Carmel Mission

To be honest, there isn't much to actually do in Carmel besides wander the small (but cute) town, visit the surrounding areas (like Point Lobos or 17 Mile Drive), and shop.  Given that my annual income is a penny compared to most of the visitors to Carmel, Zack and I are the not the target audience for activity number 3.  Given that we were a little strapped with ideas for activities, and that I'm a serial travel guide addict, I consulted my number 1 travel companion... Lonely Planet Coastal California.  This book has been with me on numerous adventures over the past year and hasn't failed on the fun sightseeing front yet.  

I don't have too much to share about visiting the Carmel Mission... overall I wasn't too impressed with it (I am partial to the San Juan Capistrano Mission, located blocks from my high school), but since Zack is an architect and I like taking photos of interesting architecture, it was a nice way to spend an hour or so and get out of Carmel.  If you're not familiar, Spanish Missions (there are 21 all over California) are churches left over from the Spanish colonial rule in the late 1700's, and are frequented by tourists today who enjoy a bit of history or preserved architecture.  Luckily, we ended up there on a Sunday, which meant it was free to the public.  I'm glad we stopped and visited, but the highlight of my day was our windy drive down to Santa Barbara through Big Sur.