California is known as one of the world’s great road trip destinations. Visitors can easily experience more than one within a single holiday. Depending on where you are, you could even tag on a little trip to Nevada, as Luxurious Magazine’s Sabi Phagura did during a recent trip.
“Sabi, you’re not wearing heels, are you?” Maddy, my companion, inquired as we neared our destination Carmel-by-the-Sea in our transfer. I peered down at my feet and notified Maddy I was supporting my trusted Vionic trainers. “Oh good, because technically they are banned in Carmel,” Maddy quipped.
Carmel-by-the-Sea’s one-square-mile village in Monterey County is as uniquely enchanting as it is in its facts. Arriving in Carmel is akin to diving into a fairytale fantasy.
The sidewalks are lined with cute Hugh Comstock-designed fairytale cottages, designer shops, and classy art galleries, while secret passages lead to a sprinkling of boutique cafes and upscale restaurants. You won’t find a single chain store here. Like heels, they are banned. Allow me to explain.
Carmel By The Sea
Part of the charm is that its inhabitants (like Clint Eastwood who was also previously a mayor), never wanted their village to become ‘citified’. Subsequently, Carmel’s founding fathers put various laws in place. To date, there are still no addresses (folk collect post from the central post office), parking meters, street lights or sidewalks outside the commercial area.
The prohibiting of high heels is not as farfetched as it may first appear. Over time, the roots of towering pine and cypress trees have caused the pavements to become uneven, thus becoming a potential hazard.
Afraid of liability issues, city officials banned heels. But ladies needn’t shun wearing high heels altogether. Many wear them. For ‘official permission,’ ladies (and men) can go to City Hall, which will issue a high-heel waiver on the spot.
After pottering around shops (you’ll find most shoppers and diners around picturesque Ocean Avenue, which leads to Carmel Beach), including a wine-tasting room tour at Dawn’s Dream Winery and lunch at the superb Stationæry, we were back at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa before sunset (there were no streetlights, remember?).
Monterey Bay
The hotel is enviably perched dramatically at Monterey Bay in a historic beachfront property above the crashing surf of the Pacific. Here,, you’ll not only be welcomed with the warm hospitality of the staff but also otters.
They are particularly charming to watch during a leisurely breakfast from either the restaurant Schooners or the rooftop spa.
Winter is an incredibly exciting time to explore Monterey Bay’s beaches. Storms passing over the Pacific Ocean combined with seasonally extreme tides can create some dramatic experiences.
But this can also mean a washout of a meticulously planned itinerary. Indeed, storms had been battering the coast for a few days before our arrival and showed no signs of abating during the stay.
Our whale-watching tour, led by biologists and naturalists, revealed a variety of animals in their habitat, such as dolphins, sea lions, and orcas, and had to be cancelled. But you can’t fight with nature, and the second best thing to immerse oneself in wildlife viewing in the area is to head to Monterey Bay Aquarium, just a short walk from the hotel along the famous Cannery Row.
Cannery Row and Monterey Bay Aquarium
Literary figure John Steinbeck made Cannery Row a destination and the area has served as a location for some 200 films and television series.
Gearing up to celebrate its 40th year in October, the oceanic wonder is the second-largest aquarium in the world. It’s, quite literally, built on a foundation of historical overfishing, occupying a former sardine packing plant. From that legacy, the Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program rose to become a leader in seafood sustainability around the world.
You could spend hours in this place, so it was no surprise to see a queue snaking around the building throughout the day.
Thankfully, queuing feet shuffle quickly, and visitors can spend an entire age inside taking a first-hand look at life on the bay, exhibits showcasing the sea otters, humpback whales and other animals, encounter a Giant Pacific octopus, a kelp forest and a splash area inhabited by penguins.
Something that shouldn’t be missed is the feeding time session. Witnessing shimmering sardines, darting tuna and agile hammerhead sharks chow down during the daily feeding in this million-gallon exhibit is like going into a trance.
With storms subsiding somewhat on the final day of our visit to this area, I couldn’t resist getting close to the waters before heading off to South Lake Tahoe. We just had time to squeeze in a spot of kayaking in Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Reserve.
It’s well worth the whistle-stop. Navigating the waters with our kayaks from Monterey Bay Kayaks allowed us to get up close and personal with wildlife. It was a real joy to watch otters floating while grooming and conditioning their fur. Aside from being adorable aquatic animals, otters are keystone species, making them critical to how an ecosystem functions because they have large-scale effects on the communities in which they live.
You’ll find plenty of fish on local restaurant menus. To refuel after the kayak session, we head to Phil’s Fish Market in nearby Castroville. The original Fish Market opened in 1982 in a tiny (250-square-foot) industrial space on the island. Phil began by primarily selling locally caught fish.
In 2022, the food joint outgrew its premises, and the new Phil’s Fish Market & Eatery was located next to the iconic Castroville sign. The area is famous for its artichoke crop, and the annual Artichoke Festival has led to its nickname as the ‘Artichoke Capital of the World’.
Placerville
The all-American road trip has long been a signature adventure for its inhabitants. They think nothing of driving hundreds of miles and hours on end to reach a destination. While our group had intended to drive nonstop from Monterey Bay to South Lake Tahoe (around five hours), we found ourselves having to make an impromptu overnight stop at Placerville in the El Dorado region due to bad weather.
Placerville is a charming California gold rush town named after the placer gold deposits found in its riverbeds and hills in the late 1840s. The town’s heritage is reflected in its 19th-century architecture, and you’ll feel like you’ve entered a bygone era where time has stood still.
Historic Main Street features unique shops, antiques, fine art galleries, and restaurants. Just a mile north of Main Street, you’ll find Gold Bug Mine, one of the area’s most precious treasures. A self-guided audio tour takes you 352 feet into a real hard rock gold mine.
If you love wine, then the El Dorado Wine Region will give you plenty of reasons to extend your stay. The wine is synonymous with the drama of the magnificent Sierra Nevada. Visitors will find over 20 wineries just minutes from the Highway 50 corridor.
With reports of storms clearing in South Lake Tahoe, we took our leave from The Cary House Hotel Placerville and hit the road. However, the hour-or-so journey (around 46 miles) took a lot longer due to a huge snow dump. But this was good news as far as we were concerned—it spelt perfect ski conditions for us skiers and snowboarders.
South Lake Tahoe
South Lake Tahoe is the most populous city in El Dorado County, California, United States, in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The city’s population was recorded at 21,330 at the 2020 census.
While South Lake Tahoe is an expensive place to vacation in, lodging options range from budget-friendly lakeside campgrounds to cosy cabin rentals next to hiking trails and ski resorts to modern condos. We checked into the delightful The Landing boutique hotel overlooking Lake Tahoe.
The hotel offers a free shuttle service to the Heavenly Ski Resort, which is just a five-minute drive from the California and Nevada state lines. Heavenly is the largest and highest mountain in the Lake Tahoe region, with an impressive 4,800 skiable acres and 3,500 ft of skiable vertical. It has a mountain peak in each state.
As a newbie skier, I was mildly apprehensive about skiing here. Heavenly Ski Resort is touted as one of the top places to tick off on the skier’s and snowboarder’s bucket list. However, I was pleased to learn that Heavenly offers beginner ski routes that cut across the runs at the mountain’s base. Also unique to Heavenly Mountain is that it is an ‘upside-down mountain,’ which means the peaks are not the steepest part of the mountain; instead, the base is.
My confidence grew when I learned I had the option to ‘download,’ meaning I could ride the lift down to the base if the prospect of tackling the 31-degree pitch of the perpendicular slope proved too much. I must admit, though, that I was so enamoured by the stellar views of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range that getting down the slope was the last thing on my mind.
Even if you’re not a skier or snowboarder, a trip to South Lake Tahoe is not out of bounds. In addition to skiing, visitors can try snowmobiling and tubing in Hope Valley or glide around Edgewood Tahoe’s seasonal ice rink, which is surrounded by beautiful views of the resort and snow-capped mountains.
While hotels and ski resorts draw millions of guests each year, the area’s main attraction is the awe-inspiring beauty of the Lakes and the wilderness surrounding it. With South Lake Tahoe being a year-round destination, visitors can get stuck into everything from hiking the lake’s perimeter and paddleboard yoga to enjoying a boat-based wine tasting.
One thing you can certainly do all year is take a refreshing dip in the lake itself. The water in Lake Tahoe is 99.7 per cent pure – about the same as distilled water. A white plate can be seen at 78′ below the surface.
Immersing oneself in it in winter is not for the faint-hearted, though. Temperatures are incredibly low. In December 1972 and February 1989, the temperature dropped to minus 29 degrees. When I stepped into the lake for an icy dip, it was minus six degrees. Yes, it was cold, and yes, it was madness, but I felt a sense of calmness wash over me, producing mental clarity and a sense of well-being. And that is a lasting feeling I can tap into every time I think of Lake Tahoe.
Monterey Bay – Where and How?
For more information on Monterey Bay, visit www.SeeMonterey.com. Information on South Lake Tahoe can be found at https://visitlaketahoe.com/.
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