A Room with a view: Moonstone beach

11 year Anniversary- June 13 2020

Cambria is a sea-side town just north of Santa Barbara and is most known for Moonstone Beach. It has been on our wish list to visit that beach, which has incredible agate, jade, jaspers, and bloodstones that wash up on store for the picking. What looks like sand from the road, Moonstone beach has a shore made up of stones and rocks. Dig into it and your hand will emerge with the tiniest, most colorful assortment of rocks that you will want to put in your pocket. We learned that moonstones at Moonstone Beach are actually agate, and only appear to have the same glow and opacity that actual moonstones have. It did not stop us for finding the fabled moonstone, and dig we did for two mornings during our anniversary getaway. We stayed just off the highway 1, and our quaint cottage hotel overlooked the beach. For food we went into the town of Cambria, which is full of shops and restaurants that look like a German village.

We made reservations to eat for the first time at a restaurant since the Pandemic shut down, and it was such a treat to sit outside with wine in an outdoor garden, order hors d'oeuvres, and toast to another year. This year is a very special one for us, and we are hopeful for our September wedding to be the golden ticket in the midst of the Pandemic. In the meantime, we get to play locally.

From Cambria we got to see the Elephant seals, of which are impressive creatures. They slumbered on the beaches, their flubbery noses vibrating with every yawn. And as we ventured back to San Francisco, we stopped at McWay Falls and multiple pull offs along the Big Sur. While we have been camping and seeing a lot of California’s National Parks during the social distancing ordinances, it was such a relief to have a hotel room, with a fire place, and a beach to stretch out on just a step outside the door.