Carmel to Half Moon Bay, California

Carmel by the Sea is shall we say, wealthy. Most of the buildings we saw were architect designed, many were quirky, others modern, fanciful,  

There were many galleries, most very expensive, nearly all had huge display rooms, obviously a profitable way to make a living. Just around the block from out Best Western Inn was the Rolex store, it's neighbour was a Cartier store.

As I mentioned, some buildings were quite quirky, like this little store.

This linen shoppe has some interesting fisherman's floats.

This next store had a very interesting roofline.  It's usually damp by the seaside, and these shake roofs often show a fair bit of moss.

Here's a water bowl for customers' dogs.

Speaking dogs, we saw this beautifully trained brindle Japanese Akita He was off leash while his owner was talking to Joan and me. Other dogs, big and small, just gave him a wide berth and he just kept looking around with no fuss.

We drove along the coastline where trees were between us and the sea, while all manner of designer houses were crowded together on the other side of the road.  This one had a very interesting shaved shingle roof and a wonderful roofline.  What a place to look out to the sea and see sunsets.

The road was also lined with a pathway along the sea front which had public facilities every now and again.  Here's a sample one.

The trees here are shaped by the prevailing winds from the sea.  Many list leeward, like this next one.

Others have lost limbs over time and have grown into spectacular shapes.

Leaving Carmel after a long walk and some snooping around, we kept driving Northward on California 1, the great coastal route.

Sometimes, the road less travelled just disappears, this one due to very high tides that have been happening this week.
 We did meet a chap walking his dog who suggested we back-track to another swamp area where we might see sea otters; it was a great success, but the pictures will have to wait a bit.

Then we drove further up the coast and came across this amusement park which must be something to see when it's in action.  Instead, we watched active surfers taking advantage of the high tides. 

By now it was mid-afternoon and the skies opened up with some fairly serious rain.  The radio advises that there will be some flooding and that people should avoid travelling in areas that routinely flood.  I guess that's where local knowledge would come in handy...

More pictures will follow when the next roll gets developed...