travel tuesday: my favorite california spots

a few of my favorite places to go in california include:

muir woods/beach 

big sur (!!!)

glass beach, fort bragg

eel river/leggett creek

check out some pictures and descriptions below

muir woods is one of my favorite places!
they have hikes of all different difficulties.
the area is beautiful, and if you go on a weekday it isn't too crowded.
 parking was a little difficult, but worth it.

hiking through muir woods

if you know me, you know that big sur is
my all time favorite place on this earth.
my life goal is to be able to retire at big sur.
 every time i visit i am in awe of the natural beauty
that surrounds big sur. because i come from up north,
i pass through the town carmel-by-the-sea
on my way to big sur. i am also in love with carmel -
i think it's super cute and a fun place, and it has great beaches.
i haven't gotten the chance to go too far down big sur, but
my dream is to make it to julia pfieffer burns state park one day, 

glass beach is a wonderful place to visit.
the beach itself is relatively large and i have always been able to
find a quiet spot away from others. the glass is beautiful, and has been
rounded down by years of force from the waves so there is no worry about
hurting yourself. i also really enjoy the town of fort bragg. it's super
cute and has a ton of fun little shops and places to eat. however, the
drive up there is pretty awful. there's about 45 minutes of extremely
windy roads where you have to go about 30 mph. other than that,
the drive up isn't bad at all, and i think the end destination
is more than worth it. 

muir beach. it's a very nice, reclusive beach. there are a lot of beaches
near me that don't have sand, so i really love that this is a sand beach.
also, the sun sets over the water and it looks lovely. when i went,
it was very calming, and had very little pollution and trash, which
is a huge problem in this area. the drive was also very pretty.

i've been going to a camp in the garberville/redway area
since i was a kid. almost all my favorite childhood
memories revolve around this area and camp.
one of my favorite hikes is 'dean's creek', which
is entered through a small space between two medium
sized cliffs. the whole hike is through a small creek/river,
so wear clothes and shoes you don't mind getting wet.
rumor has it there's a waterfall at the end of the hike, but
as kids my friends and i were never able to make it
to the end. three years ago we made it over halfway
and found a waterfall (kinda), but clearly the hike
kept going. i hope to go back one day soon and make it
to the end to find the waterfall. the hike involves climbing
over fallen trees, wading through water, swimming,
jumping, and more. it's a very active hike, so if you decide
to take it on, be prepared!