Half Moon Bay

Who would have thought that one of our favorite beach cities in California wouldn’t be located in SoCal. If you ever find yourself in Northern California, Half Moon Bay is a beautiful city for a nice quiet weekend getaway, especially during late winter/ early spring. Maybe it was because the Superbowl was going on at the time, but it felt as if the whole city decided to give us our much needed personal space. This quiet town, has plenty of good eats and fun activities to explore and venture. Being right next to several beaches makes it an ideal location to catch a breath of fresh air and watch plenty of beautiful sunsets. Most importantly, it’s a great place to have spontaneous photo shoots!

OUR PHOTOSHOOT:

We took the coastal trail to get into Half Moon Bay. As always, Highway 1 did not fail to deliver with both amazing landscapes and seascapes. If you’re in the mood for some nice pictures I definitely recommend checking out the abandoned WWII bunker located on the Devil’s Slide. If you get there early enough, there will be little to no people. Luckily, we chose the perfect time to pull off the highway and make our trek up the little steep hill. Great thing about this place too: Free parking, yay!

If you choose to go during the same time of year we did, please be very careful. The wind is extremely strong and will definitely knock you off the sides if you’re not paying attention. Don’t worry though, there’s a bunch of jagged rocks to break your fall haha. Here’s a picture of Russelle doing the exact opposite.

It was a very cloudy day, so the lighting was perfect for shooting 🙂

LUNCH SPOT:

After a fun morning of shooting, we decided to go into the city and find something to munch on. For us, Thai food or Pizza is usually the way to go. This time we chose Thai food and luckily, there was a great little restaurant right next to us:

Spice Me Thai Cuisine, 500 Purissima St
Unit C
Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

Must Try: Duck Curry

THINGS TO DO IN TOWN:

As we roamed around Main street and took in all the shops and sights, we realized what a great little town this was. If I had to use one word to describe this location it would have to be: Earthy. There are plenty of mom and pop stores to check out and beautiful residential areas to walk around in. There was a very green vibe to everything.  Whether it was the terrariums decorating the front of stores, or the beautiful luscious gardens all around the houses, there was always fresh plants in sight. For someone like Russelle who loves plants, this place was perfect. Even better, we stumbled upon a cute little place called:

Here, you can find little arts and craft work stations, from pressing your own stamps to crafting unique necklaces. Its a fun activity place to bring your family or significant other to. Great little date spot. So here’s how this place works. There is an inside shop where you can purchase little DIY projects or pay for activities outside. Since this whole place is pirate themed, you have to purchase doubloons and exchange them outside to use the crafting stations. We chose to participate in the “Terrarium Buffet,” where we could build our own hanging terrarium displays. If you’re curious, this cost about 20 dollars; which in my opinion, does not cost very much to share a fun memory with the people you love 🙂

JUST BEFORE WE HEADED HOME:

There was one more stop we made that would complete our whole plant based journey. While we were driving down CA-92, we came upon a sign that read, “Carnivorous Plants.” We immediately pulled off the highway to check this place out.

Pastorino Farms is a collection of plant nurseries run by gardening and landscaping enthusiasts. Here you can find yourself surrounded by a variety of flowers, succulents, cacti, and flytraps.

Our favorite nursery of all would have to be Highway 92 Succulents. This place had a very relaxing vibe with so many succulents to choose from. What made our experience so special was probably speaking with Dave. As Dave rung us up at the register, we began by making some idle small talk. Little did we know, we would spend the next half hour sharing stories. We told stories of our travels and he shared stories of his life in Half Moon Bay. We saw his outlook on life; and with all the political chaos that has been going on, it was a very refreshing perspective. He was friendly, welcoming, informative, and genuinely a great guy.We walked into Highway 92 Succulents expecting to only have a nice leisurely stroll. Instead, we walked out with 4 baby succulents and a new friend for life. It was a great way to end the day.

-Chris and Selle