Highway 1 Bike Ride

Biking has become my new favorite thing! I recently purchased a road bike and have been on it every chance I get...which means dragging asking Bobby to come along on rides with me. This weekend we set out on our longest ride yet. It was a perfectly beautiful day on the central coast so we loaded up our bikes on the car and drove up to San Simeon, which is about 45 minutes north of SLO. We decided to ride on the northern part of Highway 1 because it's generally less populated and less developed, making it a more enjoyable, scenic ride. 

 check out those bike shorts!

made it to Big Sur! 21 miles one way

 Ragged Point

 made it up the steepest climb of my life!

not a bad view for the way home

By about mile 38, we were both dead but plowed through to the end and were so stoked to finish! 42 miles. not too shabby. I love that we were able to reach such an awesome destination and make a day out of this adventure. 

Our goal is to do a Century ride next year and do some bike touring along the coast. 

Until then, I'll settle for weekend rides like this ;)

Spotlight on Jalama

Bobby and I recently returned from a 10 day, California vacation, or as Bobby called it, Surfcation.  We were trying to figure out what to do for the 10 days and thought about flying out to Costa Rica or somewhere else tropical and then we were like "wait...we live in a place that most of the world comes to for vacation!" So we set out with a vacation state of mind and explored all of our favorite places along the southern CA coast. It was an absolute BLAST! We went to a different beach every day and spent hours in the sun, surfing and relaxing. It was nice not to have an agenda, as we moved on whenever we felt like it. 

We started out with 3 days in Mission Viejo,spending time with our families and old friends and hit up our favorite beaches in San Clemente and Laguna Beach. 

San Clemente Pier

Then we moved on to Malibu where we stayed with some friends and explored the beaches, went for bike rides, and Bobby was crazy so excited to surf he got up at 4:30 every morning and surfed in the dark until sunrise. And I have to mention, we spent a day at the home mansion of the creator of 'The Wonder Years'....only in Malibu. 

Sunset view from the mansion

Next, we headed up the coast to Carpinteria and camped there for a night. We got up the next morning and it was raining in Santa Barbara (what??) so we continued out to Jalama (pronounced Halama) which, incidentally, is my new favorite place!! 

Jalama is a beach campground located about an hour north of Santa Barbara, directly on the coast out from Lompoc. When we were out there, we felt like we were in Mexico or Hawaii because of the warm wind and tropical looking water surrounded by the rolling hills. There is no other development out there besides the campground and no cell service so it felt very isolated and disconnected from the bustle of life. Here are some pics:

 view from our campsite

offshore, Jalama waves

Another bonus is that there is a burger shack at the campground that serves up the famous "Jalama Burger" and it was delicious! Everything tastes better when you eat it on the beach anyways. :)

Moral of the story is that if you are looking for an affordable ($25!), beautiful, relaxing, epic getaway, Jalama is the place to go. Even one night out there is worth it.  We will definitely be heading back soon.

We came back from our vacation feeling sunkissed and rejuvenated and feel so lucky to call the Central Coast of California our home. Everyday is a vacation here! 

Now to start planning the next adventure! Hope you all enjoy the rest of summer!