It was quite the great experience. We hadn't really had lunch because of a late breakfast and visiting the animals, so after we cleaned up from that, we headed into Carmel-by-the-Sea (where Clint Eastwood was once mayor) and found parking on a street by the hotel. It wasn't yet 4PM, but we had dinner and drinks on our mind. The bar wasn't too busy - yet! - and we were able to grab the booth the farthest from where the musicians were set up, a boon to Conrad and his hearing. Excellent! Van had talked up the martinis, and so Conrad and I each ordered one (and then a second one). Called Bud's Martini,
the drink was essentially a Vesper, and a good one at that. Van had also talked up the hamburger, and again, he was absolutely correct (oh, and we had shrimp cocktails to start).
Tender pretzel roll, juicy burger.
It was the perfect late afternoon bar dinner. We headed past the waterfront near the end of sunset,
and we made it back to the hotel during normal dinner time, our one evening meal not at the resort, and snagged a fire pit
for s'mores before nightcapping by the tree and fireplace in the hotel lobby.
I guess between the animals and Bud's, Tuesday was the best day of our stay. Quite possibly! It was raining through NYE, and although that didn't bother us (and didn't deter me from a good morning walk to close the year), it led to us doing rather less, staying mostly indoors. Ah well. Back to highlights!
Wine tasting at Bernardus. This was unplanned. The four of us (a lot of places were dog-friendly, so she was along with us for the ride) hopped in the car on Monday. A glorious, sunny day for heading east into the Carmel Valley Village area. After a very late and tasty breakfast of shared beignets
and then an omelette
for me at Trailside Café & Beer Garden followed by poking in a couple of stores and then a drive around the small residential area, we found ourselves at the winery tasting room (and let me tell you, there were a lot of tasting rooms to choose from). I had been saying in the car as we drove past so many that it would be fun to perhaps drop in on one at some point during our trip. And that turned into us pulling into the parking lot at Bernardus, a winery whose name was familiar to Van. We brought Olive inside, claimed a table in a quieter room, and tasted a half-dozen wines (four were listed on the flight, but the three women working there wanted us to try a couple of others - smart of them, we bought bottles of those additional wines).
It was low key, unhurried, and - surprisingly - we mostly agreed on the wines we tasted. I rather liked the whites (and one of the reds), so I decided it would be nice to join their wine club and get a few shipments a year from them. I look forward to that.
Those were my top three highlights. But things were otherwise terrific, truly. We had two meals at the hotel bar, and although I think the bar staff desperately needed an additional person back there with them, I liked the cocktails,
and the food was fine if unexceptional
(but oh, the little gingerbread apple dessert was notches above the savoury food we had).
We also had our NYE dinner at the hotel at a table over by the windows in the dining room, which felt cozy. Champagne to start,
then a multi-course menu from which I most liked the beef tartare
(which was flavoured with ingredients of Bolognese, a nice touch) and the beef cheeks
(so tender as to be spoonable). The whole meal was lovely
but bigger portions than we expected, and it made for a night of indigestion from over-indulging. Darn it.
As for the hotel, we had a good, large, comfortable suite
about a quarter-mile walk uphill from the main lodge building. Aside from the deer,
there were also turkeys
roaming on the golf course
surrounding the property. There was a hotel garden
and vineyards,
beautiful grounds around the hotel (I loved all the proteas).
The drive there and back was long-ish but not difficult, at least not for me napping away or reading in the back seat, usually with Olive beside me.
It was a wonderful cap to a relaxing holiday season. My thanks to Van - this trip was his Christmas gift to the two of us. I'm so very grateful I finally got to see Carmel Valley Ranch and enjoy it with my guys
and Olive!
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