It’s our favorite sunset spot in Pacific Grove, right smack in front of Mr Handy’s Lighthouse.

Mr Handy was a volunteer Lighthouse docent for over 20 years.

When we met, he was no longer a docent but one of my residents in a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly.

My office was located in the wing where Mr Handy lived.

He was a wonderful story-teller and he was one of my favorites….. one of many. 

He never ran out of Ocean tales and I never tired of hearing them.

The beautiful piece of jade that sits on my desk was given to me by Mr Handy.  

What made it even more special was that Mr Handy dove for it himself.  

He loved telling me about his once-upon-a-times when he was a diver off The Big Sur Coast and he remembered the exact spot he’d found that piece of jade.

His descriptions of the many caves and caverns where he and his fellow divers explored and found beautiful treasures always left me feeling like I’d been there with them.

Nope, we were not suppose to take gifts from our residents but some rules, I believe are made to be broken.

Whenever we’re lucky enough to be in Pacific Grove, we always head over to our favorite spot in front of Mr Handy’s Lighthouse and watch the waves roar over the rocks and the sun dip into the sea.

It’s like going to a movie.

………………..

I call them the Sunset People.

Slowly the cars begin to turn in, they park facing the water and get ready for the show.  

Some leave their cars and wander down to the beach.

Some set up their tripods anticipating the perfect shot.

Others sit in their cars and just stare out into the blue.

We lived in this heavenly hamlet for seven magical years.

It never got old.

Sometimes we sat on the sand in front of the tidepools, huddled close in a blanket.

Sometimes we sat up on the big rocks and I snapped one beautiful scene after another. 

Many times we stayed in our car and ate dinner;  pizzas, burgers and salads sitting in our car, watching the magic happen.

The Pelicans, Pteradactyl’s from another time, pass by in formation just before the big dip begins, sometimes hundreds of them. 

Have you ever watched them?

It’s synchronized flying.

They approach in V-formation then in front of the crowds of people watching and snapping pictures, they turn into a long straight line and then dip down one after another close to the water looking like a wave of birds. 

Then back up and into their V and they disappear.

They know we’re watching!

I’ve always wondered where they were coming from and where they were going.  

And yep we’ve seen them many mornings flying back to wherever, for the day.

……………………

I’m always interested in the people who come for the show.  

Families, young people, older people, men and women together and alone and lovers, ah the lovers.

I’ve seen people weeping alone and wondered, what was happening to them at that moment in life to make them cry? 

Were they they missing someone…..someone who used to watch the beautiful magic with them?

Usually people don’t talk much at the sun set, it’s kinda quiet, almost like church.

So many times I’ve wanted to find out more about some of the sunset people.

………………..

We were on our way to an early dinner.

In all the years, whenEVER we pass by our favorite spot, we cruise slowly and if the waves are hitting “Lobo’s rock” with great force and shooting the water straight up……we stop and watch.

Doesn’t matter where we’re going or the time, if the water’s rockin’and the waves are rollin’, we stop.

We were cruisin’ through and just getting ready to leave the bumpy, narrow, dirt parking path and enter the road when I saw Thelma.

She was standing alongside her car staring out.

In a moment we were gonna be back on the road and headed toward dinner but, well there she was, her shirt said THELMA and there was another woman sitting in the passenger side of the car…..had to be LOUISE, right?

“Lobo, stop. I gotta get out.”

Stopping on a dime as we pass something interesting-looking to me has been going on for MANY years.  

He’s got it down.  

Knows just how to do it. 

She saw me walking toward her and smiled and I’m guessing she figured it was about the shirt.

I introduced myself, explained that my curiosity got the best of me and would she tell me about her and Louise.

And so she did…..

They began as good friends in the early 70’s, four of them, the two women and their husbands.

They lived in Sacramento.

They traveled up and down California together but like many of us, the Monterey Peninsula pulled them back time after time.  

Their lives were intertwined with their families, children, grandchildren, and all the expected and unexpected happenings that come along.

They shared the good, the bad, the happy and sad.

Time passed and the foursome turned into a trio; Thelma, Louise and one husband.

“We let him hang-out with us and follow us around just the same” she told me with a smile.

And as it goes, one day they became just Thelma and Louise, just the two of them.

They decided not to quit, they were still here and so was California and so their trips continued.

They loved it when they were four, learned how to deal with it when they were three and had learned to start all over again as two.

“We come here often” she told me.

“It’s so peaceful, so beautiful.”

“Tell her about our club.”

It was Louise and she was pulling something out of the back seat.

“Take a look.”

She handed a photo book to Thelma and she began flipping the pages.

There they were, the two of them, page after page of photos, backwards to long ago and forward to now.

It was Thelma, Louise and lots of others all with one thing in common……NOVAS.

They belonged to a Nova Car Club. 

 

These two ladies in particular each sported their own Nova convertible, cute little cars from days gone by.

“Do you ever take them on your trips?” I asked.

“Oh no”, they chimed in unison, “stictly for shows.”

………………..

Cars were beginning to try to pass by my waiting uber driver and I knew it was time to thank them and say good-bye.

I DID remind them NOT to try to replicate the ending of that great “Thelma & Louise” movie.

They both laughed and said that everytime they leave on a trip, they have to promise their adult daughters that there will be no flying off the edge into the great beyond.

The final thing Thelma told me was that there was really three of them.

They had another friend who wasn’t able to make this trip but they were most often together.

And the name on her shirt?

It simply said……….”and.”