Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/898390
C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 7 125 Another silver lining: Carey says the staff noticed dramatic health improvements. "Patients walked the trail twice a day, going to work, getting prescriptions," she says. "They found they had more energy, they lost weight, slept better at night." Now that the bridge has opened, Carey hopes for a re-awakening. "Maybe the lessons we all learned will resonate," she says. One of those lessons involved easing life's pace. Quiet island life reminded residents how it used to be. "Being on the island is kind of what you initially wanted it to be when you came to Big Sur," says Magnus Toren, director of the Henry Miller Library. "It showed the face you fell in love with, accentuated by the silence. It's the quality of the place you don't have when it's busy." Kenny Wright, for decades one of two CHP resident officers in Big Sur, felt like he jumped into a time machine. "I remember in the '70s getting into the patrol car after Labor Day and driving up to the north end and driving back and not seeing more than 10 cars all day," he says. Wright hated to see the bridge come down, of course, but he has fond memories of walking the trail and gathering with his neighbors at the post office, or the Taphouse, or a quiet spot along the highway. "It was an incredible opportunity for this community to bond," says Wright, who lives north of the bridge with wife Mary. "We walked that trail a lot, at least twice a week, just to see friends and be supportive. We could all slow way down." The favorite place for that Zen experience was the deck at Nepenthe, the iconic Big Sur restaurant named after a fictional medicine for sor- row—a drug of forgetfulness. Residents from each side of the bridge gath- ered there and it became Big Sur's new living room. "I can't tell you how many afternoons we hung out and visited with people, having a glass of wine, playing ping pong, hanging out, reflecting on how wonderful it was," Wright says. Kirk Gafill, who manages the restaurant his family launched in 1947, called it "a pause in the day-to-day jumble." "We've all found silver linings, which is almost psychologically necessary to get through something like that," says Gafill, whose efforts in serving his neighbors and employees earned him 2017 Small Business of the Year award from Senator Bill Monning (D-Carmel). "You don't have a choice. Anger doesn't accomplish anything." In a statement, Monning acknowledged Gafill and his staff with "going Iconic Nepenthe Restaurant, perched over the stunning Pacific with views of the Santa Lucia Mountains, became a gathering place for the Big Sur residents who were isolated by the Highway 1 road slides.