Of course, while you're checking into Pearly Gate Suites (or Hotel Inferno), the people you've left behind are stuck with what's left of you on this planet. With the skyrocketing price of traditonal funerals/burials, many people are opting for cremation. And, with relaxed regulations in California concerning the manner in which the ashes may be disposed, there's a whole new crop of entrepreneurs offering unusual ways to cover your ashes.

Remember the song "Up, Up and Away (In My Beautiful Balloon)"? There's one outfit that offers the dearly departed's remains a final airborne ride; and when the balloon ultimately bursts, the ashes are scattered to the four winds. And there's one guy whose wife put his ashes in a whisky bottle and turned it into a lamp--because she's always turned him on.

There's a touch of whimsy and a touch of pathos in Tai Moses' cover story about a subject we'll all face someday.

Those furry, masked nuisances who made so much trouble in Pacific Grove have taken their mischief to Carmel. Although there seems to be a truce brewing between the raccoons and two-legged residents in Butterfly Town, humans in Carmel are frothing, one side claiming the raccoons are a deadly menace and the other side defending the 'coons right to life. Click News Features. (Sorry, we couldn't get any comment from the raccons themselves.)

In the Arts and Theater section you can sample some Turkish delight, with a feature highlighting this weekend's Turkish Festival. And stop by the Feast section to read what our dining critic has to say about the revamped Hog's Breath Inn.