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| We Wanted To Play Some Golf In The Beautiful Monterey Peninsula |
"Hello,
I am wondering if you might have any interest in an exchange for our 3 bedroom ocean view condo in northern Costa Rica for your lovely Carmel home, as my husband loves playing golf on the peninsula. We do not have any firm dates yet as to when we would like to go - maybe sometime in the spring or fall, or even next February, as we are interested in watching the Pro Am Tournament held there the beginning of February. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.
Sincerely,
Shelley"
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| Our Beach At Playa Conchal, Costa Rica Joan Was Interested In Visiting |
"Shelley:
This is really quite intriguing to us. It seems we have said "no thanks" to so many exchange offers, but your Costa Rica has us excited. We have emailed our daughters (25, 21, and 18) about scheduling and should know something soon. As we are having that e-discussion with them, may I ask about availability during the holidays. Will you be down there then? The Pro Am week next February is a possibility in Carmel.
Joan"
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| Typical Downtown Carmel Shops |
Mark and I have always loved
Carmel, California, having taken the children there when they were young to play in the tide pools, walk the white sandy beaches, window shop, feast at the little restaurants sprinkled throughout, and view the quaint cottages, which make up the charming village of Carmel By The Sea.
We now enjoy going there for all the same reasons, plus we also have the time to play golf on some of the most beautiful golf courses of the world. Before we had children we attended several times the famous Pebble Beach Pro Am Celebrity Golf Tournament, which use to be called the Bing Crosby Clam Bake, but is now the
AT&T Pro Am Tournament, and enjoyed sitting on the greens with our picnic lunch of fresh crab, sour dough french bread and of course a bottle of good wine while watching the players go by. Now many years later we decided it might be fun to go back again and experience the Pro Am, and even squeeze in a few days of playing ourselves, so we decided to use
Homeexchange.com again to find someone with a home in the Carmel area who would be interested in an exchange for our place in Costa Rica. Joan was excited to come to Costa Rica, and because she was unable to accommodate her children’s schedules she and her husband decided to go with another couple for seven nights. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves in our modern Costa Rican condominium, and we fell in love with their historical little cottage in Carmel By The Sea.
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| Joans Charming Carmel Cottage |
I had directions to the house from Joan, but Carmel does not allow street address numbers on any of the homes, so it can get a little tricky finding the correct house. We arrived at the intersection which Joan had described, but were a little unsure on which corner her home was located until we found their cute little sign with the family name on the gate, and then we knew we were “home.” The home was nothing fancy from the outside, but walking in the back door into the small kitchen which felt so homey and warm, viewing the rest of the home with the old wood floors, beam ceilings, large living room fireplace and three cozy bedrooms, we knew we were in for a lovely stay. We immediately took the patio chairs out onto the stone patio along with a bottle of wine and sat there appreciating the beauty of Joan’s typical Carmel garden. It was such a treat to be finally staying in one of the cottages we had always seen over our many Carmel visits.
What was fascinating to me was the history of this old home. It had been purchased as a vacation home by Joan’s grandmother in the 1920’s when she lived in the valley town of Fresno, California. Joan still lived in Fresno, and it was now a vacation home for her family. I found an original guest book in the living room which Joan’s Grandmother had started keeping when she bought the home. Sitting in front of the warm fireplace, reading the guest comments from people who had stayed in the same home over the last eighty years was quite amazing. There were even comments from people in the 1950’s saying what fun it was to have a baby in the house again, who happened to be called Joan!
We spent a wonderful two days watching the celebrities and professional golfers play the courses of Pebble Beach and Spanish Bay, having been fortunate to have glorious weather, which is never a sure thing on the Monterey Peninsula, and we were able to play a couple of rounds of golf ourselves.
One of the great things about home exchanges are the suggestions for places to eat and things to do the owners always leave at the home. Joan gave us some wonderful suggestions for dining, and our favorite place had to be the tiny little Mediteranean cafe,
Dametras on Ocean Avenue. Wonderful food and ambiance and some great singing by the chef and matre de. If you are ever in Carmel this is a must do! But be prepared for kissing, singing, and squeezing into tight quarters!
One restaurant we discovered on our own as we strolled the quaint streets of Carmel was
La Bicyclette Cafe, a tiny rustic French country eatery, where one chooses from four nightly entrees and the bottomless terraine of the chef’s soup which accompanies each meal. A wonderful place to spend a cozy evening in Carmel.
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| View From The Famous 17 Mile Drive |
Because we were staying in this home we were able to invite my parents to come and stay for a couple of nights with us which they enjoyed. They were able to spend time wondering around Carmel and driving the world famous 17 mile drive (which Joan had left a pass for) while we were busy following the golfers up and down the greens at Pebble Beach.
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| Only In Carmel! |
Once again, a lovely way to spend a vacation in a warm, historic Carmel cottage with family, and only a short three hour drive from home, costing us nothing for a week’s worth of pleasure. No need to take a long expensive flight somewhere for a change of pace and beautiful scenery!
Homeexchange.com came through again with a perfect exchange.
