Monterey

I am writing this from our hotel room in Monterey California. Holly is attending a meeting here for her association, the American Society of Clinical Veterinary Pathologists. That’s a mouthful for sure, but they use their abbreviation mostly, ASCVP, which makes it a bit more manageable. We flew out early Friday morning dodging the snowstorm in Houston (yes that Houston) where we changed planes, bound for California. Though I usually think of California as warm and sunny, even Monterey which is about 2 hours south of San Francisco, is cool and cloudy this time of year. We are staying in an upscale hotel near Fisherman’s Wharf and the marina, so the views are great, cool and cloudy or no.

This morning we took advantage of Holly’s break from the meeting to drive 30 miles south on Hwy 1 to Big Sur. I’d read about a fun place to eat called the Big Sur bakery, but they were closed for winter break. Not to be daunted, we grabbed a few Big Sur bars from the deli next door and headed to Andrew Molerno State park and the Venta Wildlife Society center. They are doing work with California condors, which have become nearly extinct. The hike along the coastal trail was spectacular with lots of hawks, falcons, and many little birds (sadly no condors observed by us anyway). The trail meandered by the river and up the bluff for a terrific view of the coastline. The sun even came out during the hike back to the car, so we were able to enjoy all the beautiful things we’d seen on the way out, not only from a different perspective but with better light. We commented on how the California coast is so different from the beaches we know and love in North and South Carolina. Here the sand is nothing more than a small strip - strewn with old logs, kelp, and rocks- while the NC beaches are wide, sandy and full of shells. The NC dunes may be 10 ft high, but here in California, the bluffs extend up hundreds of feet. Both coasts are beautiful, just different.

Last night we tried a sampler of the microbrews here at the hotel pub. They were okay, nothing too stellar. At this point, we are hopheads, and spoiled ones at that. Asheville has so many fine breweries, and we’ve grown accustomed to those bitter beers as one of my pals put it. It was fun, though, to try out what they have locally; you never know when you’ll find something new you really enjoy.

I read a great book on the flight out here. We often listen to public radio on our journeys to and from Asheville. Last Sunday, we were listening to a program about religion and heard an interview with the Rev. Kate Braestrup who is a chaplain for the Maine Warden and Game service. She goes out with them on missing person cases or when a body has been discovered. Her job is to be there for the families and to counsel the Game Wardens if necessary. She sounded like the wisest counselor I’d ever heard, and I decided to check out her memoir “Here if you need me.” Not only is she a wise counselor and Reverend, but she writes well too. It turns out that she was a writer before becoming a Unitarian minister in her second career. If you’re looking for a peaceful, uplifting, hope inspiring book check it out. Our little Hillsborough library had it, and Amazon sells it too, of course. Now I’ve moved on to the new one by the author of “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” It’s a good one too, but I haven’t finished it yet ( “Her Fearful Symmetry” by Audrey Niffenegger.)

Again, our little Hillsborough library astounds me. I just finished perusing the list of 100 Notable books from the NY Times Book review and ordered several of them from the online library catalog. In 2 days, my books were waiting for me just a half-mile from the house. Amazing! Call me a Luddite, but there is no technology better or more satisfying that the public library. While I enjoy reading some of the NY Times online, I much prefer the paper version. Call me old school, but I enjoy holding a real book in my hands. I hope that I am dead and gone long before books appear solely in electronic form. And I hope that our little Hillsborough library (shall I abbreviate it OLHL from now on?) keeps on ordering all of those fantastic books. OLHL is moving, though, to a bigger space downtown next to the new Weaver St Market and big parking garage. I’ll have a bit of a longer walk for my books, ~ 1 mile from the house instead of half a mile, but the new space is going to be much larger. Eventually, there will be a walking trail, too, that goes right along the river past the library, Weaver St Market, and out to Occoneechee Mtn. That will be really cool.