One Last Fling of a Pebble
Ok, I did it. I committed to one last trip to Pebble Beach for Monterey Car Week. It’ll be my seventh time there and, to be honest, I’m a little leery of how crowded and crazy it will be. I keep reading every year how it’s getting wilder. I was last there in 2021. Things seem to have changed a lot in five years. I guess we will see.
In anticipation of the lunacy, I’m breaking it up this year. For the first time I’ve also successfully been able to book rooms using points, costing me zero dollars. Seeing as how they quadruple their normal room rates that’s a big deal.
Anyway, we will be arriving on Tuesday in time to participate in an Astons on the Ave show in Carmel, followed by the Motorlux event at the Jet Center. Thursday so far is open; we’ll figure it out later. That afternoon we will head to Solvang, about a three hour drive down the coast. A couple days wine tasting, and short dashes to Santa Barbara, San Louis Obispo, and Paso Robles before heading back to the Pebble Beach Concours early Sunday morning. Then, it’s make the escape out of town to spend the night in Galt, just south of Sacramento for the way home.
It’ll be interesting to see if anyone from the Seattle area wants to join us on the drive. I’ve heard rumblings of some interest, but we will see. These group things have a way of going the way of the do-do bird unless someone takes the bull by the horns and herds all the cats. Is that enough idioms in one sentence for you? You get the idea.
Anyway, I’m excited for one last go. Maybe we can squeeze in one or two Aston-sponsored events, or a Pebble Beach Car Forum. Neither of those have published schedules yet. That’s part of the organized chaos of this thing – schedules and events often don’t get formalized until late May or June. But accommodations fill quickly, so you more or less have to commit to a certain number of days and then find ways to fill them in the best ways possible.
Some of the events are extremely expensive. The Quail always seems to top that list, as they limit the number of tickets and charge $1500 and up per ticket. You gotta really want to go or you just don’t care about the cost. It’s a great event, not too crowded, a beautiful venue with high end food and wine paid with your admission. If you don’t want to spend the money, the parking lots on the adjacent fairways are full of fantastic cars, too. The only downside to this event is getting out of there – it can take over three hours just to get back to the highway.
With a Hagerty discount, the Motorlux and the Pebble Beach Concours both start at $550 and go up quickly from there. Italiano Concorso is also getting spendy at $260 a pop. And there are numerous auctions where entry and spectator fees are required. All that said, never fear – there are plenty of low cost or free events that are great fun.
The Little Car Show and the Concours d’Lemons are a couple of my favorites, but there are also plenty of others, like the Porsche Werks Reunion, Monterey British, Legends of the Autobahn, and Women’s Prancing Ponies. For racing fans, while it’s not free, there’s the Rolex Monterey Motorsport Reunion at Laguna Seca and the Motorsport Pre-reunion. That’s over a week packed with vintage car racing.
The options are nearly endless. You will never come close to seeing everything. And expect gridlock wherever you go. I think an e-bike would be ideal, but for me that means leaving the car at home. That defeats half the purpose of going!
For the moment, the challenge now is the waiting and the planning as things come into focus. This will be fun. If you like cars and good people stories, you should try this it at least once. Onward!
