Where I Grew Up (mostly)

  I am back in my hometown during June... staying with my sister and her family in the house in Monterey my parents originally purchased when I was only a couple months old.  Although we had lengthy stays in Italy and Germany before my 10th birthday, this is where we always came back to, and I lived here from age 10 until my senior year when we moved to Pebble Beach (one town over).  After my oldest nephew was born my sister and brother-in-law moved into the Monterey house and have been here ever since, and my 2 nephews grew up in the same room my brother and I shared..   My Dad now lives in Carmel Valley, the warmest spot in the area.

   Anyway, Monterey is the original Spanish capital of California, founded in 1770, and tourism is the major industry.  My first job out of college was working in historic preservation for the city—I had the opportunity to help some researchers, got my name in the acknowledgments of a couple of books, and was once quoted as "an authoritative source" in a television news story.  The Monterey Peninsula has one of the most temperate climates in the world, rarely getting hot or cold.  I played golf here at Christmas and the temperature was 72° F.  I played the same course this week and it was 74°...  We like to say "If you want weather, you can drive to it!"  The Pebble Beach Golf Links, where I will be working at the US Open this week, lies right on water and the sea breeze and fog can make it downright chilly all summer long—which may have an impact on the outcome.  10 years ago the wind died just as Tiger Woods started playing the ocean holes, enabling him to build a record-breaking lead. 
   The picture above is of Colton Hall in Monterey, where the California constitutional convention wrote the state constitution in 1849.  The other picture is the city library across the street, where my office was located when I worked for the city.