29 minute read
CALIFORNIA COAST
LAST ISSUE — I started my wanderlust on the coastline of Washington and RoaDON THE
AGAIN Oregon where I began my 12-course true links journey. Starting at Chambers Bay, then on to Gearhart Golf Links and laying over in Bandon Dunes to tackle Sheep Ranch. If you missed it you can read Heart and Soul part one here to see how the first half of the trip went. HERE’S PART TWO — and it starts on the California border as I hug Highway 101 and CA-1 for 700 miles all along Pacific and finally wind up on the hallowed ground of Pebble Beach. Here you’ll see my stops in remote Sonoma County, San Francisco Bay and then Carmel. We here at Destination Golfer hope you enjoy this as much as I did — it was a top-down thrill I’m happy to share. Cheers.
College friends Rick Walsh (left) and Dick Stephens reunite on Pebble Beach's famed 7th hole with Monterey Bay in the background.
The Sea Ranch Golf Links
Sea Ranch, Calif. • LEG 8 • MILE 788
BY DICK STEPHENS • DG PUBLISHER When doing my cup-of-coffee research for this trip, I was modern-day golf course visionaries, Robert Muir Graves. This guy is a rock star to CA-1, drive 392 miles and take a right into the parking lot. That meant the next day was shocked to discover that there was a West me, and was to golf in the west what Don- all about the drive. OMG! This was a drive
Coast links course I had never heard of. No, ald Ross was to golf in the east. Graves has I wish I could have shot in 70 mm IMAX. more than shocked — I was disappointed. such a cool list of public and private courses It’s breathtaking, and felt more like fly-
I’ve done golf business in California for 20 to his credit: Overlake Country Club, Ava- ing or hang-gliding than driving. The water years. How could I be so ignorant? I start- lon, Furry Creek, Widgi Creek, Port Lud- was with me the whole time, and the drive ed to feel better, though, after discovering low, Canterwood, Saticoy, Illahe Hills and through Redwoods National Forest during that my friends and fellow golfers were all countless more in California, Washington the pandemic meant that I might have seen scratching their head on this one, too. I fi- and Oregon. Sea Ranch Golf Links opened five cars the entire day. It was just me, mynally connected with the course to hear more in 1974 with its first nine holes and quickly self and I. And, I loved every minute of it. about the place and I learned why Peper had made lots of “what’s hot” lists. In 1995, this There’s no cell phone reception in there. put it on his list. Now, it was on mine. gem of the seaside links was finally com- It’s trees that scrape the sky and a silence
In a time when golf was still flying on pleted at 6,649 yards and a par of 72. The and stillness that is like a mossy, clean stagthe backs of Jack, Arnie, Trevino and a course’s blend of links land, rough Scottish nation. It’s inspiring. The trunks of the redyoung upstart Tom Watson, Sea Ranch Golf features and heathland acreage made it spe- woods in the center of the park were wid-
Links was crafted in pieces, and came to be cial — the only course between the Oregon er than the full length of my car. I imagined like an expensive piece of jewelry that was border and the Bay Area. It was to become what George Lucas thought when he decided bought on layaway and not to be fully spar- a must-play and must-stop spot. to make this the setting for Endor, and gave kling until it was the right place and time. From Bandon Dunes, the directions were birth to a new world run not by park rangers,
It’s designed by one of my favorite simple — turn south on 101, merge on to but Ewoks.
The dimness and stillness makes 1 p.m. in the redwoods feel like 6 p.m. in the rest of the world. I never wanted to leave. But, Sea Ranch harkened.
I had been pre-warned by the course that I would playing in less-than-ideal conditions. A water reclamation issue affecting the course and surrounding community meant that fairways were a bit baked and dried out. The greens were outstanding, but the tee boxes and rest of the layout looked like the end of the fortnight at Wimbledon. I also sensed that the pandemic was not as fruitful to this amazing layout, which relies on more than just local traffic to survive. I know, though, that it would be a perfect place for a fall round of golf, with cooler temps and more rainfall.
Make note that, while a true links course, Sea Ranch Links does not actually run along the beach — rather, it straddles the links land, the 101 and the rolling mountain foothills. Graves had to channel a little Lewis and Clark to blaze this trail. It shows what an architect can do when his mind is set on a masterpiece. I’d recommend a cart, but walking is not impossible. The par-5 13th and par-5 14th — yes, back-to-back par-5s — are a cool piece of this puzzle.
This course is worth the trip, and the staff and locals that frequent this place are not patrons but sustaining members of a society of golfers. The rolling terrain, deer, coastal trees, ponds — it looks and reads like a Steinbeck novel. I loved it. It’s humble pie to play and take part in, like being dipped in magic waters. Add this to your list and feel what hard work it truly is to keep a place like this alive. “... it looks and reads like a Steinbeck novel. I loved it. It’s humble pie to play and take part in, like being dipped in magic waters.”
Half Moon Bay Ocean Course
Half Moon Bay, Calif. • LEG 9 • MILE 931
The Sea Ranch Golf Links is on the Sonoma County coast, slightly north of Santa Rosa and the pin-drop wine town of Healdsburg. On a map, it’s less than 60 miles to Healdsburg and over 100 world-famous wineries, like La Crema and Arista. It looks like no biggie to traverse the 60 miles back along CA-1 through the Russian River Valley to get back to the 101. But, let me tell ya, it’s the longest, most rigorous, winding stretch of road I’ve ever driven.
If I had to guess, I made no fewer than 100 hairpin turns on this drive. I literally wore out the strut bushings on my little car on this leg of the trip, chalking them up to war wounds. CA-1 at times has no shoulder, and if I went over the guardrail, I’d crash into the Pacific. But, it’s a drive on which you will pull off at every vista to take pics. The Russian River Valley is like no spot in Oregon or Washington, melding the coast, farms, mountains and land that time forgot into a unique and unforgettable puzzle.
Once you make it back to 101, it’s a lovely, hilly drive into Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge and into one of the world’s greatest cities. It’s kinda cool to me that the San Francisco Bay Area has one of the true links courses and Los Angeles doesn’t. No disrespect to my friends in Hollywood and O.C., but it’s a cool fact. As you head down the peninsula and make it to San Mateo, you will cut across CA-92 and wind your way down to Half Moon Bay.
The Pacific crashing against the coast at Half Moon Bay Old Course.
The sprawling links of the Ocean Course with The Ritz-Carlton looming in the distance.
Of all the places I stopped and stayed, Half Moon Bay is the most romantic. The Ocean Course and its partner, the Old Course, sit adjacent to the gorgeous Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay Resort. There are a few similarities between them, as Arthur Hills was a part of both designs, but the Ocean Course is the only one that makes this prestigious list of links courses. Not to impugn the Old Course, but its layout and style — other than a jawdropping final two holes along the cliffs — is parkland in scope.
The land that Hills shaped into the Ocean Course had to pass the test of a picky Silicon Valley golfing crowd and an international audience that stays and plays at Ritz properties around the globe. He gently flowed in a tight, true Scottish layout where you can see the Pacific on every single hole — which is not easy to do. This course is a photographer’s dreamscape. I played it on a day where a marine layer of fog and sea smoke made it feel very much as if I was playing in the County of Fife in Scotland. What a layout!
The par 4s are tight and a bit unforgiving, while the prevailing winds that wash over the peninsula take away even a big bomber’s crack at reaching most par-5 greens in two. I’m going on out on a limb to say, though, that holes 17 and 18 are as linksy and cool and rugged and tough and coastal and windy and amazing as any on this trip. They are stunners. The par-3 17th is daunting, like a longer version of Pebble’s famous No. 7. The hotel sits high above the 18th green and, from this distance, looks like a medieval fortress. As you stare down the difficulty of keeping your 180-yard shot at 17 from flopping into the drink, you are already thinking about how tricky that tee shot on 18 looks from here. I loved that the wind whooshed for me that day, so that I could blister a 25-degree hybrid high and let the wind knock the ball down, like a field goal net behind the uprights. The uphill, slight dogleg, par-5 18th is a masterpiece in every sense. Birdie is super. Par is better than good. And, with any number of Ritz guests watching the players finish the final hole from their patios or sipping a drink, you will have a mini gallery cheering you on.
The Ocean Course is a beautiful day on a links park and THE perfect tune-up for the three courses ahead of me at Pebble Beach. It’s pretty cool to pull into Carmel-By-theSea and tell the locals, “Yeah, I played Half Moon Bay on the way down.” Even cooler when you add that you’ve also played Sea Ranch Golf Links, Bandon Dunes, Gearhart and Chambers Bay. And, that you still have three more courses to go.
Half Moon Bay
Pebble Beach Golf Links
Pebble Beach, Calif. • LEG 10, 11, 12 • 1,027 MILES
ebble Beach is a golf course. Pebble Beach is a collection of five courses. P Pebble Beach is decadence. Pebble Beach is a major. Pebble Beach is a city. Pebble Beach is a national treasure. Pebble Beach, for me, is everything I’ve ever wanted from a 40-year walk with this sport. Now, I don’t have to ever say again, “Nope, I haven’t played that one.”
When you are cruising along the 101 and San Jose and the Silicon Valley are fading in the rearview mirror, it’s super-cool to see a highway sign that says, “PEBBLE BEACH NEXT EXIT.” Turning down the famed 17 Mile Drive, meanwhile, is like making it to the Wailing Wall or Vatican City. There are three roads that are THE only real stretches of asphalt with any historical significance in golf. Old Station Road, from which St. Andrews’ famed “Road Hole” takes its name. Magnolia Lane, leading to to the front door of the Augusta National clubhouse. And, finally, Pebble Beach’s 17 Mile Drive, which weaves together Poppy Hills, The Links at Spanish Bay, Spyglass Hill, the new Short Course (formerly the Peter Hay Golf Course) designed by Tiger Woods, and, of course, Pebble Beach Golf Links.
It took me two trips to cross this one off the bucket list and fully place all my pins on the rocky links shoreline of Pebble Beach. Last year, I flew down the coast to play Spanish Bay and Spyglass Hill with my good friend and golfing buddy, Jon Thunselle. He’s one of the coolest cats I know: in the dictionary, the word “chill” has a photo of a penguin and Jon next to it. He and I watched our sons and daughters grow up together, so we have a deep root that’s anchored in our hometown of Snohomish. I’ve played golf with Jon back home and in Las Vegas, so we know each other’s games and there’s not ONE ounce of competitiveness between he and I. There’s no one I’d rather pair up with to play challenging courses for the first time.
We couldn’t play Pebble on my first trip, because they were hosting the 100th U.S. Open just six days later. We walked it instead, slowing down to replay, recount and even recreate certain shots, like two teens on a driveway basketball court. We stood where Watson stood when he chipped in on 17, and walked every inch of the 18th hole — with the grandstands up, rough in its full form and everything.
For this trip, my very good college friend, Kappa Sigma brother and former college tennis teammate (my Baker University tennis career lasted exactly a year) Rick Walsh bravely and safely did a turn-and-burn flight into Northern California to join me from Kansas City. This time, I would not leave Pebble Beach without playing it. Rick had never been to Pebble Beach, and his enthusiasm and way with words had me smiling and cracking up the whole time — taking the edge off of the nervousness.
When we arrived at the course, our hearts were pounding out of our chests. We knew that we stood on holy land, and what lay ahead of us was perfection. To walk in the footsteps of giants that had played there since 1919 was more than either of us could grapple with in the moments before we teed off.
It was right about then that Rick disappeared. No, seriously. We were just about to head to the tee, and he was gone. This stressed me out — not because I thought he’d bail, but because I didn’t want to miss our call to the tee. I went to my bag and pulled out a hybrid, looking around for Rick. Suddenly, there he was — with a double vodka soda and lime in each hand. I would never slug a drink like that before playing the course of my dreams, but before we teed off, we both saw half the cocktail vanish into our bloodstream. It was like knocking back 10 milligrams of Valium; I needed it, as the six I posted on the par-4 first hole was fair assessment of my nerves at the time. For Rick, the Absolut was absolutely what he needed to chill as he parred the first and carded a freak-show 37 on the outward nine. Frankly, it was magic to see him play like that and it made my day that he rose to the occasion.
In 1928, our Gearhart friend, H. Chandler Egan, updated the course design that was originally penned by Jack Neville and Douglas Grant. Alistair Mackenzie and Robert Hunter (1927) also worked on the course, while Jack Nicklaus put his touch on the short, par-3 fifth hole in 1998.
Dick and Rick on the practice tee.
Rick’s 106-yard tee shot on 7.
The plaque of Tom Watson’s chip in on 17 and my ball.
The vista and view of the 6th hole.
LINKS
TO THE LINKS
Chambers Bay • chambersbaygolf.com Gearhart Golf Links • gearhartgolflinks.com Bandon Dunes • bandondunesgolf.com The Sea Ranch Golf Links • searanchgolf.com Half Moon Bay • halfmoonbaygolf.com Pebble Beach Golf Links •pebblebeach.com/golf The Links At Spanish Bay pebblebeach.com/golf/the-links-at-spanish-bay Spyglass Hill Golf Club pebblebeach.com/golf/spyglass-hill-golf-course Cypress Inn • cypress-inn.com
The finery is there, since the land you are taking divots out of may very well be the richest soil on Earth. For me, the experience made my two-dimensional image of the course — what I’d memorized through TV, books and magazines since I was a teen — four-dimensional. Why four, and not three? Because it’s not just the physical dimensions of the course that are tangible; you can feel the century of history all around you at every turn.
The course is a PERFECT eclectic artistic assembly of many odd turns, humps and bumps. Most all of the greens are really small; in some cases, postage stamps. Each time I plucked my ball from the hole, I found myself bummed out that I had one fewer hole left to play.
Hole one is cool, but nothing amazing. It’s a stairwell to a deck to overlook the Pacific. No. 2, however, is the welcomewagon par-5, and tight. There’s this long sand creek barranca that kills your second shot, while huge trees that don’t show up on TV are like arena football goal posts you have to split with your third. It’s awesome — not “rad” awesome — but literal, jaw-dropping awesome.
Holes 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, meanwhile, are it. They are why I came. These are the holes you dream about. I felt the wind and water at Bandon and Chambers, and it’s incredible. But, this is LINKS GOLF. This is the Pacific crashing against the rocks and your hair being blown sideways. You start heading up in elevation. You can see the insane mountain plateau of No. 6 off in the distance, inching closer and closer with every shot. Hit it too far right on any of these holes and you are in the sea. Hit it left and you’re in the fine, white sands. Hit it over the green and you’re dead. These are holes where you just try to advance the ball. Jack’s par-3 fifth — utter masterpiece. The 509-yard, par-5 sixth is sheer bliss. It looks impossible that you can even get your ball up there in three. The gorge that juts into the fairway off the tee and the steepness that follows as you hope to get your second over a blind uphill shot, is YOU trusting YOU — not your caddy, or your stroke-saver book. Standing atop the sixth fairway and looking down at Stillwater Cove on your right and Carmel Bay on your left is the best vista in golf.
What follows? For many, the greatest par-3, or perhaps the greatest hole, in golf. Next to the 18th at St. Andrews, I know of no other link that is more iconic than the 106-yard, par-3 seventh. It’s certainly the most photographed, and the social media posts of this hole are a daily following for fans across the globe. If I could only play one hole again and again, this is it. The wind is real. And, the elevated tee box makes you feel like you can pitch underhanded and hit the middle of the green. Six
bunkers guard the dartboard green orbitally. Heck, a sandy par here is almost cooler than birdie — almost. I admittedly put a three on the scorecard, and felt like I hit the California lottery. The rest of the round was gravy.
Holes nine through 16 bring you up into the hills to see some of the most beautiful homes anywhere in the world. The 572-yard 14th is considered one of the toughest par-5s on the PGA TOUR, a three-shotter even for most of them. The greens on each hole have subtleties that even a single-digit handicapper can’t see at first. And, for me, the back nine greens are a lesson in reading truths. My caddie said to focus on the blades of grass closest to the hole — if you can figure out which way they lay, then work your way back to the ball, you can start to consider a real read. Speed and break are in a different realm here. And, considering that this is one
on the Road again
of the most heavily trampled collection of putting surfaces in the world, it’s a credit to the artistry of superintendent Chris Dalhamer that they look and play this good.
When you get to 17, I hope the wind is howling. This is the famous hole where Jack’s 1-iron fired the shot heard ‘round the world at the 1972 U.S. Open, and where Watson chipped in from the fringe in 1982. A plaque is firmly planted where his Ram wedge popped the ball up just so. At 177 yards, the wind makes or breaks you here. I lipped a par putt, and all I could think about was old Tom.
The home hole 18th is a poem. It’s the end of a long journey, and playing it gave me a new respect. I’ve always dreamed of cutting the dogleg over Stillwater Cove, and what it would feel like to hit a ball out of the seawall sand trap that runs 153 yards to the green’s edge. But, of all the things about the hole, what truly struck me was the size of the tree right in front of the green. It’s THE real obstacle of the hole. Television and photos don’t do it justice. When I first saw it, I thought, Dude, pare that thing back! It blocks almost 60 percent of the green. But, earning the right to hit a shot OVER the tree and onto the green is poetic justice. Rick was on in three and staring down a 20-foot putt for bird. I hit my tee shot into the cove — sigh. But, I was hitting four over the tree to go up and down for a save. It came down and, just as quickly, bounced straight back up into the air, like it had struck a sprinkler head — in the middle of the green. Patrons on the patio overlooking the green gasped — what the hell happened? My ball had landed straight on top of Rick’s, plugged his, and caromed all the way to the back of the green. He carded a 5 and I carded a 6, but it made the final hole something to talk about.
The Links at Spanish Bay
Pebble Beach, Calif. • LEG 11
The Links at Spanish Bay is the perfect place to saddle up or come down after the round at Pebble Beach. The Lodge at Spanish Bay is all-world in every sense, and when you walk onto the grounds, you know you’re in links heaven and living fine. Although you are still on the resort property, it feels different than the Pebble Beach hub, though it’s not a drop-off by any stretch. The Lodge, shops, cuisine, bar and the famous bagpiper that helps the sun set there each night gives Spanish Bay is own chops.
If you cut the course out of the rock as it sits and placed it on the shore of Lake Michigan or the Gulf of Mexico or the mid-south Atlantic, it would be the coolest course in that state. Before playing it, I read different reviews that varied from “mind-blowing” to “overpriced.” Honestly, both times I’ve played it I was pinching myself. I mean, when you play golf along the ocean and 17 Mile Drive, what’s not to love? I love RTJ Jr. courses — perhaps since he’s been a friend to this magazine over the years — and you can really feel his stylings here. But, you also feel Sandy Tatum’s and Tom Watson’s, too, as the greens at Spanish Bay are nothing like you would see at Pebble. They are big and more resort-like. But, not easy. In fact, I thought they were faster. The three designers have their fingerprints on this place like the three tenors.
It’s 6,800 yards, and the wind makes it play like 7,500. Hole No. 1 is a sweet launch pad, with the links land rolling you all the way down from the lodge to the water. Spanish Bay is rugged and when your ball flies errant, you could be stuck in gorse or thorny beach bushes, or just plain lost in an impossible array of foliage. Where Pebble Beach is about long rough and links, Spanish Bay is about the beach life.
The 459-yard, par-4 fifth is one of the hardest on the peninsula. In fact, with the wind in your face, all the par 4s here are very challenging, requiring you to keep your second shot under the wind just to get up and down. Rick and I both treated par like a birdie that day we played it. The wind picks up more as the day draws on — you just have to embrace it and not get pissed. It’s part of links golf. Bump-and-run is the name of the game.
Never in my life have I seen so many deer up close and personal as I did at Spanish Bay. It’s clear they didn’t get the memo about social distancing. In fact, I nearly hit one with my cart, it was so close. It’s like a sanctuary there. Both times I played, I used a golf cart and finished in less than four hours, which is perfect if you want to play 36. And, that’s exactly what we had in mind, with a quick stop to let the valets scrape out the grooves before heading off to Spyglass Hill.
By the way, the staff there is amazing, and remembered my name nearly four hours after we checked in. I was impressed.
Stay At The Cypress Inn
hen you’re in Carmel, you feel cosmo, hip, cool and relevant — the vibe is a Berkeley-meets-Aspen kind of thing. It’s such W a lovely place to hang and get off the course for a few hours or even a few days. Rick and I stayed at the Cypress Inn, which is a legendary hotel, restaurant and bar that everyone there knows about. It’s been open since 1929 and is a registered historical landmark. Doris Day is the one who really put it on the map, as she owned the Inn and called it home for over 20 years.
Some of the world’s elite entertainers and who’s who have been guests there. The Spanish architecture, appointments, furnishings and art deco are all authentic. The relaxed decadence has Doris Day’s fingerprints all over it and there’s endless memorabilia at every turn. The staff treats you like you were checking into a coastal Euro villa somewhere and the outdoor courtyard of Terry’s Lounge has an ever-changing seasonal menu. The fresh seafood, steaks, chops and local greens are something James Beard would give his personal thumbs-up. There’s so many cool hidden pockets to chill out in and the mixology is world-class.
We went for broke and enjoyed a tower suite room. To open up the bay windows in the morning and hear the sounds of Carmel-by-the-Sea’s streets waking up and the Pacific’s breakers in the distance shook the slight Scotchon-the-rocks fog right out of my head. Reservations were a breeze; the hotel has other properties in the area, too.
Of course, the Inn at Spanish Bay and the Lodge at Pebble Beach would be life-long memories for sure, and you can’t ever go wrong by staying on-property, but it’s nice to meander and see what the coastal towns can offer, too.
Spyglass Hill Golf Club
Pebble Beach, Calif. • LEG 12
It’s been my experience since playing “Spy” for the first time last year, and kibitzing with other linksters that have made that loop, that you are magically cooler as a result of it. And, I love being in that kind of company.
Spanish Bay is new by Pebble Beach standards, as it hit the scene in 1987. When you play Spyglass, you are embarking on a historical journey, an amateur jewel and a PGA TOUR favorite. Many people outside of Northern California aren’t aware that the oldest course at Pebble Beach, though, is actually Del Monte Golf Club, named for the Del Monte Forest in which the resort is nestled. Del Monte is a heathland/parkland masterpiece and has been in continual operation since 1897; Del Monte and Gearhart slug it out for which was really the oldest course west of the Mississippi.
It was Del Monte that first brought public golfers to the peninsula, and it was Pebble Beach that sent shockwaves around the globe to make people pay attention. But, it was Spyglass Hill that gave Pebble Beach a 1-2-3 punch for years, long before Spanish Bay hit the scene. Spyglass has been tagged by Sports Illustrated as Pine Valley-by-the-Sea meets Augusta National. Frankly, that’s a great analogy.
Having hosted two U.S. Amateurs, and been a PGA TOUR stalwart as a co-host to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, it’s among the world’s best. At just under 7,000 yards, this par 72 brings you to your knees with a barrage of uphill, 400-yard par 4s that play more like par 5s. For a part of your trip on Spy, it seems like you never stop playing uphill.
Holes seven through 18 are a coastal forest journey like you would find at neighboring Poppy Hills, Bandon Trails or many Robert Trent Jones, Sr., tracks in Alabama. But, there’s a reason Spyglass is in this story, as its true links shine and bristle with the Pacific gales on holes one through six. Frankly, when you’re on the front nine, you can’t fathom that you will play the rest of the day in the forest; when you play the back, it’s hard to believe that you started on the beach.
The whole course is themed after the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote Treasure Island and spent a portion of his life there on the peninsula. The first hole — called, appropriately, Treasure Island — is, for me, the greatest opening hole I’ve ever played. Adjacent to the modest clubhouse, the first tee sits high atop the sweeping, boomerangshaped, dogleg-left par 5, which is 595 yards long. It bends so swiftly that you can’t even tell from the tee that the green floats on the coast. When you bomb your drive to the corner, and see what lies ahead, you just know that you are in Nirvana. The whole first hour at Spy is breathtaking and links, links, links.
I am gonna go out on a limb here and say that with some moderate wind, Spyglass Hill would be one of the top-three hardest golf courses I have ever played, the other two being Carnoustie and Pacific Dunes. It’s just amazing.
A nice bonus of visiting Spy? Seeing and meeting club professional Jin Park, who grew up in Snohomish and went to Snohomish High. In fact, I see Jin’s father up at Snohomish Valley Golf Center quite often. If you’re planning a buddies trip, corporate retreat or you are a PGA professional looking to take advantage of the Club Pro Program, please contact my good friend Levi Breck, national sales manager for Pebble Beach. He will make all your dreams come true. He can be reached at BreckL@PebbleBeach.com or 831-622-8733. He’s the best in the business.
y 2,000-mile wanderlust trip was more than a getaway: it M was a life-saver. I used the time to not just golf, but enjoy valued time with my son, Fletcher, and my friend Rick. I also saw good friends and made new ones along the way. It was reflective and soul-searching. The Bay Area is bliss to me.
I thought a lot about what had happened to America, to our soul and what the pandemic scars felt like and looked like. But, I saw the best in people. I saw that folks cared and wanted to be respectful of distance, yet still make a connection. Sometimes, even when you’re wearing a mask, you can look into someone’s eyes and see joy or sadness or disdain or fear — and they can see it in you, too.
For a little while, I just wanted to be. And, this journey helped heal and fuel a soul that is ready for what’s next.
