loveliness.

For that one guy’s birthday a few weeks ago we went on a “lost weekend” road trip. We just jumped in the car early on a Saturday morning, and took off driving, with no idea where we would end up. We headed south, and jumped on Highway 1 south, right along the coast, and enjoyed the amazing views, and stopped at every beach along the way. It was soo good to be near the ocean again, I know I’m really not that far from it, but it feels like it sometimes.

In Hawaii, whenever I was having a bad day, or something would happen to upset me, I always just went to the beach. Something about sitting there with the sun shining down on me watching the waves come in reminds me that my life is actually pretty great. Just being on the beach gets me out of my head, and makes me appreciate all of the good things in life, plus, to me, it smells like home.

 

We drove down the coast through Santa Cruz, Monterey and ended up in Carmel. I don’t know why, but I’ve always wanted to go there, despite knowing absolutely nothing about it. I am pretty sure it’s because of the movie “Charlie’s Angels” where Cameron Diaz detects the call of pygmy nuthatch, which leads them to the only place in the world they live, Carmel.. which is embarrassing, and also reminds me that I need to watch fewer movies.

We  toured around Carmel which is the cutest little town ever, and also happens to be home to some of the most amazing mansions I’ve ever seen. The town was full of super adorable little shops, all I wanted to do was drink wine and purchase artwork, or possibly open up a sweet shop like the lady from Chocolat (again, fewer movies). 

We toured around the Seventeen Mile Road by the Pebble Beach golf course which was so stunning that I almost wished I was a golfer, rather than just someone who likes to drink Mike’s Hard in the golf cart, and so many of the trees are covered in Spanish moss, it was gorgeous.

We had beach picnics, went shopping, stopped at a crazy cool farmer’s market and got a week’s worth of fresh produce for like $5.00. We stayed in a terrifying motel that was kind of dirty and in between 3 liquor stores. We stopped at our favourite brunch place in Capitola for breakfast and mimosas. It was a really great weekend.

 

We are definitely going to be doing more trips like this in the future. Sometimes I get so caught up in all of the places I want to see in the world, Europe, Thailand, Brazil, etc. etc., that I forget to take advantage of the really neat places that are only a few hours away, or even right in my own backyard.