What is it about Carmel-by-the-Sea that continues to charm me after all these years? Is it the businesses housed in
storybook cottages with names like ‘Tuck Box’ that serve proper tea? Or the mix of stores selling souvenir
sweatshirts, ‘art?!?’ (see below) and $250 men's ties. All doing a brisk business, might I add.
Most of my trips to Carmel in the past few years have been for business. But that hasn’t prevented me from enjoying the amenities of my favorite Carmel hotel, Doris Day's Cypress Inn, or driving down to Big Sur for dinner at Nepenthe's . This time around I came for the day to attend a car show with photographer husband (see 8/10/09 entry above).
As we coasted
down Ocean Avenue toward downtown Carmel, we could hear the cars before we
could see them. The deep resonance of their engines idling reverberated through
the cypress trees. We were in the
right place. We arrived just as the cars were lining up on a side street. I was struck by the amount of time and
organization that goes into an event like this. It may look easy to put
together a car show but a close look reveals the careful attention to detail. Just getting a car parked takes three
people. First, each car is escorted to its parking place by two
navy-blue-blazer-Panama-hat-wearing event officials in a golf cart. Once they have arrived at the correct
parking space, one official jumps out of the golf cart, clears away the
pedestrians, and guides the car and driver into its space. Out comes a pair of black director’s
chairs for the car owners/handlers to sit in. Then a large terra cotta flowerpot, filled with flowers, is
placed to the side of each car.
This is where a small sign describing the car is posted. I wondered how
many of those would get knocked down during the day.
But back to the cars. How great to see relics of the past so lovingly preserved. And how interesting to wonder how the car owners came to be paired up with their cars. Original owners? Inherited? Investment?
What is it about an XK120 Jaguar that makes me want to sigh? It speaks of an elegance of the past.
And what possesses
someone to buy and restore a Good Humor truck?
We were all glad he did as evidenced by the round of applause
this relic from so many of our childhood’s received as it made its way down
Ocean Avenue.
I may have thought that I was going to spend the morning walking on the beach, sipping a cappuccino, but I was wrong. I didn’t anticipate being spellbound by the beauty of so many amazing cars in a fairytale setting like Carmel.
After Photographer husband got the shots he needed we headed out of town, with a quick stop at the Carmel Mission.
Then we were off to Nepenthe’s for a late lunch. Now, a lot of people will say that a hamburger is not worth $14, no matter where it is served. Those people have not been to Nepenthe’s. I have been making the pilgrimage to this oasis since I was 18. There is no other place like it on earth. I have my favorite table (near the host’s stand). My favorite drink has changed through the years. In my lean college years it was a glass or two of the house white wine. The dot.com days brought out the champagne. Two years ago I was introduced to their version of a Cosmopolitan. So pretty and so thirst quenching.
Lunch at Nepenthe’s is a lingering affair if you plan it just right. October is my favorite month to visit, but sometimes you just have to grab an opportunity when it appears. And if it meant that the wait for ‘our table’ would be over an hour, well then, that meant my pre-lunch cocktails would be savored at the bar and not the table.
