Spring in Encinitas

Encinitas was one of the first places I visited in California. For a gal from upstate NY studying in the suburbs of Delaware, southern California was a true utopia! I discovered first-hand that Encinitas was one of the nicest (and most expensive places to live) in the country. I figured I would never live there unless I became an engineer-slash-software developer.

Well, flash forward about 15 years and I am not a software developer, yet there I was living in Encinitas! It is possible! Mind you, we were paying about $4,200 a month for a small cottage (technically mobile home), but it had two bedrooms, two baths, and multiple porches, and it was walking distance from the beach. I never thought I’d live in a mobile home park either, but it worked for us.

We found our place using the website, Furnished Finder. It was our first time trying that process, and it worked out well. Before we drove out there, it was a little stressful talking to landlords and trying to secure a place—one fell through at the last minute—but we were ultimately really happy with our landlord and the cottage.

We spent early April to mid-June working remotely, surfing, playing beach volleyball, eating tacos and burritos, and enjoying Encinitas. It was nice having a mini-home base again after a few months of bouncing around staying with family and in hotels. I joined ClassPass, took guitar lessons, cooked lots of meals in the cottage kitchen, and we got to reconnect with old friends, since both of us used to live in SoCal.

California has a serious appreciation and lifestyle preference for being outside. We loved how easy it was to include beach, hiking, or picnicking with friends into our daily lives. My only complaint was the east coast work schedule meant I had more early morning calls than I usually do, which definitely conflicted with my surf schedule. Those pesky jobs, and all.

Bailey loved it, too. There was a lively dog park right across the street, and most restaurants allowed dogs. In general, California tended to be much more dog friendly than New Jersey—it helps that you can eat outside for much more of the year.

Overall, we were very pleased to be back basking in the California sunshine (even when we were there during the marine layer months of May Gray and June Gloom). We almost didn’t want to come back to the east coast, but the next adventures were calling our names…