California Dreamin'

It’s been a long cold wet snowy winter here in Portland and when my sister suggested a spontaneous road trip along the California coastline, I couldn't get my YES out of my mouth fast enough.

It turned out to be just the right prescription for my early spring blahs and gave me a much needed boost in morale. The trip also shifted something in me; some old dreams were rekindled and a little piece of happy-go-lucky lightheartedness I felt in my later college years returned to me.

When I came to the west for the first time it was to visit my older sister at college in Claremont, California, I was 14 and it was 1981. I thought I had arrived in heaven with the stunningly beautiful campus at the foot of Mt. Baldy. Never in my life had I seen such a lush abundance of magnificent plants - the many varieties of succulents and cacti, orange and eucalyptus trees, calla lilies and birds of paradise growing everywhere. I remember going for a walk down an alley between streets and picking fresh figs and pomegranates from the trees leaning over the walkway.

My sister’s roommate took me on a day trip to Huntington beach which was about an hour away and as we drove through the citrus groves, the rolling green foothills and the valleys out to the coast, my mind was blown and I was dazzled. Woody Guthrie was right, California IS a garden of eden! Finally I had found a place beautiful enough to feed my soul and expansive enough for my mind to roam = home.

4 years later I returned as a college student to this same campus and took many a road trip exploring everything from Cabrillo Point to Mendicino to Joshua Tree to Yosemite and everything in between. I even had what I call “my slacker summer” when my best friend and I lived in a Brentwood hills house (next door to Rod Stewart) with an incredible view of the coast, and all of it for free. Within a month we had let go of every single responsibility that would detract from our all important pastimes of reading by the pool, munching on peanut butter and jelly tortillas, making great mixed tapes, smoking pot or endlessly philosophizing about life. Classes and jobs somehow just seemed unimportant.

After 25 years or so in the Pacific Northwest, I still always think sunny thoughts about California
and have so many fond memories of my 5 years there. It was my first love and I’ve never quite gotten over it.

It was so heartening to return to this beautiful coastline with with my younger sister, her 2 young munchkins and dog. These children are growing up in Manhattan and I felt so good to be with them as their perspectives expanded.

I have loads of photos but I’m attempting to show some restraint with just a few highlights. We met in LA briefly and saw one of my favorite installations at the LA County Museum sculpture garden, Chris Burden’s “Urban Light”, here with my beautiful niece.

A blissful afternoon at Pismo Beach near San Luis Obispo:

Louis was a trooper the entire trip

This kid is one with nature

Arriving in Cambria for the night. For the rest of the trip I fantasized about moving to this sleepy, friendly gorgeous little town sandwiched between the nation’s most ecologically preserved coastal area and the Paso Robles wine country.

Although this isn't the best shot, I'm including it since so much of the drive was through our nation's breadbasket in the central valley where so much of our food is grown.

Monterey Aquarium is the best I've ever witnessed and we watched the sea otter feeding and I was so taken with their cuteness that I forgot to take any photos.

Once again, mother nature's son in his element at one of the Redwood forests we visited. These forests smell like heaven.

Eating a gluttonous meal at Nanking in San Francisco's Chinatown:

Beautiful tile nearby:

Finished in Sebastopol with an unbelievably delicious dinner and some visiting and learning about life on my sister’s farm with her 2 ultra-pregnant Icelandic sheep.

the coast near Sebastopol

Thanks for reading my post about my trip, I hope a little goodness rubs off on you, have a beautiful day!