On the basis of my extensive cost cutting and personnel reduction experience (gained at Atsugi, Japan), I was hand-picked by the Exchange Headquarters to correct some of the problems at the Monterey NEX. It was a rather demanding tour that involved the replacement of many managers.
After my divorce in 1974, I had to vacate my assigned government quarters and ended up renting a HUGE home in Pebble Beach. The house was situated only about 5-6 blocks inland from the ocean and PB’s famous “17 Mile Drive.” It was also located in a quiet, wooded area next to a golf course.
My long-term friend, Dave Seyller, had gotten out of the Navy and was living in Irvine, CA. By this time, Dave had shed his former ‘military appearance’ and had a somewhat relaxed outlook on life.
Dave and I still got together a number of times in Monterey/Pebble Beach or for snow skiing trips to Tahoe or other resorts. In this photo Dave is ‘uncorking’ some of my better ‘vintage’ wine stocks before a party!
This is the large front room of the home looking inward from the front door area. The kitchen and dining room (which I used for my huge marble-top bar!) are to the right. The bedrooms and bath are are the rear of the house through the door at the back of the living room.
This is a view from the rear of the living room looking toward the front of the house. This was one duty station at which I got into a routine of running a couple of miles along the ocean (on the 17 Mile Drive) several days a week.
I still had a ceramic habachi pot from Japan which I used for cooking steaks (or, in this case, a roast). As a result of my doing some routine exercises, I keep myself in pretty good shape during my Monterey tour.
To this day I consider Pebble Beach’s 17 Mile Drive to be one of the most scenic areas of all the places I have traveled around the world. Being able to live within walking distance of this view for more than 2 years was a great opportunity and experience.
No matter how many times I showed this area to different visitors and friends, I was always able to see something new and different each time I took someone on the drive.
In this case, I was trying to capture a friend’s image with a wave breaking over the rocks behind her...and I almost got her drowned when an especially-large wave broke over the rocks!
This is a photo of deer running across the golf course located near my home. There were numerous deer throughout Pebble Beach and they presented a definite road hazard when driving at night. They also were notorious for eating all the flowers out of local gardens...including mine!
When my parents visited me, they were also very impressed with the 17 Mile Drive. This is a photo of them at the famous “Lonesome Pine.” This single Monterey Pine tree grows out of the rocks next to the ocean and is a well-recognized symbol of Monterey, Carmel, and Pebble Beach.
One of my favorite places to eat was the Highlands Inn located in Carmel at the point where one starts to drive south on Highway 1 toward “Big Sur” country. My parents not only thoroughly enjoyed their rack of lamb, they were quite impressed with the view of the ocean out our window.
The view of the ocean and rocks (with the single home perked on the cliff overlooking the sea) seen from the Highland Inn’s window is rather spectacular.
This is the famous Carmel Beach with its brilliant white sand and wind-swept pine trees.
I continued to be interested in photography while assigned to the Naval Postgraduate School since there were so many beautiful places around the area.
Dave Seyller and I also got into doing a bit of ‘creative’ photography like this quadruple exposure of the same negative (against a dark background) to get this image. Today, using a computer, it would be much easier to ‘create’ an improved version of this shot that would be completely sharp.
The many restaurants on the Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf were always one of my favorite places to eat. I had gotten up very early one morning to get this photo of the wharf at sunrise.
This is a photo of the same wharf taken when I was there during a spectacularly reddish sunset.
While I was stationed at NPGS, one of the seafood restaurants located at the very front of Fisherman’s Wharf burned almost to the waterline and has never been rebuilt.
Many of the old structures on Cannery Row in Monterey were almost falling into the sea when I was stationed in Monterey. Since then, many of them have either been rebuilt or demolished and replaced with new buildings.
Dave and I met my former secretary and her husband who flew back from Hawaii (as well as a high school friend from Ohio) for a week’s skiing trip to Salt Lake City, UT. This is a photo of Dave (sporting a trendy beard) and Marianne through an ice-caked window frame.
Dick Starr (on the right) had gone to high school with me and came with a friend to join us for a few days. In this photo we are enjoying food and drinks after a hard day’s skiing.
While I had skied a number of times before going to Salt Lake, I had not really become proficient and comfortable skiing at the “intermediate” level until this extended trip.
In this shot captured by Dave Seyller, I am really headed downhill at a pretty good clip while retaining pretty good form and control of my skies.
Dave is a natural athlete and picked up on skiing very quickly...far better than I had been able to do. Within a few days, he was already trying small jumps and going down the intermediate-level slopes. I got this photo of him as he did a small jump and headed downhill toward some trees.
And, then, I just happened to capture on film the point at which a broken tree just about took all the fun out of Dave’s newly-learned sport! Close, very close!
Water skiing is something I only tried on one occasion—and I learned that it requires the use of different muscles than snow skiing. I was so sore that night that I could hardly walk! However, we were hungry after water skiing (and sleeping in a tent campsite near the lake). I prepared the...
...meat over charcoal which provided enough smoke to drive away some of the swarming mosquitoes. During the night, barefooted and on my way through the grass to a restroom, I stepped in something warm and soft. COWS had just walked through the tent area; this was Steve’s last camping trip!
Monterey was only a few hours’ drive from the Wine Country and I made several trips there through the various wineries to take advantage of their FREE sampling rooms.
My good friends from Japan, Jack and Emiko Sowell, lived in Santa Cruz at the time and I would often drop by to visit them while stationed in Monterey.
On one such visit to Jack’s house...after a little (OK, a LOT!) of sun, wind, and wine during an afternoon at the beach, I exhibited a rather relaxed (OK, “shit-faced!”) appearance. Sigh...well, there WERE some days like that!