We spent half of our 4th July at Carmel-by-the-Sea. We went there because we only wanted a one-day trip, and Carmel is supposedly pet friendly. We were disappointed enough to leave early.

Today’s experience tells me that “pet friendly” only applies to the Carmel Beach City Park. Most dogs on the clean white sand beach were off leash, though I would have liked it more if it was less crowded.

As a visitor I naturally went over to the downtown area for lunch. This was where I found the “pet friendly” description fall flat. Many restaurants do not allow pets inside nor do they have outdoor seating. The pet friendly restaurant we found didn’t have enough space between outdoor seats to really let our dogs stay with us while we eat, so we had to order our food to go.

There was nothing much else to do for pet owners either. I doubt that my dogs were welcome in art galleries or museums. To make the best of it, I took my camera hoping to take pictures of interesting buildings or architecture, but I found nothing I was interested in photographing in the downtown area. I must admit that I didn’t cover too much of Carmel, but that’s because I became disinterested the more I walked. Some residential houses looked interesting, but I didn’t want to take pictures of private properties.