First Few Days in California

It's been nearly a week since I arrived in California and in that span, I've attended many, many appointments, joined family as a tourist, and began to acclimate to life here. In short, it's beautiful. It's sunny. The plants and trees are gorgeous. The taxes are real. The food (and produce in particular) is delicious. It's crowded with cars and so friendly, and chillier than I imagined in the evenings and mornings and it's time I learn a bit of Spanish, to pronounce my surroundings at the very least.

Point Lobos

Unfortunately the Soberanes wildfire in Big Sur began burning shortly after we arrived and has since closed Point Lobos, the first place I visited along with my brother and his girlfriend once we arrived in Monterey Bay. A state park stretching several miles along the coast, it was clear and beautiful there. Two days later when we headed south to Big Sur for a lighthouse tour, we saw flames in the hills and finding how full the air was with smoke, we turned around. In the following days, we stayed in Seaside, even farther north, where smoke was sensed once we stepped outside, where the sky was brown-orange and ash littered the cars. Now, in the interim between the initial settling in period and before I begin my job, I'm farther north along the coast, in Santa Cruz. I'll head back to Monterey this weekend. It's a nomadic life. The first four weeks in California will bring six different places to stay after 10 nights spent across the country. And it feels right. It's freeing. So many new places have become a part of this journey, and while I'd love to settle in one place and be able to fully unpack, I know it'll come in a few weeks when my lease begins and there's much to experience before then.

My parents and I enjoyed visiting the Carmel mission, a Catholic basilaca dating back to the 1770s. Also pictured: last night's sunset in Seaside and Monterey's Fisherman's wharf a couple of days ago. 

I've been finding a way to do laundry and swap out my clothing each week, and in the rotation, I go into the three large plastic totes I brought west. When I see the carefully folded and packed items I brought to California, there's pride and happiness and joy at what traveled west with us. There's not much of it, but it feels like unpacking holiday decorations but accompanied with a connection that we crossed the country together. 

Monterey Bay ended up being pretty cloudy the last couple of days and I spent all of today (the first clear day) in Santa Cruz, where the sea and sky were mesmerizing. 

Santa Cruz boardwalk and surfers

Santa Cruz

Capitola, California