Blogs from Carmel-By-The-Sea, California, United States, North America - page 3

Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN CARMEL; Amazon.com (Narrative about the 2005 Pebble Beach Councours d'Elegance) On the third Sunday in August, the center of the automobile universe is a tiny piece of golf-sacred land, the finishing hole on the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course, alongside beautiful Carmel Bay, California. Isn’t the 18th at Pebble an unusual place for such a boastful automotive claim? Here’s the background. Since 1950, when the inaugural Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Road Race was conducted, the now week-long, peninsula-wide festival has grown to achieve an unparalleled status as the premier international celebration of the automobile. It began simply enough with a road race inside gated and private Pebble Beach, which in that first year was won by legendary driver Phil Hill. The accompanying Concours of about 30 cars at ... read more

Carmel-by-the-sea is a scenic costal area that includes Pebble Beach, the 17 mile drive, and the Lone Cypress.... read more

October 11, 2009 Today we decided to drive down the coast to the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel and Big Sur. The weather was a bit cloudy but we still saw some wonderful sights. Carmel was quite a town…a lot of shops, seemed very upscale. We didn’t stop, just drove through. We were looking for Clint Eastwood and ….he must not have heard we were in town because he didn’t show! Anyway we drove on to a route called “the 17 mile Drive” which brought us through this area of the coast with really beautiful homes. The road ended at the Pebble Beach Golf Course….WOW. There are holes right on the ocean…crazy. In the afternoon we drove down to Big Sur. We stopped at a place for lunch…kind of funky with people that looked as if they never ... read more

Excerpted from my book OUR SUMMER IN CARMEL; Amazon.com Carmel's unusual climatic conditions contribute to several other natural phenomena. One example is the Monterey Pine. This is the tree that Cabrillo discovered in 1542 after which he named Cabo de Pinos. This species of pine grows large, tall and straight, a shipwright’s dream-tree in the sailing days of the 16-17th centuries. It is the world’s fastest growing pine; some are known to grow ten feet in a year! Although this tree is found in many places in the world today, it is indigenous to only a few places in California, Monterey being the principle locale. It is understood that the pine flourishes here because the moisture from the summer fog nourishes it during what would otherwise be a drought season. It seldom rains in Carmel from ... read more

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 ... read more