Driving from New Mexico to San Diego for a visit last week, I thought about what I missed about my home state and came up with three things that affect me almost on a primal level.
One is the California Live Oak – a beautifully shaped dark green tree that is often seen in woodlands with gold grasses in the summer.
Another is granite – the huge granite boulders that cover chaparral hillsides and made great places to play when I was a child.
And the last is the beach. No, scratch that. I do not miss the beaches of San Diego after spending time at Pacific Beach on an August Sunday. Traffic (no parking available), noise, fog, flies, and too many people! I do miss beaches but I’m picturing those farther north – like Cayucos and Davenport. Where the ocean outshines the people.
And I brought home a bit of the chaparral: a bouquet of California Buckwheat.
Eriogonum fasciculatum
Always Backroads 
If you are referring to the Davenport coast near Santa Cruz, it is virtually impossible to find a solitatry spot there or anywhere on the California coast. We live in the Santa Cruz Mountains which only a decade or so ago was a real retreat. Now we seek sanctuary as often as possible in the Nevada high desert.
I was referring to that Davenport! Haven’t been there for over 20 years, but was optimistic. I too have retreated to the desert – southern New Mexico. Nevada is one of my favorite places – beautiful desert and the mustangs.
Even the Lost Coast is populated now. Thank God for the desert:)
Amen. Where is the Lost Coast? The only one I know is in South Africa.
Northern California, between Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. I’ve only been there once. Based on all the mystique, I was expecting it to be really desolate. But the reality is that the last real estate boom left few or no unpopulated places in California. Hence, the Nevada desert.
I know of a beach that was supposed to be a state park but the road washed out every winter and I think the state finally gave up on it. You’d have to hike a ways to get there now, but even when the road was open, there weren’t many people on it. It’s west of Santa Maria, in northern Santa Barbara County, Pt. Sal Beach. The nearest access now may be Oso Flaco Lake, in southern San Luis Obispo County. Hike out to the ocean from the lake, then down the coast. Keep an eye on the tides, though…high tide can sneak up on you and strand you on a little half-moon of beach, if it leaves you that much.
Sounds wonderful!