Nikki

Once again thanks to everyone for your help. I know our trip will be great. What I'd like to know now is how do you dress (casual - blue/black jeans nice shirt or more formal). We really want to just relax, but we don't want to have some great meals and you all have given me a lot of great suggestions, but how should we dress.

Thanks.

garyt

Nikki - I'm not sure what you meant when you wrote "but we don't want to have some great meals..." If that's the case there are some trash barrels down near Carmel Beach (bring your own ketchup)...

I just got back from Carmel and dress was casual to smart casual...men in button-downs and sport jackets (no ties) was the most dressy... women in black skirts, white or off white sleeveless turtles... lots of jewelry... there is also a difference in the type of place you select.. if it makes you feel uncomfortable to go to a stuffy place, there are tons of casual places where shorts are common. Remember this is California Dude!

kam

Carmel tends to be "smart casual". I would bring a nice pair of dark linen slacks and a pretty blouse or silk tee shirt. Jewelry or scarf to brighten it up. You would probably be OK with the jeans, but I wouldn't choose them. Remember in the evening it can get quite cool so you might want a blazer or cotton sweater. Men in khakis and a long sleeved shirt. Blazer only for warmth, never a tie. Have fun!

Nikki

Gary,

Of course I meant we DO want to have some good meals. Sorry if I confused you.

Kam, thanks so much for your response.

don'tbe

Nikki your response to Gary seemed a little insincere. When I read it I did wonder too what you meant. I considered the possibility that you wanted a more relaxed atmosphere with out spending too much on a great meal but I did not think you meant "we do want ..." You figure the sentence would have been just "but we want to have some..." Whatever. Notice you didn't thank Gary for actully answering your question which was virtually repeated by kam. hmmmmmmmm

NIkki

I certainly did not mean to sound insincere, I have gotten some good suggestions from all of you and really appreciate it.

Thank you all.

kam

I wasn't intending to parrot garyt. The point of my post was that in Carmel in nice restaurants linen is more appropriate than jeans. Everyone is getting extremely touchy here.

Samantha

I completely agree with you, kam, on #1 - the suggestions for what to wear for Carmel dining and #2 - how everyone seems to be getting *so* touchy here lately. Sometimes I think the snippy comments on this board are from people who in "real life" don't have the guts to "vent," so they do it here! ;-) I'm sure some of the comments posted wouldn't be said to another person face to face.

Anyway, I knew what you meant, Nikki, and I actually thought gary was the one with the insincere comment. Okay, that's my first and only kind of comment along *those* lines. I always stick to straight out travel advice and questions of my own, but reading some of these posts lately has really bugged me!

Enjoy your time in Carmel, Nikki. That area of CA is wonderful. Do you plan to go to the Monterey aquarium? Hubby and I enjoyed it immensely.

anne

Nikki,
I'm not gonna touch this sincerity issue! But I wanted to say that when my family of 4 (a 12 & 14 year old) went into what we deemed a fairly casual restaurant, I definitely felt a little underdressed in our jeans ensemble that were a little worse for the wear after an 8 hour drive. Carmel strikes me as the kind of place where people dress casually, but expensive casually! Carmel is so very beautiful, but those who live there are usually well off and they don't look like they shop at WalMart! I wouldve felt much more at ease had I dressed with a little more care... (by the way wish I could remember the name of the restaurant it was Italian and on a corner and the food was atrocious!!!)
ann

garyt

Nikki - I was having some fun with your Typo... this is supposed to be a fun site isn't it?
If the people who are nasty, or writing about monkey sex are the same people that i have to sit next to on my next vacation, than to hell with them...

My real guess is that none of these idiots really travel and they pretend to know about places and things from what their friends tell them or what they read on these sites.

My sincere answer on your question is a result of my vacation to Carmel on August 1 -5 of this year... there really are trash barrels at Carmel Beach, and you do have to bring your own ketchup. I love everybody on this post... you are my friends... be nice!

Nikki

Thanks Gary I appreciated your comments and everyone else's and I will definitely bring some nice smart casual clothes.

Samantha, we definitely plan to do the aquarium in Monterey. Thanks for your suggestion.

Again thanks to everyone who has helped me with planning my trip. Can't wait to get there.

kam

Nikki, Just for your info--I'm going down to Carmel tomorrow to visit a very dear friend who has retired there. (for us it's about 100 miles and we think that's one of our blessings!) Go about once a month, so pack up the black linen and enjoy! Don't know what the Italian restaurant could have been but I really dislike Mondo's.

seamus

Please, guys, Carmel/Monterey/Pacific Grove is a very affluent area of the country. If you want to feel comfortable, dress "casual chic". If you want to look like the tourists in the buses, then that's up to you.