Well, we're back in snowy, cold, and blustery Northern Michigan, and now it's time to sift through the few hundred photos I took with our digital camera (the first wedding gift we put to extensive use). I've put a bunch of them on photobucket, and I'll post some of the highlights here.
My wife Anna and I settled on the Monterey Peninsula as our honeymoon destination very early on in the engagement, but we always wondered how the weather would cooperate in the last week of January. There was a very real possibility we could be rained on every day - but we weren't. With the exception of one hole at Olympic Club on Friday, we were blessed with glorious weather (for us anyway - 60 and sunny is about perfect) and, more importantly, the fine company of some friendly GCA'ers, all of whom I was meeting for the first time - namely Kevin Reilly, Mike Benham, Tom Huckaby, and Dan King.
Huckaby was very helpful in providing driving and dining advice as well as tips on the courses we were setting ourselves up to play. We laid out a basic schedule beforehand but only had three tee times locked in as the week began. Winging it made it much more relaxing and low-key, a strategy befitting a couple who passed up more than one night of fine dining in downtown Carmel in favor of room service in the form of chicken and fries.
I'll post the photos with short descriptional blurbs in a series of posts, beginning with Day One...
TUESDAY, JANUARY 24
We woke up to sunshine and temperatures above 70 degrees, and after some range time discovered we were too late to get onto Pebble as the last tee time was 12:20 (allowing for all players to finish before a 5:20 sunset). Instead we decided to take a trip down to Big Sur, which was extremely worthwhile and highly recommended...
Big Sur gets two thumbs up
Anna in picturesque Pfeiffer State Park
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25
We started the day with an early morning walking tour of the last few holes at Cypress Point. The skies were overcast but it still felt like heaven on earth.
Anna gets acquainted with the old Cypress tree to the right of the 14th fairway. It was explained to us that the complicated root structure you see is all part of the same tree.
CPC's 15th from just in front of the forward tee.
Anna makes a friend in the sleeping sealion in the cove just left of the 16th green.
The plaque just to the right of the 17th tee in memory of longtime member Clarke Bearden.
Next we drove up Highway 1 to Santa Cruz for our opening round at Pasatiempo...
The elevated 1st at Pasa. I couldn't help but notice the similarity between this and the downhill 1st at Crystal Downs - apart from all the trees, of course.
Anna teeing off on the long par three 3rd. Nice job, Mr. Doak.
Another fine example of Doak's restoration work, distantly evident around the green but primarily in the great fairway bunkering short-right, providing that great visual effect of a smaller target.
In case you haven't figured out, Anna is the star of the photo album - though she did sneak a few shots of me from time to time. Evident from this point in the fairway on the long, par four 10th is some more bunker restoration.
The famous uphill 11th, this is a great example of a shortish par four that plays much longer.
The last example of bunker restoration at the beautiful setting of the 15th.
Anna tees off on the par three finisher, with a severe green tilted back to front. Unfortunately the nematodes have taken over much of the turf at Pasa as well, so they were playing a little patchy and slow.
I've downsized the photos quite a bit - hopefully they don't pose too much of a problem. Part Two brings rounds at CPC and a drive up to the Olympic Club...