I’ve been a little absent of late, but fret not, I’m back! Since I made my proclamation to blog three times I week I have almost never failed to fulfill my promise… a few missed posts here and there, but no serious dropping of the ball. Until now. Yikes. I think it was a virtual holiday hangover… taking that last heavy sigh that the t-day/christmas/new years chaos has dwindled to cope-able levels. I was in need of a little R&R, so I went out to get it!

I’ll take a left off the road of “this is my professional blog“, and travel down the “personal life post” dirt road for a moment, as I ease back into the world of blogging. This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of chucking myself up into the sky, flying westward, and landing in fantastic San Francisco. I was meeting up with two of my best, and oldest friends for a weekend in a house on the coast, away from cities, and noise, and other people… one last sojourn together before their soon expected first baby changes their lives forever. It was going to be good.

Massive shopping list in hand, my friend Kyle and I hit Rainbow Grocery, an entirely vegetarian cooperative grocery store that is my personal dream come true. Shopping here is like nothing else. The most comprehensive bulk foods section I’ve ever seen… a massive alternative medicine/natural beauty care section/ and a perfect display of all organic, mostly local, and almost entirely seasonal produce. Vats of maple syrup and molasses from which you can decant however much you need… heaps of vegan desserts free of junky chemicals and hydrogenation… loaf after loaf of crusty fresh baked breads… seriously, this place is pure heaven! I would move to San Francisco just for this store. Eventually we stocked up on our goods for the weekend, picked up his fairly pregnant wife, and one of my best friends in the world, Sarah, and hit the road.

Fifteen minutes outside of San Fran and you’re in a lush wonderland of nature; eucalyptus trees everywhere, massive farms of all pasture raised dairy cows (this is diary country… and let me tell you, at least in this part of California, the commercials don’t lie… Happy Cows DO come from California!), lots of sheep dotting the hillsides and the occasional horse trotting around in the muck. I couldn’t be happier to be out of New York.

We stopped along the way to see if we could start our weekend right by spotting a whale (we didn’t), as apparently this is migration season for them. It was windy and cold, but if felt great to a) have my feet on the ground after much flying and much driving, and b) to breathe fresh air straight off the ocean, with not a single building in site, or speck of concrete!

Three or so hours, and long, twisting and winding roads later (and a stop to settle my stomach) we made it to our destination: Gualala, California, a tiny speck of coast where we planned to spend the next three days. It was dark by the time we arrived at our rented house, which was much larger than we’d thought, but lacked the fireplace we’d been told was there. Oh well. But the plus side was that it was enormous, with two huge bedrooms, each with it’s own bath, an impressively sized, but poorly stocked kitchen, a freakin hot tub, and a pool table! We settled in, made dinner, played a little pool, and those of us not with child, took a long soak in the hot tub in the pitch black cold night air. Bliss.

I was up early, and was greeted by this sunrise out back:

The weekend was filled with walks through lush trails and along the bluffs, a stroll through the tiny town of Gualala, and even a hike through a pygmy forest! Redwoods, Eucalyptus, mushrooms… deer, sea lions, falcons, vultures, and hawks… A trip to Point Arenas lighthouse and some local art galleries (small towns make some really bad art by the way!) rounded out our trip. For me, this was a near perfect vacation, complete with idleness, friends, good food, and even the new Harry Potter movie to close out our final night.

The trip was short, only 4 days, but so relaxing, recharging and peaceful, and for me was a perfect start to the new year! Here are some of my favorite pictures from my trip… maybe some of the peace and relaxation will rub off on you!