There's a place in the Sequoia National Forest where you can camp with a view of miles of mountains and millions of stars. My sis was awesome enough to book a night there a couple of weeks ago for a little B-day getaway, so me, Jimbo & Steph drove down to the southwest tip of Sequoia and soaked in our little campsite-with-a-view. We hiked and ate and watched birds and had a fire, and jammed out to our favorite 90s tunes. We read hilarious, romantic and sad stories in the stuffed-full guest journals left behind in the hut, and wrote a 'poem' together (I use that term loosely) to remember the night by. We squished all the earwigs (sorry, earwigs) and tried to cure Jim of his fear of heights. We declared it OK to leave the door open on the cutest little outhouse you ever did see. We made a meal out of olives, cheese, salami and wine and fell asleep to the view of starry, starry skies. 

For more info on the Oak Flat Fire Lookout, click here. 

A Day at Long Lake

On Saturday, Jimmy and me and our "Tahoe fam" had a magical day at Long Lake, a *secret* place just about 20 miles west of Truckee. The long dirt road + short hike to get there seem to keep randos at bay, so that even on a perfectly sunny, crisp, breezy Labor Day weekend, we had the feeling that it was all to ourselves. A long afternoon in the sun and water followed by a long barbecue with friends - isn't that what Labor Day weekend is all about?  It was just what I needed before a crazy couple of weeks at work. I hope yours was just as restful.

Back in the day (aka when I lived in New England, aka my whole life) I'd be talking about how Fall is around the corner - but not in this little pocket of the earth! We have plenty more sunny days ahead of us here and I ain't afraid to brag about it.  Feel free to visit - we'll go to Long Lake!

Getaway Weekend :: Lost Coast Backpacking

We had an amazing Memorial Day weekend up on the Lost Coast with Steph & Tyler and the pup. We started at Usal Beach (Sinkyone Wilderness Park) and hiked in about 5 miles to the most adorable little campsite in the world (called Dark Gulch).  There was a clear, cold stream running through it, so with the help of our trusty purifier we had endless fresh water. There were separate little areas for tents, fire and sitting (everything having it's place feels so darn homey). We skipped over a "bridge" of rocks to cross back and forth across the stream, hung our food from a tree (though that's not the recommended mode of bear protection!), and cooked over a tiny flame.

We spent our second night camping right on Usal Beach. There's nothing better than waking up in the middle of the night to let the dog do some business, and hearing the dark ocean crashing beside you and seeing the Milky Way in full force above. Our neighbors on the beach invited us to share their (larger) fire, and we discussed the glory of Route 1 and the happy ability Sinkyone offers to pop up camp without much planning or forethought whatsoever. We fell asleep to puppy snuggles and a crackling fire dying down outside the tent. 

Monday was about taking the long way home (per usual), stopping in Mendocino for brunch and our favorite wineries for "dinner", and rolling into the bed with the exhaustion of a thousand lives. Thanks, Lost Coast - each time is better than the last. 

Getaway Weekend :: Great, Big Sur

^^our little abode for the weekend

Julia Pfeiffer Burns SP aka heaven!^^

^^Family Christmas Card

Besties^^

^^could this pup be any happier?? nope.

my wonderful, colorful sista^^

Ohhh Big Sur. You sure do a body good.

Like I said before, Big Sur is honestly one of the reasons I wanted to move out to Cali in the first place. It's just so grand and magical - such a perfect mix of all my favorite types of landscapes. I've been excited to visit ever since we moved here, and this lovely camp weekend with our best friends didn't disappoint. So many gorgeous views, good flavors, belly laughs and peaceful moments. I walked away feeling like we'd been on a "vacation" even though it had only been a couple of days. That's the magic of Big Sur (and good friends).

Where we stayed

 Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. First of all, booking campsites in Big Sur is tough. I fully recommend that for summer weekends you book at YEAR in advance if you'd prefer to snag the best campsites. For off-season, you still need to book a few months ahead of time and even then you might be stuck with the less desirable sites. That's what happened to us - our initial campsite was terrible. But luckily, using our sticky-sweet persuasion skills we managed to get a campsite upgrade. If you're lucky enough to get the pick of the litter when you book, definitely either go for a site along the southernmost stretch, where you'll be treated to sites scattered with gorgeous redwoods and room to spare, or, a site on the river. Other notes about Pfieffer Big Sur: 1. dogs are allowed!  2. it's in an amazing location, close to everything  3. it's a bit expensive compared to other campsites, but probably worth it if you're going for convenience (which this weekend, we were).

Where we hiked and explored: 

Pfeiffer Beach, one of the most gorgeous beaches I've ever been to. We checked it out since it's dog-friendly, and our pups seriously had the time of their lives. It doesn't get too busy since the parking lot is small, and there are tons of lovely nooks and crannies and sea stacks and coves to explore....we spent most of the afternoon there!

Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park (This Pfeiffer family really has a lock down on things). Amazingly gorgeous views, which you can pretty much see right from the road. Definitely worth a visit.

Where we ate: 

Deejen's Big Sur Inn, a classic Big Sur "must see", with food so yummy that Jim and I actually came here twice, once for dinner (we split the roasted 1/2 chicken, mushroom soup and crab cakes - all drool worthy), and once for breakfast with the group. I loved the eggs benedict, but next time would get it without the smoked salmon (it was cold salmon so it cooled down the rest of my meal too much). What's best about it is the rustic, historic vibe - you can sense how many amazing people have been there before you.

Big Sur Taphouse, where we also went twice! Jimbo and I grabbed a snack and a beer on their deck and enjoyed it so much that we brought everyone else back there the next day after our afternoon at the beach. Amazingly friendly and accommodating staff, gorgeous redwood (dog-friendly!) deck out back, yummy beers and a huge selection of games to play. So fun.

{p.s. we never go places twice - we like to explore new things. so the fact that we just had to bring our friends back to these spots really says something!}

Our campsite. We ate some delicious gourmet meals at the campsite as well-- what's camping without camp-food?? Steak, soup, eggs, bacon, baked apples - the works. There's nothing you can't cook on a campfire :).

On the way home:

Garrapata Beach, another gorgeous dog-friendly beach worth seeing :). It's right on the coast between Big Sur and Monterey. We had an amazing time relaxing and hiking here on our way home.

Carmel Bakery in Carmel by the Sea. Oh my gosh my memories are making me drool. I'm literally drooling a lil bit. We grabbed spiced chais and hot ciders at this little stop, accompanied by cinnamon sugar elephant ears. What a way to cap off the weekend

Big Sur, thanks for all that you do! We will be back.