Refuge By The Sea

I’ve been down at a conference at Asilomar near Monterey the past couple of days. It’s been blessedly foggy here, following the days of 100 degree heat in Davis. Asilomar is a famous lovely conference site, started almost a hundred years ago amidst a native Monterey pine forest just upslope from sand dunes, a white sandy beach, and the Pacific Ocean. In terms of wildlife, I’ve seen a fawn outside my room window, a young deer with antlers just outside the dining hall, Heermann’s gulls on the beach, acorn woodpeckers, and raccoons. They say a there’s a local mountain lion with Asilomar on his beat as well. The big meeting room in which I’m writing this was built in 1915, designed by Bay Area architect Julia Morgan and is an exemplar of Arts and Crafts style, complete with lettering in versals on the horizontal beams halfway up to the ceiling.

Very nice. Let’s not forget my favorite sound here—the bell rung from the top of the social hall announcing meal times!