San Elijo State Beach (California)

Although Los Angeles was a blast, we were glad to get out of the city again.
Before reuniting with Isaac and Amelia at Isaac's parents' house for Thanksgiving, we had one more day at the beach.
Isaac had told us about a beautiful area on the Pacific Ocean near his parents' house where we could spend a relaxing day at the beach: San Elijo State Beach between Encinitas and Cardiff-by-the-Sea. We were lucky enough to get one of the last free sites at the campground.

Arriving a little early to check in, we parked the car next to one of the surf shops and strolled up and down the busy main street, where cafes, restaurants and small shops lined both sides of the street. Time passed quickly, we checked into the campsite and headed straight to the beach to enjoy the afternoon sun while watching the surfers, pelicans and a strange vertical take-off and landing plane flying up and down the coast.

It was great to cool off after the eventful last few weeks. This was kind of the first day where we didn't do much except for a little driving, walking around and lying on the beach. We realized that if we had several weeks left instead of just one, we probably should have stayed at the beach for a while to take a vacation from our vacation.
After sunset we packed our things, went back to the car, cooked, ate and returned to the beach with two beers. As we watched the ocean and listened to the waves, we looked back on our trip and felt a little melancholy that it would soon be over. We had made the most of our time though and couldn't think of a day we would have spent differently.
The next morning we had to check out of the campground. We drove a little further north to another beach and jumped into the Pacific before heading to Isaac's parents, David and Lisa.Read more