After our knockout Aquarium tour, we do the scenic drive along the Monterey peninsula shore, cruising Ocean Blvd and then onto the famed "17 Mile Drive" which leads right to the door of The Pebble Beach Golf Club. Gee, I guess we'll just have to stop in... and since we haven't eaten since breakfast (it was about 4 p.m. at the time of this realization) we'll just HAVE to stop at The Tap Room in the Pebble Beach Lodge for a quick bite.
The Tap Room is filled with lots of memorabilia from the U.S. Opens and the AT&T Pro-Am's played at Pebble. It's a treat to check it all out. We also get into an in depth conversation with Ilias, our server, about fate, flow and knowing when it's the right time to make changes in one's life. Originally from Belgium but having spent much of his youth in San Diego, Ilias is into the conversation and chats with us freely. We feel bad taking him away from his other customers. But, it's all very interesting!
Afterwards, we wander out back by #18. It's the perfect opportunity to snap a few money shots of the course!
Unless, you want to drop the $500 to play, you're limited to seeing the 18th and 1st holes. And maybe the par 3 17th from a distance where Tom Watson holed his famous chip to win the national title. But there's lots of other stuff to see.
In the pro shop, we get chatting to Peter from New Jersey. He wants to hear all about our travels and then tells us about moving to California with his wife many years ago and how everyone here "lacks passion." "Drives me crazy," he says. "Sometimes I just need to go back to Jersey and be with my people."
He also tells us about his son who is in the Marines and has just returned from Afghanistan. He shows us his photo, a stoic soldier in dress uniform. Peter chokes up a couple of times as he recounts how stressful the past seven months have been for he and his wife as they prayed their only son would come home unharmed. His son would send dark letters that described the uncertainty, the fear, tales of his friends being wounded or killed.
"He wasn't so good when he first came home," says Peter. "But, he's getting better. He wonders why he came home okay and his friends didn't."
It is my first encounter with someone living that ordeal — of having a loved one in constant war zone danger. I can truly sense his relief that his son is home safe and sound. They are holding a welcome home party for him the next day. On Memorial Day weekend ironically.
We round out a very eventful and emotional day by finishing the coast drive around Pebble Beach, checking out the Poppy HIlls and Spyglass golf courses and stopping at some great lookout points to watch seals, sea lions, sea otters and shorebirds do the CA coast thing (surf the waves, loll in the sun, gab to one another).
A terrific California sunset makes the perfect ending.
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