Winter Breakaway

I just got back from a post-vacation yoga class at my favorite studio, Yoga to the People, here in San Francisco. What a break that I had!

This year (my first ever not going home to Colorado for the break) I went with Tom down to Los Angeles where his father and brother live. On the drive down (typically 6 hours, traffic put us in after about 9 hours) we actually took with us two Zimriders (a new ride-sharing program) and had the good fortune to have a rider who had stories of live and travel galore! So while the trip was long and not particularly pretty (we drove down I-5 through the central valley of California, which looks like Kansas, just a bit more hilly) we had nice company along the way.

After dropping off the riders, we arrived at our location for a short week in Tustin. Dave, Tom's dad, was a great host, greeting us with beer and some much needed dinner. We got to watch a few movies on their massive in-home movie screen (it amazes me the entertainment stations people have!) and more than my annual allotment of professional football and basketball. Dave is a master cook, so we had great food, nice company, and even got to wake up at 5am on Christmas morning to see the only young one in the family, Hope at 3 years old, groggily come downstairs then hunt for Santa before she ripped open all her presents (little kids make Christmas feel so much more like the holiday!)



After a few days there, we spent a night in Long Beach with Tom's brother before I got to have a reunion with two of my closest college girl friends. We met Kristin in Silver Lake for a late lunch of Berlin Currywurst dogs (super delicious). That night we traveled over to the well-kept suburb of West Lake where Kat and Andy live as Kat works to attain her Masters in Nursing. A night of catching up, talking about sailing, and discussion of their upcoming adventures in Mexico ensued and the next day we left them to make our way to Santa Barbara.

The goal of this trip was to have no plan, to be home for the new year (maybe) and to just see where each day took us along the Pacific Coast Highway (hereby called Highway 1 or "the 1"). After a late start getting out of LA, we tallied along a beach somewhere near Santa Monica before driving north to Santa Barbara. At noon I pulled out my phone and booked us a room for that night, using HotelTonight of course! Feeling lazy we wandered the streets for a while before deciding to catch a double header (we watched Lincoln and This is 40, both good films in their own right).

Saturday, we made our way up to Monterey, this time booking at Casa Munras, again on the HotelTonight app. The drive from Santa Barbara to Monterey Bay is an absolutely breathtaking one. The 1 takes you alongside the ocean with waves crashing on the beach, or you drive at the edge of a cliff with the water splashing up below. As the sun was setting the road unfortunately carried us away from the water, but not even a mile in we saw a turn out that said beach. Without hesitation Tom swung the car across the road and we ended up trekking down a single lane dirt road. It turned out we made a great decision.

Just as the water dipped below the horizon we arrived on Julia Pfeiffer beach, where some beautiful rock formations did their best to obstruct the waves crashing toward the shore. We meandered along the beach, noticing that the sand was a strange purple color (I still can't figure out why) before darkness settled and we made our way back to the car.

Our next day was in Monterey, an old fishing town where every sardine you've ever eaten was likely caught. After walking along the Cannery area, we drove to Carmel to spend our final evening. While Monterey is the ugly t-shirt and snow globe kind of touristy town, Carmel is the place of luxury and international tourism. For this last night we stayed at the Luxe option on HotelTonight, Tradewinds Carmel. The property was pristine, with a zen essence and 5-star service. I enjoyed the kimono's they had instead of a bath robe and got the most out of their noon check-out time.

The final drive home felt right, still making our way along the coast, though with views far less dramatic than the last long haul. We arrived into San Francisco in the evening, just before grocery stores closed, so we could buy a few fancy pieces to make a nice new years eve dinner. I baked lobster and at midnight we went a mile down the road to see the fireworks shoot off above the Bay Bridge.