Carmel's quiet season: explore the original art town by the sea on a poster budget

We'd saved on dinner, so we could spend on entertainment. Because Carmel is known for its arty spirit and local theater, I'd gotten us tickets for a play at the 35-year-old Indoor Forest Theatre. We parked back at our hotel, and I confidently led us off into the darkening night. Mist was collecting into fog, adding an eerie atmosphere to the residential neighborhoods. Half an hour later, when the evening sky had turned from gray to black, we were still wandering around the streets. Spotting a woman who was getting into her car, I decided to ask for directions.

"Get in," she said. "You're going to miss the show. And you've gone exactly in the wrong direction."

Sara, who in the spirit of friendship hadn't uttered a word of complaint as I'd led her around in circles, jumped into the heated car. The woman, clearly a generous soul, got us to the theater just in time.

We enjoyed the play, the warm theater, and the chocolate brownies at intermission. And Sara found our way home.

DAY 3: Mission accomplished

After free breakfast at our hotel, we started the day at the Carmel Mission Basilica, relocated to its present spot by Father Junipero Serra in 1771. The old stone church was handsome and worn from time. We wandered past exhibits on vestments and china and tributes to Pope John Paul II and Father Serra, and then headed out to the courtyard, with its small cemetery and pretty, overgrown grounds.

It was a bright, beautiful winter day, perfect for a drive on the area's most famous route, the Seventeen Mile Drive. Though coasting the private road costs $8.50 per vehicle, we though of it as a true bargain: For so little money, we got a glimpse of a world that costs millions to inhabit. We wound along slowly, peering at the seaside mansions, clipped grounds, and arched cypress trees framing picturesque views of the water.

Stopping to stretch our legs on the white sand at Asilomar State Beach and Conference Grounds in Pacific Grove, we examined the tidepools for starfish and sea anemones during low tide, and found the pools full of those and other interesting buggers.

Farther north, we stopped to tour the small Point Pinos Lighthouse on the northwestern corner of the peninsula. The structure, the state's oldest continuously operating lighthouse, had something melancholy about it. Maybe it was just its age; maybe it was our imagining the lonely lightkeepers years ago, isolated by fog and storms, sending out signals to the vast dark. Or maybe we just needed another Scharffen Berger mocha.

We headed to much cheerier downtown Pacific Grove, which is a great place for strolling. We stopped short at the inviting little porch of Red House Cafe. Over lunch, we agreed we were more relaxed and better fed than three days before. Carmel-by-the-Sea had provided a bit of peacefulness--even if we didn't become vegetarians.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTIN SUNDBERG

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$400 BUDGET

DAY 1

The Normandy Inn 2 nights, plus housekeeping tip