LA Times staffer Christopher Reynolds, one of my favorite travel writers, set out on New Year’s Day to cruise the entire zig-zagging length of California’s coast, from the southern end of San Diego County to Crescent City at the Oregon border, in ten days. He decided to cling to the coast and sleep only in lodgings along the water.
Chris shares a compelling mile-by-mile account and ultimately finds his 1,136-mile trek a “sweet trip,” despite some rocky patches. His travelogue is an ode to off-season travel: bare beaches, thinner traffic, empty lodgings and the characters he met along the way. He writes:
To consume the California coast in a single gulp, never mind the off-season, never mind the off-year — is more than a meal. It’s a revelation, a rediscovery, a marathon. Or maybe I should just rely on the words of Mike, the 40-year-old Coloradan I found on Day 4 north of Santa Barbara, sitting on a driftwood log in his boxers, still soaked from a spontaneous leap into the Pacific.
“This is as good as it gets,” he said. “For two minutes, you don’t feel old and fat anymore.”
You’ll want to read the entire piece here.
