all (incredibly lovely) big sur images via arrow and arrowI’m all caught up in Big Sur lately.
It’s definitely my magic place…the spot I love above all others... the place that somehow represents my happiest moments in life (despite the fact that they didn’t all actually occur there).
Growing up in Northern California, we made pretty regular pilgrimages to this glorious stretch of the state. I think it is by far one of the most beautiful places (perhaps the most beautiful) I’ve ever been. Eager to share this magic with my love, I convinced Bryan that this is where we should spend our honeymoon, which enabled me to experience the most special place in my otherwise highly nomadic childhood with the person most dear to me.
That trip was 10 (!) years ago next week, and I haven’t been back to that particular spot in California since. I’m itching for a visit. Bad. I’m dying to take the girlies to my magic place…to get them hooked on its mojo, to somehow make it just as magical for them too.
So...do you have a magic place?
My husband and I recently just moved away from Cambria (the first small town south of Big Sur) and we miss it dearly. That whole area is the stuff of magic, truly.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, Big Sur is magical. We also spent time there on our honeymoon ten years ago and cannot wait to go back. I can't believe its taking us so long either...
ReplyDeleteMy true magic place is Lake Ontario, NY. My family owns a few cottages on the lake, and it's where I spent many childhood summers. Late summer produce can transport me back there - corn on the cob, blueberries, peaches, tomatoes... Day trips to Niagara Falls. And because it was always full of family, it's the magic place for our whole family.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have designated Vermont as our own magic place. We just went last weekend for our annual pilgrimage north, to stay in an inn, visit antique stores and a huge craft fair, and just enjoy the gorgeousness that is Vermont in October.
Jennifer -- happy 10th!
ReplyDeleteI love this place! Were we live right now is a magic place (Brazil).
ReplyDeletexo
Puerto Morelos Mexico, a tiny clay house on the ocean. The sand in my toes, the reef at my finger tips, and the palms for shade. My total magic place. When I'm there everything stops and the simple life begins.
ReplyDeleteLOVE
ReplyDeletecan big sur be my magic place?
Love this post. Big Sur is definitely magical.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I have two types of magic places- the type that energizes me (NY) and the type where, as style-for-style said, everything stops and I can just be (Ubud, Bali).
what you wrote is nearly my story, growing up with hippie parents (in Ojai not nor cal) we would venture to big sur nearly every year. My husband and I took a trip there right after we got engaged so he could see the beauty of it too, my eldest daughter has been as a baby, but I need to plan a trip to take both of my girls (the youngest is Pfeiffer named after Pfeiffer beach).
ReplyDeleteHappy 10 years!!!
My magic place is on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington near Forks, a temperate rainforest. Which, annoyingly, is where Twilight is set, BUT it's so so magical. I encourage anyone visiting Seattle with a few extra days to take a trip there and camp.
ReplyDeleteps. I really want to visit Big Sur. I feel like I just know I'll love it.
This makes me want to go back to Big Sur...magic places - Austin, always,always, New Orleans - my first grown up trip away and so many good trips since...and Hawaii, sigh, Hawaii
ReplyDeletekate -- you would *love* big sur...it's very you.
ReplyDeletemichelle -- hawaii is on our list...one day. and yes, austin, so magical!
Um, yes. Big Sur is pure magic. I cried when we pulled up to the Henry Miller library. I was just so relieved to see a place like that still existed. It felt so preserved and perfect and actually I guess that is how I feel about everything in Big Sur. Boy, now you've got me going...might need to take a drive down there soon.
ReplyDeletelake toxaway, nc
ReplyDeleteWalking the split rail fence just after dusk at my grandparent's island home.
ReplyDeletemb from Dallas
the oregon coast...something about the gorgeous ocean up against daunting cliffs...our places are very much the same dear friend! xo t
ReplyDeleteour magical place is paris. my husband proposed there, we went back for our honeymoon and in a month we'll go back with our daughter. not very original but we love that city.
ReplyDeleteWhat IS it about that place? I think about it and want to go back too. I think that's the definition of a magic place. It pulls you back. Where did you stay on your honeymoon?
ReplyDeletethis place does look amazing! Our place is rosemary beach. Does that count? I feel total bliss when I am there.
ReplyDeleteI've never been there, so thanks so much for this!
ReplyDeleteI love that question!
ReplyDeleteWell, of course Big Sur. We always went to the Phoenix store below Nepenthe (I can just smell the sandlewood...)
Also: the Heather Hill on Point Dume in Malibu (my sister and I named it that when we were little, little girls), Popham Beach on the Maine coast near Bath, and Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe in California. Now THAT'S a magical place to go camping - lakes up in the mountains surrounded by sun-kissed granite rocks...
and finally! the White Mountains in New Hampshire...such beautiful peaks and valleys, oh I could go on forever naming magic places!
Ohope Beach in the apt-named bay of Plenty in New Zealand. Where i grew up...wide sand beaches and beautiful lush green hills. So different from the stark beauty of the Big Sur near where we live now. BTW, great place in Big Sur is Esalen, the first new agey place in CA.
ReplyDeleteour yearly northern CA camping trip on the Sonoma Coast (and all of the surrounding areas, vineyards, wine, food(!), farmers markets...):).
ReplyDeleteBeautiful images! I went to a wedding in Big Sur a few years ago and I've never seen anything so lovely as that coastal area. I can't stop thinking about venturing back and staying at the Post Inn Ranch (my dream.)
ReplyDeletemegan -- oooh your magic places sound amazing!
ReplyDeletei love that store below Nepenthe...
I wouldn't mind making that my magical place...it looks amazing! I would have to say mine is Higgins Beach in Maine. I went there in the summers growing up and it just makes me feel like I'm so far from the world...need to go back soon!
ReplyDeleteSalt Spring Island, B.C. -it's wonderful!
ReplyDeleteThe yummiest restaurants, the Saturday Farmers Market, farms, forests and ocean - a perfect combination.