How to get the best of gorgeous, pricey, artsy Carmel
In California's Big Sur, land meets sea in the most amazing ways. Meanwhile just up the road in Carmel, nature meets art, cars, charm, golf and money.
It's hard to look away. And once you get there, hard to leave. At least that's how it seemed a few weeks ago when my wife and I dropped in.
Neither of us had seen Carmel for a while, and I'm guessing that's true for many in Southern California, especially since last winter's storms forced the indefinite closure of Highway 1 in Big Sur near Lucia.
But Highway 1 was always the slow way from Los Angeles to Carmel. The faster way hasn't changed: Spend 5 1/2 hours racing up I-5 and U.S. 101 and, boom, here you are in a remote civilization of rocky coastline, immaculate cottages, Dutch doors, coddled dogs with unleashed beach access, a shoreline full of wind-bent cypresses
