http://m.soundcloud.com/michaelkiwanuka/michael-kiwanuka-home-again
I've returned to Esalen! It's my fourth visit and it feels like home. It helps to have a great friend living here to welcome me. This will be my shortest stay at only two nights. The others were five. It's a short time to make that drive twice! The drive from LA to Esalen/Big Sur is just short enough (at about five hours) to enjoy a weekend here, and just long and treacherous enough to make you not want to do it too often. It's definitely part of what makes it so special. It was a gorgeous day and I found myself falling in love with California all over again with its luscious, green, rolling hills, hypnotic rows of vines, the occasional herd of cattle and some gorgeous stallions grazing, dramatic ocean vistas, and the endless blue sky.
If I had $100 for every shiny, new convertible I saw with the top down, I'd have about $600. That'd be sweet.
I noticed a real deal drive-in movie screen just before the Madonna Inn and made a mental note to stay at the Inn and check out a movie. I've never been to a drive-in (a bucket list item) and there don't seem to be too many left.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7784
I had some car trouble (nothing major) that took me through the cute little town of Los Olivos -- another spot to revisit.
http://www.losolivosca.com/
That detour took me through Sideways country to Solvang where Jimmy of Jim's Service Center got me back on the road sans the large piece of plastic dragging under my car.
Continuing up past Pismo Beach and Hearst Castle, Highway One makes it's way to what feels like the edge of the earth. It's those last 35 miles that make me think twice about shooting up to Esalen on the regular. Especially driving alone. Falling rocks, crumbling highway, hairpin turns around deadly cliffs, slow drivers who won't use the turnouts(!), speed demons who cross the double yellow on a blind curve to pass (who you have to let back in), pedestrians and cyclists, and absolutely no cell signal should you get into trouble keep you on your toes every single second of the drive. I have a glorious thirty-six hours in one of my favorite places on Earth before I have to do it again!
I've returned to Esalen! It's my fourth visit and it feels like home. It helps to have a great friend living here to welcome me. This will be my shortest stay at only two nights. The others were five. It's a short time to make that drive twice! The drive from LA to Esalen/Big Sur is just short enough (at about five hours) to enjoy a weekend here, and just long and treacherous enough to make you not want to do it too often. It's definitely part of what makes it so special. It was a gorgeous day and I found myself falling in love with California all over again with its luscious, green, rolling hills, hypnotic rows of vines, the occasional herd of cattle and some gorgeous stallions grazing, dramatic ocean vistas, and the endless blue sky.
If I had $100 for every shiny, new convertible I saw with the top down, I'd have about $600. That'd be sweet.
I noticed a real deal drive-in movie screen just before the Madonna Inn and made a mental note to stay at the Inn and check out a movie. I've never been to a drive-in (a bucket list item) and there don't seem to be too many left.
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/7784
I had some car trouble (nothing major) that took me through the cute little town of Los Olivos -- another spot to revisit.
http://www.losolivosca.com/
That detour took me through Sideways country to Solvang where Jimmy of Jim's Service Center got me back on the road sans the large piece of plastic dragging under my car.
Continuing up past Pismo Beach and Hearst Castle, Highway One makes it's way to what feels like the edge of the earth. It's those last 35 miles that make me think twice about shooting up to Esalen on the regular. Especially driving alone. Falling rocks, crumbling highway, hairpin turns around deadly cliffs, slow drivers who won't use the turnouts(!), speed demons who cross the double yellow on a blind curve to pass (who you have to let back in), pedestrians and cyclists, and absolutely no cell signal should you get into trouble keep you on your toes every single second of the drive. I have a glorious thirty-six hours in one of my favorite places on Earth before I have to do it again!
1 comment:
<3 welcome back to paradise ... have a wonderful time <3
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