Motor Rainbow

Monterey, being idyllically set near both ocean and mountains, I'm learning is quite a popular destination for large scale events. With Laguna Seca race track just a few miles from downtown Monterey, car events like the Cherries Jubilee and Course de Elegance and Courso Italiano are par for the course (the Pebble Beach golf course to be exact) and they always draw big crowds to our little corner of the coastal world. Sleepy downtown streets are transformed for a few days into hot beds of hot rod activity and real life European stereotypes roam the streets-- their linen suits a flutter in the salty breeze. People really do come from far and wide to attend these exclusive car auctions, and the money-- oh, the money. It's just oozing from everywhere. Diamonds and designer bags the size of small countries roam the streets wild and untamed; men in crocodile shoes and patterned capris and all-but-bashful bling... New money, old money, new cars, old cars-- all strolling, rolling and swirling about.

Ian loves to take it all in. Every car, every detail about every car; he loves to hear the motors roar (or putter in some cases), smell the leather, gawk with awe at the price tags and chortle at the top speeds... It's like his own personal version of heaven.

As for me? Well, there's simply not enough caramelized bacon to hold my interest, frankly. But I still go to support the home team. I take pictures of the shiny, Skittles-colored cars for Ian so he can remember the few days a year of drooling and coveting and geeking out about things with motors. I also look at the auction prices of some of the cars and consider all the other things I can think of to spend that amount of money on... Things like a house, or five houses, or a small country. A small country where I'd allow only linen suits and bacon.