Oh, do I have Big Sur dreams. I've been lucky enough to tag on an extra day or so in this part of heaven the last few years when traveling for work. It served as a sort of "spring break" and I didn't get one this year!! Thus, my wanderlust is hitting me a little harder than ever.
The perfect day would include some wandering around scenic Highway 1 (perhaps hopping out for some tree hugging and hiking down to McWay Falls)...
...and then finding our way to Pfeiffer Beach with a bottle of local wine to enjoy the last few hours of sunshine breathing in the fresh air, watching the surfers, and digging all sorts of beach vibes. Harmonicas are helpful too.
This beach in particular is pretty f-ing magical. I mean, there's purple sand. Yes, purple. And the locals are pretty awesome too. When I was there last spring with a good friend, we were invited over for dinner by a man we met on the beach who lived in a house his father built in the 1960s on the cliff above. Actually he lived in his own house next to it that he built complete with a long outdoor dinner table and open air fireplace. We sat with him and some friends and exchanged stories while he cooked us a homemade meal (his friend from Spain made paella from scratch), we climbed on top of his green roof which was full of kale he was growing along the perimeter (dreams!), we checked out his green building next door where he was designing furniture but also allowed the space to be used for local yoga retreats... I mean you wouldn't believe all of it if I told you! Oh yes and there may have been a natural hot tub that we all swam in during which I saw at least 5 shooting stars. Magic, I say! We learned that our new friend recently moved back home to Big Sur after leaving a prestigious tech career in San Francisco - making a choice to find meaning in a simpler life. Instead of spending the rest of his life designing software and logos for Apple or Google (which one I don't remember...they're the same, right?), he wanted to make something that mattered to him. He wanted to get his hands dirty and get back to actually creating. I was basically drooling while listening to his story; Big Sur has always been one of those fantastical places I imagine quitting my NYC life for. How could anyone complain waking up and falling asleep in a place like this? It's green, it's beautiful, it's grounded. I mean it is the definition of a good quality of life.
I did return to NYC as planned, and went back to the grind. However, it was such a breath of fresh air to taste a different pace of life and mentality. What a dream it was to walk on purple sand and tell stories about what we dream of creating with our lives around a camp fire. We're due to taste that again soon, right? In the meantime, we've got Wednesdays.
notes:
- pfeiffer beach is a little bit hidden, and they only allow a certain amount of people in at the same time. we checked out other people's directions and pointers on yelp, and they were pretty helpful! we knew we wanted to see the sunset, so we got there several hours before to hang out and brought layers.
- i really wanted to go to the hot springs, but it's pretty expensive to go. however, they do have public hours for $30 from 1am-3am here that seem like quite the experience. our local friends said they used to sneak in there all the time as teenagers. even though we didn't make it here last time, we still got lucky with a natural hot spring under the moonlight with shooting stars!