How To Wear Yourself Out...

Above is a slide show of my current trip to Carmel so far.

I got down here yesterday. Almost all of the pictures except for the Spy Glass Clock are from yesterday.

Carmel, to me, is probably what heaven is going to look like if I get there. Pleasant weather. A candy store with 40 types or so of Licorice and a German restaurant that serves sauerbraten. I ate in excess last night at that place... let me tell you.

The beach is full of kids having fun, adults being laid back and a lot of dogs running around. I think I spotted a couple of dudes tucked away in a cove having their "first kiss". It seemed to me that they were hiding for a reason.

I walked all the way up and down the Carmel Beach sneaking as close to Pebble Beach Golf Course's 9th fairway as I could. I got way up near the out of bounce line and took photos. Probably the closest I will ever get with cost running up around $500 to play there. I am amazed at how blue the water is.

When walking back, I had some mild entertainment watching some kids. This girl, probably on a dare since the water is probably in the 50's, ran in to it with her bikini. It was kind of interesting.

I met a lady practicing yoga. She was meditating a bit and was alert enough to shout hi and wave at me. I thought about how peaceful it was for her.

I am thinking about heading down the beach again this afternoon. It seemed so peaceful and I briefly experienced no pain for that two hour walk. Something amazing to me and that blue water seemed so serene lapping back and forth on the coast.

Today, I went through 17 mile drive. I am not in pain as much today but I cannot get moving easily. My legs are dead. I am not sore, just very fatigued. Like I have walked 10 miles or so when I haven't.

My first stop was at Pebble Beach Golf Course. I like to live vicariously through those that can actually afford to play there. Pebble Beach is located within 17 Mile Drive. 17 Mile Drive is a public road that costs $9.25 to drive through. Pebble Beach is like a mini city. It has clothing shops and food for the tourists in a small area in the Lodge and around it. You also can walk out and take pics of the 18th hole which I did. There is a couple of banks, a grocery store... a gas station... There is a 9-hole which only costs $20 bucks which I may play tomorrow to say I played Pebble Beach.

I drove a little further to the Ghost Tree and the end of Carmel Bay. There were these rocks passed the "Do not cross this fence or you will die" markers. This two kids were out there. And this boy climbed passed me... he is like 11 or something. His sister is like, "Don't go out there! It's not safe" in this lovely British accent. He is all, that man is out here. She is all... "But he's a grown up!" I finally go... Yes, I am a very stupid grown up. Do not do as I do. I ask the little girl where she is from. She is from Nottingham England, like Robinhood. I reminded her that Robinhood was make believe and that she was real. She didn't get it. Asked if I had ever been to England. I told her where I had been, finishing with Liverpool. She asked if I was for Liverpool or another team. I was kind of shocked that she asked. I told her Americans followed Soccer like the Brits followed Baseball.

Anyhow... I drove along the beach stopping at various places and had lunch at the Spyglass Golf Course Grill. This is another course, after playing it on Xbox I would love to play. Looks so challenging and hard. I stared down the 9th fairway. It is amazing how steep it is. I took a few more shots and headed out around back to Carmel.

Such a fun place. I had a drink in a bar formerly owned by Clint Eastwood. He was mayor here in the 80's. What a job! This town is full of old people who have probably been retired here for 20 years. What an amazing place to retire. The young people working the coffee shops have the life. It is totally laid back without pressure. A bit more traffic than I like but I like it a lot down here.

Sunday's Golf Highlights

The following are a couple of videos I shot a few hours ago at Bartley Cavanaugh Golf Course with my friends Scott, Josh and Gary. We had a great day. It was the first day out this year pretty much for all of us so it was fun knocking the rust off. I am gonna be hating life soon with my neck already tightening up in pain. But we had a blast after a rough start for poor Gary nursing a monster hang over. A Heineken will turn around anyone's day as he nearly broke 90. Josh broke 90 with an 89 and Scotty and I rounded out the day at 102 and 104. 104 is great for me because I really really suck at golf and I am known for coming in at a decent bowling score on this course. Good times.

The first video is the Island hole 17th. It is a pretty stupid little 85 yard shot from the blue tees. That was one thing cool, we all had good scores from the blues for us. Usually I sink 5 or 6 balls into the water then end up giving up and throwing a ball from the drop area onto the green. So this was cool... Sorry for McShaky with the camera. My hands were in pain shaking by the end. But that isn't gonna stop me:



What's amazing is that I drop many F-Bombs the whole time here which is funny. I think the score card on F-Bombs was the following:

Scotty 10
Gary Maybe 1
Josh 4-5
Steve 486 or more if you consider the freakings too.

The next video, since 17 came out so well was the Par 4 18. We all hammer some interesting drives. Gary takes off first and he knocks his clearly over the lake. But notice with his swing, he is actually aiming and swings at the 9th fairway. Nails the 9th fairway bunker clear across the lake. Then when Josh starts to swing, and I am totally missing what is going on, Gary turns the cart around to go to the other fairway but is blocked by my cart.

We all take really good swings here. I have no idea what I am doing but I knocked the drives like this most of the day. It is the rest of the game and putting especially that I need to work on to break 100.



Dropping F-Bombs...NSFW.