The Ladies of Pebble Beach

Now that I know how to dress at the Concourse de Elegance, I have found myself researching my outfit for next time. I could wear the same outfit and save a lot of time and effort....
Or I could wear something a little saucier...













That last one was a trophy girl, who walked to each award winner and handed them their trophy. She had to have been freezing, because it was easily 55 degrees. But dang she looked good.

Santa Cruz

Since I was a teen, I knew the destination of Santa Cruz California was one for bicyclists and skateboarders. When I saw on the map that we were about 45 minutes south of there, I HAD to check it out.

It is definitely a different kind of place. Hippies, musicians, and homeless people hang out in the downtown tourist area.


Lots of people riding around on their bikes and sipping coffee at the sidewalk cafes.
We chose to try the Bad Ass Coffee:



It was a cute place with a very relaxed vibe.

Little did we know, that the huge fires that would lead to California declaring a State of Emergency were sparking up that day. As we were there in Santa Cruz! And the next day, I read that a pre-historic whale carcass had washed up on the beach and paleontologists were called in to determine how many millions of years this thing had been floating around in the ocean. It just happened to wash up in Santa Cruz, the day we were there. Blasted!!

John Steinbeck's Hometown

Cannery Row and Tortilla Flats are two of Steinbeck's better known novels. As we poked around the cities of Monterey and Salinas, California, we learned that those two communities were the back drop for those stories. And Steinbeck lived in that area. We had dinner twice on Cannery Row, and explored Salinas.
Cannery Row is not in the business of canning squid or anchovies anymore, it's all art galleries, restaurants, and tourist shops. It's where I FINALLY got to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. It was soooo cute. While we waited for our food, the waitress did Forrest Gump trivia with us.
"How many Dr. Peppers did Forrest have at the White House?"

"What town was Forrest from?"

"What did Mama compare life to?"

Duh, too easy.

The seaside of Cannery Row has the buildings on stilts, hanging out into the ocean. So the view is phenomenal.



And the row of shops on the inside of the street are adorable:



In Salinas, there's a Steinbeck center which is like a museum but also a community center that has educational programs. We didn't make it over there, we spent so much time exploring everywhere else. Maybe next year...

Me, The Celebrity Stalker

While in California we managed to stumble across a few celebs, and I sort of got good photos.

First one, which was a total surprise, was Reggie Jackson. Mr. October appeared out of nowhere and turns out he was the owner of the very rare Camaro that I was admiring. THIS Camaro:



I looked up at one point, and there was Reggie...



Well then I laughed at the wax figures that were displayed over in one corner. Some of the cars at this particular auction belonged to celebrities like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, and their spooky life-size figures were standing nearby. There was a Jennie Craig one, because apparently she and her husband are big car collectors:



And then down the walkway I spotted the REAL Jennie Craig. Sorry, she wasn't looking my way:



On Sunday during the big show, I dressed up in all my fancies and paraded around like a goofy debutante. Steve said people were stopping and taking my picture, likely because I was ACTING like I was "someone."



But then I ran into a few people who were really "someone," like Paul Mitchell (the hair salon guy)



And Jay Leno, who is a regular at this car show:



He was talking to an English race car driver who had some cars on display.

But then I heard a rumor. Seinfeld was in da' house. Whaaaa?????

I was shmoozing with Steve's boss when all of a sudden, the King of my Thursday nights walked by. Well, my Thursday nights back in the 90's....

And he walked by me so close that I got excited and fumbled my camera....

And got this fantastic photo of his legs...



When I finally got the camera pointed correctly, I aimed and then Jerry



well, he looked away and turned and walked off. I was too nervous to ask him for a photo because he looked really grumpy. Honestly, I'm too nervous to ask most public figures for anything because what happens if they're a total jerk to me? Then I won't like them anymore. All because they wanted to enjoy themselves at an event and I was the dork with the camera bothering them.

But luckily I saw Jerry again....

And this time he was smiling. He was in his Porche race car, driving it across the stage.





But then some magic happened.

You know my obsession with Arnold has only festered over the past couple of years. And who was the surprise presenter at the awards ceremony?



And yes, that's Arnold, making EYE CONTACT WITH ME!!!!!

He thought that I had placed a bid on the jacket he was auctioning.

We had a moment. A fleeting moment. And Maria wasn't there.