Shelton A. Gunaratne ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚© 2010

My mother, 70, arrived in Los Angeles on 4 Dec. 1983 after a stay with my youngest sister Nayana in London to supervise the closure of our year in Fullerton and to help out my wife Yoke-Sim, who was in the last month or two of her pregnancy. Junius, Yoke-Sim and I were at the L.A. International Airport to welcome her. Mother brought gifts for each of us. We brought her home (Larry TaylorƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s condo in Wellesley Court, Fullerton, that we were occupying during the exchange year) about 9.30 p.m.

Mother recovered from her travel-related headache the next day. She was delighted to be in the company of her grandson Junius. Over the next few days, Junius took upon himself the task of orienting his Grandma (ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-AachhiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚) to the layout and facilities of our enclosed community and often accompanied her to the nearby Gemco Shopping Center. One Friday night (9 Dec.), we honored her with a dinner at Good Earth Restaurant in Brea.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Three of our East Indian neighbors at Wellesley CourtƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚Razeek and Cheryl Alibullah and Ebrahim UnwallahƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚joined us at the dinner.

Despite her reluctance to travel because of advancing age, I arranged in motherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s honor an excursion of Carmel and Monterey PeninsulaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  (three nights); San Francisco and Bay Area (four nights) and Santa Barbara (one night).ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  We had skipped these areas during our two long summer trips.

We agreed to terminate the Fullerton year step by step: Junius and Yoke-Sim would return to our home in Australia at the end of December so Yoke-Sim would encounter no problems in giving birth to Carmel the next month. Mother would stay with me until I completed the teaching session at Fullerton College and leave the United States on 27 Jan. 1984. I would disembark in Hawaii for a weeklong excursion while mother would fly directly to Australia to join Junius and Yoke-Sim.

Carmel Connection

Now, let me explain how Carmel got her name.

Carmel was a fetus, just 45 days pending her birth in Rockhampton, Australia, when we (including Junius and my mother) spent eight days in the Monterey Peninsula and Bay Area in mid-December 1983ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚almost at the end of our Fullerton year. I had visited the Monterey Peninsula in late 1966, during my World Press Institute year, to interview bare-footed folk-singer Joan Baez at her Carmel retreat. I fell in love with the serenity, beauty and enchantment of Carmel on that occasion. I wanted my entire family to experience a similar sensation by visiting the self-same spot on earth.

The 36-mile (58-km) Carmel River, which originates in the Santa Lucia Mountains, flows northwest through the Carmel Valley and winds its way to disgorge itself to the Pacific Ocean at Carmel-by-the-Sea (simply called Carmel). Each of us experienced varying degrees of enchantment as we drove on a Saturday afternoon (17 Dec.) along the 60-mile stretch of County Road G16 that cuts through the Carmel Valley from just north of King City, Calif., to Carmel-by-the-Sea (simply called Carmel).

We reached Carmel Valley Village (population 4,700) about 4.30 p.m., stopped at the post office and visited the shopping square. We arrived in Carmel (current population 4,100) after dark, and checked in at Motel 6 (2124 Fremont St.), just north of Monterey Pines, for three nights.

Located on the southeast corner of the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel had a reputation as an artistsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ colony when I first stopped there. The town has had several mayors who were artists or actorsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚e.g., Herbert Heron, Perry Newberry and Clint Eastwood.

We spent most of Sunday morning assiduously attempting to see all the attractions along the Monterey Peninsula coastƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚FishermanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Wharf, built in 1846; Cannery Row, made famous by novelist John Steinbeck; St MaryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s-by-the-Sea, Lovers Point Park and Monarch butterfly sanctuary in Pacific Grove; Point Pinos Lighthouse Reservation, etc. Then, via Asilomar State Beach, we entered the scenic17-Mile Drive at the Lighthouse Gate ($4 admission per car) to see the gated communityƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobilesƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚of Pebble Beach owned and operated by the Pebble Beach Corporation. Pebble Beach, with fewer than 5,000 relatively affluent residents, is well known for its seven 18-hole golf courses. We left the 17-Mile Drive at the Carmel Gate.

We topped the day with a visit to Big Sur, 40 miles south of Carmel on scenic SR1. It is the area where the St. Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean with the Cone Peak ascending nearly a mile above sea level. We drove up to the point where landslides of 1983 blocked the highway. The awesome cliffs of Big Sur overwhelmed our senses. However, the beauty of the place came at a priceƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚the danger of landslides.

On Monday, our third day in Carmel, we spent most the morning at the Point Lobos Ecological Reserve, a marine-protected patch of the Pacific coast just south of Carmel. It contains a number of hiking trails, many next to the ocean, and a smaller number of beaches. I walked on the North Shore Trail from Camry Point to Cypress Cove, where I saw the Old Veteran Cypress. Then all the familyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚Junius, Yoke-Sim and my motherƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚joined me to walk on the Cypress Grove Trail and the Sea Lion Point Trail. Finally, I took the Bird Island Trail through China Cove and returned to the reserve entrance along the South Plateau Trail.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The ability to exercise ourselves in scenic splendor was another positive impression of Carmel conjured in our minds.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

Just north of Point Lobos, we stopped at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (Carmel Mission), the headquarters of the original Alta California Missions headed by the Rev. JunƒÆ’†’ƒ”š‚­pero Serra from 1770 until his death in 1784.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Just west of the mission, we visited the Tor House and Hawk Tower built by poet Robinson Jeffers in 1919.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The Purse Seine,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ a poem written by Jeffers dwelling on the fishing industry, provides an example of the impact of Carmel on JeffersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ work. Prior to eating lunch at the Carmel Plaza in downtown Carmel, we also stopped by to appreciate the Carmel Beach City Park, Carmel Art Association and Forest Theater. In the afternoon, we delved further into the history of the area by joining a guided tour the Monterey State Historical Park, which includes 17 contributing buildings (e.g., Casa Sobaranes, Casa del Oro, Pacific House, Custom House, Stevenson House, etc). The site became a National Historic Landmark in 1970.

Although we had to say good-bye to Carmel on Tuesday (20 Dec.) to tour San Francisco over the next four days, we spent most of Tuesday also in the Monterey area.

We started the day with an early visit to Jacks Peak Park, where we spent almost an hour hiking the nature trail (while my mother remained in the car). Then, we returned to the historical district for the 10 a.m. tour of the R.L. Stevenson House (at 530 Houston St.) R.L. Eugene, our guide, filled us with information for 45-minutes and ended his spiel after showing us the second-floor room that Stevenson, a Scottish writer, rented in autumn 1879 to court his future wife Mary Osbourne. While living in this room in what was then called the French Hotel, Stevenson wrote articles for the local Monterey newspaper that captured the essence of the “Old Pacific Capital.”

Thereafter, we walked to see the Royal Presidio Chapel originally built in 1770 by Padre Serra; Colton Hall, where the California constitution was written in 1849; Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies and assorted venues. At the Presidio of Monterey, we saw the remains of Fort Mervine, near the J. D. Sloat Monument. From there, we went to Dennis the Menace Playground to eat lunch and let Junius amuse himself to his heartƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s content.

We left for San Francisco in the afternoon thinking of Carmel as a potential retirement retreat. Since medical evidence attested that Yoke-Sim would give birth to a daughter, made in California but to be delivered in Queensland, we followed the Middle Path by naming her Carmel Maya (after BuddhaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s mother; Sirima [Ratwatte] was not an option) to remember one of the most enchanted spots in the world. Thereby, we artfully tried to show the potential of East-West co-existence, not antagonism.

N.B.: Similarly, I have explained in my ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Journey of a JournalistƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ series why we gave our son the name Junius Asela (after a modern Sinhala politician who showed much promise in 1980 but disappointed his people as he grew old; and a second century B.C. Sinhala king).

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Next: California Exploits: Uncovering San Francisco

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  (The writer is a professor of mass communications emeritus, Minnesota State University Moorhead.)

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Figure 1: The Scenic Route from A=King City to C=Carmel-by-the-Sea via B=Carmel Valley. D=Monterey State Historical Park; E=Point Lobos; F=Big Sur

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ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Picture 1: We went to Dennis the Menace Playground in Monterey to eat lunch and let Junius amuse himself to his heartƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s content (20 Dec. 1983). Junius climbed up a train engine while mother and Yoke-Sim ambled in the enclosure.

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Picture 2: A three-generational representation of mother (Punchi Hamine), son (the writer) and grandson (Junius) at Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo (Carmel Mission). We visited the mission on 19 Dec. 1983.