Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip report from Carmel and Cambria.

First of all I want to thank everyone for their help in planning this trip. It was one of the best vacations my husband and I have had. Unfortunately due to this horrible tragedy we were stranded in Carmel for 3 extra days. I would like to say that the airlines (Delta), hotels (Moonstone Inn/Cambria and Lobos Lodge/Carmel) and rental car company (Dollar) we're all wonderful to us. We arrived in San Jose on Wed. the 5th around noon. Dollar rental car upgraded us from a mid-size to a full size which was wonderful. They guy said he did it because we were nice (actually he said they had no full size cars on the lot) so we got a Chrysler Concorde which was fabulous. We took Kam's suggestion of going 101s to 156w and Highway 1 in Castroville and it worked wonderfully, thanks. On the drive from San Jose to Cambria we stopped at Rocky Point for lunch and absolutely loved it. The food was great and the view was spectacular. When we got to the Moonstone Inn we were pleased with our room, it was clean and country looking with a great view of the ocean from our balcony, the owners were wonderful, the breakfast was beautifully presented and good. For the money we got more than we expected. We visited Hearst Castle which was very interesting I would definitely recommend it. Did some shopping in Cambria and had dinner at Robin's (wonderful) and a nice lunch at some place called the Salt Station or something like that. On our drive back to Carmel we ate at Nepathe, it was a foggy day so there was no view and I thought the food was just okay I probably would not go back there. We stopped at Pfieffer State Park and hiked to Pfieffer falls absolutely worth the stop. Once in Carmel we checked into the Lobos Lodge and we were pleased with the room. It was large and clean and decorated tastefully. Not real fancy but defintely a great place to stay. We had a balconcy on Ocean which I loved and the breakfast (coffee, juice & pastry) was nice. Sharon who works there was wonderful. We ate at El Fornio's which had some of the best Italian food I've had in a long time and I thought the prices were low. Didn't eat at Labohomme because we didn't like what was on the menu the nights we were free. We did eat at the Fishwife, absolutely fabulous. The had a creme broulie to die for. My husband actually wanted to go back the next night. Found a thai restaurant calle Anawara (or something like that) that had reasonably priced food and the food was wonderful. While we were in Monterey we ate at Fisherman's wharf and again the prices were reasonable and the food was excellent. We visited the Carmel Mission which is just a marvel to see. We went on Wed. the 12th and saw they were having a Mass that night for the victims. We went back and it was inspiring to see people praying for those affected in this beautiful church. Not quite sure I can describe the feeling. I have probably gone on too long but I just wanted to thank everyone for all their help and suggestions. Almost everywhere we went was suggested by someone on this forum and you all made our trip truly memorable.