Stephen Mejias

I was in California last week, spending time with Jon Iverson and working on our “Recommended Components” feature for the April 2010 issue. Jon and Corrina made me feel very much at home, made me feel like a king, made me feel very spoiled and very fortunate. California made me feel very connected to the earth, surrounded me with beauty, reminded me that the most wonderful moments in life are made more beautiful when you’ve got someone to share them with.

I stayed at the Lucia Lodge, on the side of a sloping cliff, overlooking the enormous ocean, about 20 miles south of Big Sur Valley. The land was rough, the ocean was rough, the weather was rough. We saw mudslides, falling rocks, hail; heavy winds howled and sent the hills shivering. Due to the bad weather, I was the only guest at Lucia. In the mornings, Tom, the lodge manager, would open the restaurant just for me. He’d greet me at the door, ask me what I’d like to eat, go into the kitchen and cook my meal, bring it out to me. He did the same at dinner time.

“Tom,” I told him one night, “you treat me way too well.”

“Oh, I treat everyone this way,” he replied.

If you ever get the chance to visit the Big Sur area, please spend some time at the Lucia Lodge and tell Tom I said hello.

On our way there, Jon Iverson and I stopped at Ragged Point for lunch. A few miles up the road, we stopped and looked out at the rocky coast and the cold blue ocean and took some pictures.