In
NOV 2004, we flew up to San Jose, rented a car, and drove to Watsonville,
CA to stay with our friends, Emiko & Jack Sowell for 4 days (17-20
NOV 2004). While we had taken many previous photos of the Monterey area
during a number of trips over the years, the...
...scenery
is so beautiful that we could not resist adding more images to our collection.
These photos of the beach area in Carmel were taken in late afternoon.
Steve could not resist getting some shots of the sea gulls landing near
Lena to check out whether or not she had some food for them.
As
usual during winter months, there was considerable haze and it was difficult
getting good 'scenic' landscape photos, but we did manage to grab a few
during the two days we visited the beach areas. More importantly, however,
we got these photos of a NEW LENA
who is now a short-haired BRUNETTE!
This
shot of Steve (taken wearing his FAVORITE hat!) is at the center of the
Carmel Beach.
After
visiting the shops in Carmel the first day of our trip, we took the "17-Mile
Drive" around Pebble Beach the second day to once again enjoy the
incredible ocean views along this part of...
...California's
coastline. Since Steve had rented a home in Pebble Beach (less than 0.8
miles from this particular section of the beach) during his tour as Exchange
Officer at the Naval Post Graduate School (1974-78) he always enjoys revisiting...
...Pebble
Beach. [Of course, every time he visits PB, he remembers that he could
have BOUGHT that same RENTAL home in 1974 for approx $350,000. We
saw a similar 5-BD/3-BA 2,200 SQ FT property located about 1 block from
his old rental home that was listed for $4.5 MILLION during this visit---
HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 2/20!!!]
This
late afternoon photo shows the haze along the shoreline near the end of
17-Mile Drive.
However,
no drive along the 17-Mile route would be complete without stopping to
get another photo of the "LONE CYPRESS" tree.
On
this particular trip, we walked down the wooden steps to get a closer
vantage point of the tree.
While
the haze can be seen on the distant horizon, the immediate shore area
was clear.
Lena
had to get this photo of Steve with some of the older dead Monterey Cypress
trees in the background.
Near
Carmel is a collection of gift shops located in a place called the "Barnyard"
and we had visited it just before they had replaced their Halloween decorations
with Christmas decor.
One
of our most favorite places to stop is Fisherman's Wharf in Monterey and
we arrived just before dark. Since we did not have a tripod, these...
..."hand-held"
long-exposure shots are slightly blurred, but they provide a decent idea
of the wharf view just prior to darkness falling.
ABALONETTI's
is our MOST FAVORITE restaurant for CALAMARI (squid)...and no trip to
Monterey would be complete without stopping to...
...enjoy
some of Abalonetti's wonderful clam chowder and calamari!
Lena
just loved this shark décor in one of the local shops located along
CANNERY ROW in Monterey.
Since
we had taken a number of photos of Cannery Row on previous visits...
...we
took only a few images of the ocean front area where we had stopped to
enjoy a LIVE MAINE LOBSTER meal. (We ate at the BLUE LAGOON which is the
place with the ocean-view windows to the right in this photo.)
We
wanted photos of the meal, but, the images were probably the best part
of the dinner. Our lobsters tasted as if they had probably been frozen
since they were somewhat tough and lacked the flavor one would expect
from a 'live lobster.' While we enjoyed visiting the area and seeing Jack
& Emiko Sowell, our trip...
...had a very tragic ending. On this day before
flying back to San Diego (when we had the lobsters),
Jack fell at his home and shattered both his hip and his shoulder.
We were able to see him at the hospital that evening and the next morning
before our return. Tragically, Jack died from complications
associated with...
...these
injuries about a month later.
He was 91. In March 2005 we returned to Monterey to join Emiko and his
daughter, Karen, for the ceremony of scattering Jack's ashes at sea. As
usual, we had to stop at the Giant Artichoke in Castroville for french-fried
artichokes.
The
weather was quite cold, rainy, and windy during most of our four day trip
(with only brief periods of sunshine). We took our usual trip around Pebble
Beach's 17-Mile Drive and reflected on the many previous trips and the
many enjoyable times we had
shared with Jack and Emiko before his death.
The
wind that day is well reflected in Lena's blowing
hair as she sits with 17-Mile
Drive's "Bird Rock" in
the background.
Of
course, any trip along 17-Mile
Drive necessitated a photo with
the "Lone Cypress Tree" in the background.
The
night before Jack's burial at sea ceremony (scheduled for Monday 28 March),
we met Karen Sowell and her friends, Jim and Mary Alderink, for dinner
at the Blue Lagoon.
This
time we avoided the lobster and enjoyed an outstanding meal! Unfortunately,
that night it rained quite hard and the winds across the bay were bad
enough that a "Small Boat Warning" was issued by the Coast Guard.
The
following morning we all met aboard the newly-constructed 87 foot Coast
Guard cutter, the CGC HAWKSBILL. The weather was still quite cold and
rainy and the seas were moderately rough...especially for anyone who was
subject to seasickness!
In
this photo the crew of the HAWKSBILL
lined up in dress uniform for the burial of Jack's ashes at sea. The sun
did manage to break through briefly for the shattering of the ashes of
Jack R. Sowell, MGYSGT, USMC, RET...
...and
we were all very impressed with the dignity and solemnity of the burial
at sea ceremony conducted by the crew of the HAWKSBILL.
(Steve found it more difficult to say 'good by' for the last time to his
friend of 35 years than he had anticipated.)
After
the ceremony, we all went to ABALONETTI's on Fisherman's Wharf for an
excellent lunch.
Emiko
Sowell and Lena in front of ABALONETTI's restaurant after lunch.
[See two more photos of Jack and Emiko when when we visited them along
with Anya in 2003 (at the bottom of the page).]
Lena
at the head of Fisherman's Wharf with Monterey Bay in the background.
All in all, it was a rather sad trip, but we were both proud and happy
to have been invited to attend this burial at sea ceremony so that we
could both say 'good by' to our long-time and dear friend, Jack.
