My Trip to Carmel, CA (Review)

Hi Everyone,

A couple of weeks ago Little Jenny and I headed to Carmel, CA for a Girls weekend getaway. If you never been to Carmel, you must go. It’s a quite little town that has an old town feeling to it. They don’t even have numbers on the buildings, nor does the mail get delivered to your home or business. Your probably thinking how do you get the mail? The addresses are the name of the business and it’s located between this street and that street. The mail is delivered to the post office, where everyone goes to get it. They do this, so you can meet each other. I think it’s pretty cool. Plus another thing I love about Carmel is that they are animal people. The town is loaded with dogs everywhere and they are even invited to go in stores. When you walk by each store, most will have a bowl of water in the front for your furry friends. Here is one of the dogs I saw.

When walking through the town you will find no big box stores, all individually owned. They have a of places to shop at for trinkets, clothes, art galleries, wine tasting and more.

They don’t even have a Peet’s Coffee or Starbucks. But don’t worry they have a ton of coffee shops, so you still can get your morning caffeine. Marlene from Nosh my Way and I would walk down to the town, while Little Jenny was getting ready, and grab a pastry and a latte. I will tell you these are by far the best lattes I have ever had. They are so creamy, smooth and delish! The pastries are huge too! I got a biscotti that was massive. I loved every bite of it.

The bakery windows are gorgeous too. All displayed for the holiday season. Since I went near Thanks giving, everything had a beautiful Fall look to it.

I am kind of mad at myself because I saw Pilgrim cupcakes that were little dogs. I think they were so cute. I should have bought one! I have to show you.

Carmel also has a ton and I mean a ton of restaurants to eat at. It’s very hard to choose where to go. The food I had everywhere tasted absolutely amazing. Here is just a few of my eats.

We stayed at the Hofsas House for a couple of days. The hotel is perfect for families. Each room has a built-in kitchenette and all individually decorated with an old town European flair. The Hofsas House is also pet friendly, has 38 rooms, with continental breakfast, in walking distance to the town. Plus it even has a meeting room for business. I love the quaint little style the rooms had. When Jenny and I went to our room, we were greeted with a bottle of wine and cheese and crackers. We nibbled on the cheese and crackers while we put a fire in the fireplace.

I have to admit the weather was cold and windy when we were there. Kind of unusual for this time of year. However, we still had to make tit to the ocean. We drove down to the end of town and right on Ocean Street was the beautiful, blue Pacific Ocean. The beach has white sands, beautiful views.

I think I was the only person on the beach in a winter coat and no shoes. 🙂 Just to give you an idea, Marlene and I took a selfie together and you can tell by my hair, just how windy it was.

After our two days at Carmel by the Sea we headed to the gorgeous Carmel Valley to stay at the Holman Ranch. We arrived into town where we met Duncan at the Holman Ranch Wine Tasting Store to get our keys to our room. Duncan was really sweet. He offered us some wine tasting, but I had to pass since we still had to journey to Holman Ranch where we will be staying for the evening. *Sorry Duncan, I got a pic with your eyes shut*

The Holman Ranch Wine Tasting Room was beautifully decorated and had a nice country feel. I could see sitting there with a bunch of friends sipping wine.

Holman Ranch is about a 5 minute drive up the hill from the Tasting Room. On the ranch there were beautiful stables, gorgeous hills, horses and people just hiking around. It is simply a gorgeous place to visit. When we arrived to our room, we saw cute little cottages with rocking chairs in the front. The rooms were big and cozy. I loved the ranch feeling that it had. What’s also nice is that they only have 10 rooms, which makes it more personal and private.

When we arrived at Holman Ranch, we met with Nick who took us for a tour of the property and to take us to the wine cellar to teach us about their amazing one of a kind wines.

The 400 acres of vineyards and olive grove was absolutely beautiful. The sun was shining and the grounds were turning a beautiful green color. The green color through the winter months is what I love about California. In the summer everything is golden.

The Vineyard is known for their Pinot Noir and Chardonnay wines. I fell in love with Chardonnay, it has flavors of Lemon and limes and is very light and smooth. The Holman Ranch Vineyard and Winery is family owned, which means that each bottle of wine you get extra love and care in it.

Just before heading to dinner, we got one last tour of the property. The Ranch has plenty of activities and things to do while staying there. They have a game room, with a pool table, darts , horseshoes, movie nights, bocce ball, dummy cattle roping, hayrides, olive grove tours, plus it has a pool surrounded by the vineyards. So much to do on the Ranch, plus it’s just beautiful to hike around.

Holman Ranch is known for special events, such as weddings, family reunions and business meetings. It has a ton of space and a great place for all of your needs. They are very tentative to your needs and wants and willing to help you with whatever you need.

After the tour we headed to Will’s Fargo Restaurant for a lovely dinner. The Will’s building was constructed in the late 1920s to be a tea room and later served as a road house located on the “milk run” between Monterey and Tassajara, eventually becoming a dinner house named The Carousel. Will Fay established Will’s Fargo Restaurant in 1959; the name simply a take-off on his first name which seemed appropriate for what he called the “dressed up saloon” interior. With the use of antiques and collectibles, Will merged the gracious aura of a Victorian parlor with a western “Fargo” way station.

We had a great dinner. It started off with a French Onions soup that contained lots of cheese. Yum! Then for my entree I had chicken, which was so juicy and tender. For dessert I had a chocolate lava cake which was to die for. If I wasn’t in public, I would have licked the plate.