So, I live in the Monterey - Carmel area. I am actually very fortunate that my ISP shows me in a town about 30 miles away from where I actually live. It gives me the courage to write more honestly in this space, in public, on the world wide web and I don't really fear someone knocking on my door and killing me, not that I have a baby to steal, but hey, I'm still killable.
What I really want to say is how excited I am when we get company from the East Coast (my family in South Carolina and M.'s family in Boston). Within minutes of our house, I can show them Cannery Row, Fisherman's Wharf, Pebble Beach, Carmel-By-The-Sea and I always take them to lunch at the Highlands Inn on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) towards Big Sur.
Lunch With Friends Restaurant
Everyone who has ever visited me, has had lunch on this very balcony, we usually sit at the corner table on the top left. The views are breathtaking and the food is delicious and affordable. Sometimes, I take them further to Jules Pfeifer State Park in Big Sur and we take a easy hike to the falls and I always pack a picnic. I do not have the literary talents to describe how beautiful the drive is from Carmel to Big Sur. When my company leaves, I am always pleased that I shared the best of what this region has to offer and they usually come back requesting a re-visit of Highlands Inn.
My husband has never been to the Highlands Inn in Carmel.
Highland Inn Pictures
When company arrives, I am the tour guide and M. gets peace and quiet at home while I take our guests on their field trips. It works out well for all parties concerned.
My dear husband loves to be home because his business requires him to live in Hyatt Hotels during most weeks. Due to this inconvenience, he has the perk of being a Diamond Member. That means that we get upgrades and wine and cheese welcome gifts if we stay at a Hyatt. Unfortunately, by the very nature of being able to be a Diamond Member, the last place my husband wants to go to get away is in a hotel.
Long story longer..........
The renowned Highlands Inn in Carmel is owned by the Hyatt Company. I am sure it will come as no surprise when I finish this sentence by saying, that is where my lovely husband took me - on a 3 day excursion to the amazing hotel within minutes of our house. We got upgraded to the executive suite just below and beside the award winning Pacific Edge Restaurant (this restaurant is only open in the evenings and requires a dress code).
restaurant view
Our room was right there, right under the piano bar seating area, we could actually hear the concert pianist in our room.
Below Piano Bar
I sat in a huge comfy chair in the living area of our suite with my feet on the window ledge, and watched nature all day. I meditated on the views. It was glorious. Every room was hanging on the cliff over the ocean, from the living room area, the bathroom, the huge jacuzzi tub and finally the bedroom.
a bedroom view
Every room had floor to ceiling windows that overlooked the ocean and rocks. Our particular suite was long and narrow with all of the rooms seemingly suspended over the cliff. Had it not been for several redwood trees, I would have thought I was on the top floor of a massive cruise ship.
One rainy afternoon, M. arranged for us to have hour and a half massages in our suite. I felt like I was dreaming. Suspended on the cliffs in Carmel with the waves crashing below and a storm brewing in the distance, I relished every second.
The concierge told us that Sean Penn and Madonna spent their honeymoon in our suite. After that, I imagined them there, in that very space, escaping media in that secluded paradise. When I took a lavender bath in the jacuzzi tub over looking the Pacific, I wondered what Madonna thought when she was in that tub. I wondered if Madonna sat in the same huge chair overlooking the Pacific and if she was happy then. Then I thought.....wait........ that was a long time ago and I hoped that wasn't really the chair she sat in because that would be kind of nasty and then wondered what was here, at that moment in time, when Madonna was on her honeymoon when her life was so different then, before she ever had any children.
I even mentioned to M. that I wondered what time was like then, when they were in that suite.
My lovely husband said, "Are you fucking kidding me? That is what you are thinking about? Who the fuck cares what Madonna was doing in this room."
"Okay..........oooooookkkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy.........I will try to stop thinking about her while I am here." I really am a geek like that.
One of the highlights was eating at the Pacific Edge Restaurant just above and beside our suite. The Pacific Edge Restaurant is only open in the evening and is one of the top 20 restaurants in the United States. The dress code is enforced and the prized seating is next to the windows hanging over the cliffs, the same windows we had in our suite. The menu was sophisticated, thank goodness the head waiter explained its contents.
M. and I decided to go with the chef's menu of 5 courses paired with 5 wines that the sommelier would pour and explain.
Sommelier......som·me·lier..........that has been one of the hardest words for me to learn.
We used to be in a group called "Sommeliers In Training", we met once a month to learn about wines so that is when I first learned to mispronounce sommelier.
Completely ignorant me pronounced it like:
Some-all-eh-er
I asked, and then it was pronounced:
Some-all-yeah
I still don't know how to say it correctly:
sum-eh-yeah
Or better yet:
somme-eh-yeah
Yes, that is better, that is very close - somme-eh-yeah .
I have never understood those squigglys above letters in the dictionary so I have to word associate pronunciations. Thus, my fucked-up-looking annunciations.
If sommelier was in a song, it would look like this:
.........................................yeah"
.................................eh
..................."somme
Emphasis on the "yeah".
I don't know why I want to pronounce that word so much, but I do. "Sommelier" is a stupid way to spell that word.
Anyway, I will let that word go............I really do need to get a life!
Back to my story, we so enjoyed our dinner with our "somme-eh-yeah" leading the way with his wines. It was the most amazing dinner of my life.
So, I had a magnificent time with my husband and I didn't realize how very much I needed to be with him, be still in time with him like that. It is very healing for our relationship. It helps us re-group. He has been very busy with work, even got a new home computer and before I knew it, we hadn't really visited with each other in weeks. I mean quality, connection time. He knew we needed it too.
I am extremely grateful for my life. I am extremely blessed.
I feel self-conscious and guilty writing about all of this when so many are suffering in Asia right now. What is that song? "Live like you are dying"? Something like that. Life is very short. I want to suck the blood out of every minute of my glorious moments.
May God be with all those suffering so right now.
Happy New Year to all of you out there in this magnificent world. May your dreams come true and may your life be filled with blessings.
