Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Exploring Downtown Carmel

This week's travel post is part of a travel series of our visit to see our grandchildren in Carmel, Indiana.  If you want to start at the beginning, go HERE. Other posts in chronological order are HERE,  HEREHEREHERE,  HERE, and HERE!

One early morning while visiting our children in Carmel, Indiana last fall, our daughter wanted more time to sleep in with the baby.  Well, being the early risers that we are, we decided to take our early rising granddaughter for a morning walk in downtown Carmel and allow our daughter to get more sleep.


At the time, my children lived very close to the Monon Trail.    "The Monon Trail is a rails-to-trails paved path spanning through Central Indiana, connecting to downtown Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Cultural Trail. The Monon Trail starts in Hamilton County, Indiana at the 96th Street trailhead in Carmel and stretches more than 20 miles north through Westfield and Grand Park to the town of Sheridan." (source



It was only a few short city blocks till we reached this gorgeous tree lined trail.

There were so many cute homes with meticulously groomed yards on this trail.  I would love to live in any one of them, though I can't even imagine the price!

Don't you just love all the little white picket fences in front of all these houses?  Which one is your favorite?

Carmel Indiana is an affluent town with a a stunning downtown or "Arts and Design District" as they like to call it.

The Arts & Design District is located in the heart of the old downtown Carmel and is home to art galleries, interior designers, show rooms, specialty shops, and restaurants.

The one thing that impressed me the most about Carmel was their beautiful roundabouts.  This city is known for their roundabouts.  Mention Carmel, and someone will inevitably say "Oh, do they have a lot of roundabouts."  But what I found fascinating was not the large number of roundabouts, but how incredibly beautiful they all were.  Every roundabout was a work of art in itself with a gorgeous fountain or floral display.  I seriously could do an entire post on all the gorgeous roundabouts I saw.

Here is my sweet Alethea standing in front an old home that seemed no bigger than a child's play house.  It is now an art gallery.

The house had the cutest gardens on either side of it.

This little girl statue was on the other side of the garden.  She is the same size as Alethea!  My granddaughter got such a kick out of it!  

They also have gorgeous condos for sale in downtown Carmel, the prices of them are unbelievable!

We found this pretty little courtyard in one of the residential areas.  

Downtown Carmel is filled with life-like statues.  We had so much fun discovering and interacting with them.  Alethea thought it was hysterical and quickly joined in on the fun herself, as you will see in the photos coming up. 

This Talbots shopping lady was one of my favorites!


Hubby got a kick out of the police officer.



Here's a close up of the police officer so you can see how life-like the statures are.  Truly amazing isn't it?



My funny husband came up with more and more ways to take fun photos with the statues.


This garden fairy was another personal favorite of mine.





Alethea started to get so creative herself interacting with the statues.  She just watched her grandpa and how he was acting and she learned really fast.  She just loved it, and giggled, and giggled.


I love the mix of modern with the old in downtown Carmel.  I thought this corner building was so beautiful, and you can really see how tiny the little house is in comparison to this large building.






My son inherited his father's sense of humor and joined in with our game of creating funny statue photos.



The old library turned into a restaurant.



Another one of my personal favorites, Alethea really liked this statue too....oh, oh!

Can't have a downtown without a coffee/chocolate store!



Isn't this the cutest photo ever?





This is a pretty area where shoppers can stop and enjoy a break or a meal outdoors.  Stroll down a little ways and there's a playground for the children (see this post).  





I thought this was the perfect statue of an Arts & Design District.



Gotta love this old time barber shop.



Still having fun with all the statues!



And finally, we found a shop that sold dollhouses and miniatures.  All the stores were closed when we were there, as it was quite early in the morning, but we enjoyed window shopping!



 I hope you enjoyed touring downtown Carmel with me and that you will be able to visit this sweet town yourself sometime.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

25 comments:

  1. I clearly live in the wrong town LOL. Love all those pretty houses and their picket fences!
    The art district is so fun and really beautifully done too! Love all the cute shops, statues and fun photos you took! My favorite statues are the garden fairy and the painter!
    Alethea is so cute and love her pretty dress!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, right? LOL! I love the garden fairy and the painter too. All the statues are so creative.

      Delete
  2. What an interesting place. I find those statues interesting. Very cool.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, my favorite part of Downtown Carmel is the statues.

      Delete
  3. Carmel seems like such a nice town. I liked the Talbot's lady.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That sounds like such a fun morning! What a neat little town to explore.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We did have a lot of fun. And it was one of those spontaneous, unplanned things which made it even more special and fun.

      Delete
  5. What a wonderful town and I just love all of the statues Amy!! Thanks for sharing your fun time.
    XOOX
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is the cutest post. I love all the little sites you saw in your walk with your granddaughter. Lovely photographs of a very interesting and fun place.

    ReplyDelete
  7. What a sweet gift of time you have to your family! Building memories!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely! Every time I see these photos I smile.

      Delete
  8. They are lovely houses and what fun statues! You got some great photos on your trip :)

    Hope you are having a good week :)

    Away From The Blue

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a pretty town. I love the photos with the statues! My sister tells me we have some relatives who live in Carmel, so I might be visiting!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, then it will definitely be worth a visit for you! Enjoy!

      Delete
  10. Fun photos with all the statues!! Carmel is a very charming town! The houses are so typically American with the white picket fences and the USA flags!

    ❤️carmen

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Yes, "charm" is a good descriptive word for it.

      Delete
  11. What a fun place to visit!

    I'm happy to see you at 'My Corner of the World' this week! Thanks for linking up.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for leaving a comment. I love feedback from my readers. If you have a blog, I always return the love by visiting within a week whoever leaves a comment.