Field Trip Week: Seventeen Mile Drive

As the start of school nears, Fosco and his personal assistant Geoffrey have decided to wrap up the summer with a week full of fun California-related field trips.

On Tuesday, we headed south on Highway 1 to the world's most beautiful gated community: Pebble Beach. Luckily, hoi polloi are allowed to drive the main loop of the "village," 17-Mile Drive.

Of course, you have to pay $8.75 to do so.

Because this seems to me like a particularly ridiculous arrangement (why should I have to pay $9 to drive along the beach?), I would lurve to say that it's a scam. Unfortunately, it turns out that I would be willing to pay quite a bit more for this privilege. (Although the good liberal in me still wonders why we have to pay at all.)

The wildlife viewing was exceptional, despite unpleasant weather (and the late season). We saw

• pelicans
  
• Brandt's cormorants
  
• sea otters. So playful!
  
• a lone seal, lazily napping on a rock (see pic at right and use your imagination).
  

And, of course, no visit is complete without contemplation of the "signature cypress":

This icon of fortitude has inspired many and is revered as the eternal symbol of Pebble Beach Company.

Although, I would suggest that the "icon of fortitude" looks a little less inspiring now that it's surrounded by a stone and concrete planter. More like an "icon of landscaping" or something.

Fosco was so enamored of the views here that he's thinking about taking up golf. Oh, and he made an offer on a little beach house. He has a good feeling about this one... Keep your fingers crossed.

Stalking Betty White

I awoke this morning with an urgent desire to touch a Golden Girl, so my personal assistant Geoffrey and I took an afternoon drive down the coast to the charming seaside village of Carmel-by-the-Sea, home of notable figures such as Daytime Emmy winner Jennifer Aniston, National Book Award winner Beverly Cleary, and women's boxing promoter Clint Eastwood.

Not to mention: the lovely and talented Betty White. Wait, I meant this Betty White.

"And did we see Betty White?"

Carmel is, at the same time, absolutely adorable and totally insufferable. The downtown is so cute you could eat it up with a spork: quaint houses, beautiful flowers, and hundreds of art/antique galleries. And dogs! Tons of them, eating on the patios at the delightful restaurants. Wow, what a charming town!

But then you notice the double-parked Mercedes, the Tiffany and Sharper Image storefronts, and the women in pantsuits and sunglasses carrying jumbo Coach shopping bags in each hand... And then, if you're a good liberal, you start to feel a little nauseous. In Carmel, obscenely rich people have managed to create the perfect village for themselves. But should I be enjoying it as much as I am? Isn't it all a bit like, well... Nero?

"Enough of your liberal pieties. Did you see Betty White?"

I had promised a cousin-in-law that I would have lunch at the Hog's Breath Inn, formerly owned by film composer Clint Eastwood. In a way, I'm glad we ate there--it's probably important to get it out of the way so that one move on to the better-looking restaurants in town:

• le Coq D'or
  
• Casanova
  
• L'Escargot
  

"Damn you, what of Betty White?"

The cottages are in town are actually quite lovely:

And, as far as I can tell (after all, I could only peer into the windows so long before the police arrived), almost no dwarves live inside.

So, while Geoffrey and I were a bit put-off by the conspicuous wealth and whiteness of the town, I expect we will return to try some of the other restaurants--especially if I find a steady boyfriend who might enjoy a romantic dinner...

Oh yeah, we didn't see Betty White.