It's a vast paradox... a landscape breathtakingly beautiful yet unsparingly harsh; a climate equally bucolic and brutal; a community simultaneously insular and warmly welcoming; a spirit both ruggedly realistic and dreamily ethereal. It’s Big Sur. If ever a region were appropriately named, this is it. It’s huge, encompassing some 75 miles of California coastline extending … [Read more...] about Big Sur Magic
Archives for May 2014
All in the Family
Dr. Bill and Dana Vogelpohl have always had a lively household. The Carmel residents raised eight children together and now have 13 grandchildren. They’ve also been foster parents for 23 years. A year ago, the empty nesters adopted a 9-year-old who had been in their care. “We have 13 grandchildren and two of them are the same age as April,” laughs Dana. “It’s kind of like … [Read more...] about All in the Family
A Watershed Moment
A few months before the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s October 1984 opening, Mary Barrett registered for the facility’s volunteer orientation classes. She’d grown up sailing on Lake Michigan and, after moving to the Monterey Peninsula, wanted to learn about the Bay in her new backyard. As Aquarium co-founder Dr. Steve Webster presented concepts on an overhead projector, Barrett … [Read more...] about A Watershed Moment
Free Spirit, Free Style
Anyone who believes that American men have the competitiveness market cornered has not yet met Bri Chmel. She’s just past 30, just over five feet tall, and just about as hard a charger as you’re likely to meet, male or female. And over the course of the past six years she’s come to dominate the sport of women’s wakesurfing. By the age of 14, Chmel (pronounced ka-MEL) was … [Read more...] about Free Spirit, Free Style