California Coastin'

It's been 9 months since my last blog post and obviously so much has happened! I recently got married which I will share in a later entry... and my creative brain has been else where; wandering the roads between beads, curves of crystals and pathways of putting together personal ornaments for my jewelry line Wanderlust Fashion! I haven't been sharing much on here because I've been keeping it very personal by recently purchasing a journal, which I promised myself to write in for the new year! However, after taking a recent road trip up the coast of California, I found myself in need to share my travels, but more importantly the photos from my travels, because that's the whole reason I started this blog in the first place!

4 Days, 2 people, 1 rabbit, endless destinations and nothing but an open road and open mind!

Highway 1: I have driven this road before, but with different people and as a much different experience... I was new to California and felt the need to see these towns as a tourist! Now that I am older, wiser and much more well-traveled, I opt out on the uncomfortably awkward tourist traps and trade them in for the less known localities and secret spots!

Each view was new again, every curve brought a new discovery. It was almost actually scary at times, as the road winds around the cliffs, with nothing between you and the ocean but sheer cliffs and rocks tumbling to the ocean! But the beauty was overwhelming, especially after all the rain, making the distant mountains and hills covered in green and yellow! The view was like a never-ending roller coaster strewn across the coast, perfectly placed along the roadside with wildflowers blanketed beautifully between its tracks. Sometimes you just have to stop and take in the view and appreciate the landscape as much as possible!

Our original plan was to drive the entire Pacific Coast Highway from San Diego to San Francisco but a rare 200 year California storm thought otherwise. Mother Nature had different plans, closing the entire Highway 1 to and from Big Sur, so we shifted our route to Santa Barbara then took CA 101 to Carmel, a quaint town lined with cottages, drove the 17-Mile stretch to Monterey then up the coast to Santa Cruz, stopping at the colorful and quaint beach town of Capitola! It made our journey that much longer, but well worth it!

CARMEL BY THE SEA

17-MILE DRIVE

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA

CAPITOLA, CALIFORNIA

They say a road trip is about the journey, not the destination, and in this case, on this day, it really was! We stopped in so many gorgeous places: Morro Rock, Santa Cruz, Natural Bridges State Beach, Shark Fin Cove, Panther Beach, Pigeon Point, Half Moon Bay and the infamous surf spot Mavericks, and Devil's Slide where the ocean meets the land in the most stunning array of beauty that takes your breath away!

MORRO BAY

  

SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA

 

NATURAL BRIDGES STATE BEACH

SHARK FIN COVE

PANTHER BEACH

PIGEON POINT 

HALF MOON BAY

DEVILS SLIDE

 

There's nothing better for you than travel, letting go of comfort, safety, and stability of one's routine. In all honesty, I'd choose wild, uncomfortable and unknown over easy and expected any day! No fear of being broke, lost, or having to start all over again... this was our new beginning, as a married couple starting our journey together! We were making it a priority to invest in the experience, knowing that adventuring outside of our little bubble will only make us richer, more creative and better at whatever our day to day brings! I cannot sit still! I cannot do ONE thing and I definitely cannot do the SAME thing over and over again! There's so much to see, feel and learn! I travel to keep myself awake, curious, to learn about people and places and to understand the human experience! Taking myself away from home takes me out of my ego and into the bigger picture! We all need an outlet outside of our regular routine to refuel and re-calibrate and that's what travel is to me!

"But we lean forward to the next crazy adventure beneath the skies" 

- Jack Kerouac