WHY CARMEL-PART ONE

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Excerpted from my book, OUR SUMMER in CARMEL, Amazon.com

Why Carmel? Bearing in mind we are to consider the entire world each year for place to spend the summer, why Carmel? And why am I making repeated visits when I preach about the virtues of going to a different place each year? The simple answer is that I have an incurable attraction to the Monterey Peninsula. From the first time I drove through in December, 1964 upon returning from a year tour with the Army in Korea. It was love at first sight. I was seduced by the special appeal of Monterey and Carmel, witnessing the magnificent coastline and crashing waves along Seventeen Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, and the exhilarating drive South along the coast road, staying overnight in the Big Sur and dining at Nepanthe, before it became a hangout. I like so many before me wa stricken by what I call monterey malady; an insatiable urge to roam, explore and poke about the wonders of this magnificent meeting of land and sea.

First and foremost, Carmel fits neatly into our criteria for a home-away-from-home. Having Celtic blood in my veins I do not seek summer beaches and 90 degree temperatures. The average maximum temperature for June, July and August is 68 degrees; the average minimum 51. Moreover, of the 183 annual foggy days each year, most of them occur in the summer. Bless my Irish soul. Carmel fog is a sea fog which infiltrates the coastal pines in the late evening, soon engulfing the entire coast, and dissipating by mid-morning the next day. The fog often lingers off-shore all day, a constant reminder of the cool ocean waters awaiting any bather not fortified by a wet suit, and signaling a promise to return with the setting sun. To find out why this is read my book. I don't want to bore readers here with the special factors that contribute to Monterey's fog. Suffice to say the fog is a silent invasion that contributes greatly not only to the mystique of the region, but nurishes the special nature of its forests.


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Photos

MY BOOK
A photo/journal account of our summer in Carmel

CARMEL BEACH
Sun setting into the encroaching fog