Wednesday 17 September 2008

[17:15 PDT]

Linda is smiling once more. Actually, she's dozing out on the balcony in the sun with a few glasses of champagne inside her, but the smile is still there.

We were away quickly this morning as there was a planned 4.5 hour journey from Yosemite, down to Carmel on the Pacific coast.

We soon left the granite mountains of the Sierra Nevada behind us and ploughed through the central valley area heading back to San Francisco. Finally, we headed south, through the Pacific Coast mountain ranges and down to the Monterey peninsular.

In the end we took just under 5.5 hours to drive here, including a stop for lunch, so the timings were pretty accurate.

First impressions on the new hotel are that this is definitely up to Paul Smith standards(!). The room is standard size and has some nice furnishings, but it's what's outside the patio doors that makes this hotel special.

The room boasts an amazing view of the Pacific Ocean. It's facing NW out to sea so we should get a pretty good view of the sunset over the ocean tonight.

The room's plus points has meant that we'll stay here this afternoon instead of running straight out to have a look around Carmel. Once the sun has set, then we'll have a search for somewhere to eat.

[19:21 PDT]

The sun has now set. The whole sky now has a pale orange hue.

[22:52 PDT]

Just back from having a meal in Carmel. It's an odd place. It reminds me a lot of some villages around the Cotswolds, full of art dealer shops, antique shops and way overpriced small items (I mean, there's a Bead shop here!). Ate in a place called London Jack - quite nice food there. I wish Carmel had more street lights, as it's almost impossible to see your way around!