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
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
All’s Well That Ends Well
Comedian Ray Romano once admitted, “I have this mistress: show business.” As everyone who has trod the boards knows, she can be a harsh mistress. To wit: recent budget cuts have put Monterey Peninsula College’s Drama Department in danger and forced Shakespeare Santa Cruz to draw the curtain on its 32-year run. But Carmel’s Pacific Repertory Theatre (PacRep) is still going … [Read more...] about All’s Well That Ends Well
Electrifying Carmel
Is it possible that an automobile Motor Trend calls a “rocket ship” can also be handed “the best safety rating of any car ever tested” by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration? Sure looks that way. Tesla Motors’ 2014 Model S sedan is fast. Really fast. Carmel restaurateur Rich Pèpe, no stranger to high-speeds, is awestruck by the performance of his Model S … [Read more...] about Electrifying Carmel
The Dazzling Sights of Black Rock City
What began in 1986 on San Francisco’s Baker Beach with 20 people had by 2013 morphed into a temporary city of 68,000 in the high Nevada desert. To devotees, Burning Man is a not-to-be-missed annual spiritual, cultural and individual reawakening. To those who have never attended, it may appear to be a chaotic, dusty, anything goes week in the desert. To Monterey … [Read more...] about The Dazzling Sights of Black Rock City