My best friend Paige always has the best ideas. One of her best ideas started with texting me about this art store in Encinitas, and subsequently us deciding to make a day trip out of it.

Encinitas is a sleepy beach town in San Diego about two hours away from where I live. Neither one of us had been there before, but after some careful research in the Instagram geotags and Yelp reviews, we set off on a cool Sunday morning to kick off our spring breaks.

 

First things first: food. We had seen photos of Pannikin Coffee & Tea, and decided to stop there for brunch. It’s a restaurant in an old train station (which reminds me of this other place I’ve been to in Chino), with a fantastic patio view of the highway and the surrounding garden. If you follow my print, textile and design board on Pinterest, you probably know that I fell in love with the tile on the table (But really, you guys, look at that tile.) We each had a bagel sandwich with steamed scrambled egg, jack cheese and two orange slices, plus the best iced coffee I think I’ve ever had.

After brunch, we decided to go hang out at one of the beaches. Since it was 12:30 p.m. on a gorgeous Sunday, my inner Angeleno was worried that it was going to be really crowded, and that on top of there being no parking, you had to pay for it.

However, the one we decided to go to seemed to be so secretive that Google Maps had us take a lot of backstreets. Nobody was at the beach. There was plenty of parking. And it was free.

After the beach, we went to the art store (which turned out to be a bust [I’m spoiled]), refueled with some In N Out (#basiccaliforniagirls) and headed home (to sit in two hours of traffic on the 5 / discover a weird splotchy sunburn on my leg.)

All in all though, it was truly the perfect day. The point of this post was not just to show off photos or give you an extreme case of FOMO, but my way of telling you to go out and experience the world. I really needed a day to completely forget about any responsibilities, and I’m sure you can commiserate in some way. And even though the original plan ended up not being completely fruitful, I spent time with my best friend and a morning/afternoon in the warm sun and the beachy breeze — and that was really the point. I can’t wait for my next day trip, which I’ll tell you about next week. In the meantime, indulge your own wanderlust, embrace serendipity and find your own slice of the world to soak in.

 

Have you ever been to Encinitas? Or can you think of a day trip you thoroughly enjoyed? Let’s talk about it in the comments.