This series took a little hiatus (as do many of my series, heehee), but I do hope to get through the alphabet eventually. :) For E, I wanted to tell (and show) you a little about our town. We are so thankful and feel very blessed to live here. Who knows if we'll ever be homeowners... for now we are content to live in our little rental place, relatively close to the beach, minutes from friends (walking) and family (driving), and a pretty short commute for David.
I just love the vibe of Encinitas, it's a surf town that cares about sustainable living (the Christmas parade had a Go Green theme). :) It has a small-town feel, but has a lot to offer, too.
As a teenager, growing up about 20 minutes inland from here, I often escaped with my girlfriends to Encinitas. It was a place where I often dreamed of living. I still have to pinch myself sometimes, even though we've been here a year now. We live about three and a half miles from the beach, which means that we often get the sun even when the beach stays cloudy. We're also less than five minutes driving from Trader Joe's, which is a little slice of heaven for me. :)
One of the beautiful murals at our local TJ's.
I love downtown Encinitas because it reminds me of our college town and because of all the great shops and restaurants along there. A couple favorites are Honey's, Swami's Cafe, and Ecotopiia, and we've also got a couple of yarn stores and several surf shops. The library, which has a beautiful ocean view, is close-by as well.
This fall our little downtown (where we dream of someday living), which runs along Pacific Coast Highway, will be getting a Whole Foods, too.
Every Friday morning I head out while everyone is (hopefully) asleep to meet some girlfriends for coffee at the coolest place around. It's in a part of town called Leucadia, which I love. David loves to hit up Leucadia Donuts which is just down the street.
I could probably go on and about why I love Encinitas so much, but really, you'll just have to come visit for yourself, if you've never been. I'll leave you with a couple of our favorite beach spots (we have a couple more we really like too)...
Moonlight Beach, also the favorite of tourists, is Gigi's favorite because of the playground. I try to avoid Moonlight on a hot summery day usually, since it's a madhouse. But it's still a fave of mine for a picnic dinner, a bonfire (in the off-season), or a winter playdate at the park.
A February evening at Moonlight.
This is how we roll.
And what I've decided is my happy place... is the walk from Swami's to the San Elijo State Campground. I cannot walk along this path without uttering thanks to the Lord for His creation over and over.
Swami's (the surf spot, as opposed to the Cafe mentioned earlier).
Thanks for visiting my town!