All in Do

Hiking the Lost Coast Trail in the Fall | California

The Lost Coast Trail is not for the faint of heart. This 25 mile trail mostly follows the rugged California coastline four hours north of San Francisco, named for its inaccessibility and lack of roads, towns, or civilization. You spend most of your time hiking on wet sand or shifting pebbles, and have to time your hiking according to the tides in order to not get swept into the freezing Pacific. But the ruggedness is also the reward. Stunning coastline, black sand beaches, and wildlife barely accustomed to seeing humans makes you feel like you are truly passing through untamed and untouched territory.

Costa Rica Prep: Yoga

On Friday we leave for Costa Rica.  I’m looking forward to finding pura vida through massage, hot springs, yoga and surfing.  My expectation is that any cellulite I might currently have from crawling the craft brewery scene on weekends (and the occasional weeknight) will magically disappear through a lack of stress and daily fresh juices.  To prep for my new zenned out lifestyle, I started going to yoga...

The Power of a Girls Trip | Big Sur

There is Sarah, the energetic blonde storyteller, a recent transplant from Florida.  There is Leslie, the soft spoken and sweet Madison grad.  There is Laura, the Bay Area native with a bubbly exterior, but an introverted interior.  And there is me, the married dreamer from Minnesota.  Together we make up a group of four women who work at the same company but who are still quite new to each other.  We’ve teamed up for a two night camping trip in Big Sur, California.

Camping in Big Sur | California

I had seen pictures of the Big Sur coastline before and thought that was the big draw to the area.  To be sure, it is, but what was fantastically unexpected was that Highway 1 takes you along sheer winding cliffs one minute and then through deep redwood forest the next.  Little Mom & Pop gas stations, dark wood cabin style inns, and general stores show up every 1/2 mile.  It feels slightly Route 66 - a highway passing through a classic tourist town, the way touristing used to be.

Harley Farms Goat Dairy | Pescadero

The white wooden gate to the garden swung shut, the metal latch clanging against itself.  It's was an unusually warm day in Pescadero - 80 degrees and sunny.  So warm in fact, that when our tour guide shooed the goats out of the loafing barn to say hi, half of them immediately turned back around once her shooing stopped to return to the shade.  The other half was so excited to see us that they all peed at the same time, in a row.  We were at Harley Goat Farms in Pescadero for the adult-only tour of the farm and it had already exceeded my expectations.