This past August I embarked on a Yoga, Surf, Music Road Trip up the California Coast! Starting point: Hermosa Beach, Destination: San Francisco. We headed to Outside of Lands 3 day Food, Music, Wine, and Art Festival in Golden Gate park and intended to squeeze yoga, surfing, healthy eating, and lots of exciting adventures in between. Minor detail… to keep things interesting, we rolled up to SF in style by crusin’ up the coast in a mint green 1979 VW bus named Betsy. Ohh yes we did. Besides showin’ up in a FRESH ride, we had another goal in mind…keep it as healthy as possible. Here I summarize how it is realistic to keep road tripping and camping healthy. With a little planning and positivity, here’s how we kept the trip from LA to San Fran fun, fresh, and free of preservatives! We strived for all of our fruits and veggies to be local and organic and our meat to be free-range. If you’re planning on coasting the Legendary California Highway 1 while trying to keep it healthy, you’re at the right place. I give you recipes throughout, highlight some of our most memorable stops, chronicle our trip via some RAD photos, and at the end of the post, I provide a copy of our grocery list, some of our healthy camping meal ideas, and list off all the things from A-Z we thought was necessary to bring along on our yoga, surf, music roadtrip!!! If you have any questions about our healthy road trip, connect with ar-yoga on the Facebook Like Page and ask away. Look forward to hearing from you :)

• Hermosa Beach: took off munching on some HOMEMADE TRAIL MIX: almonds, sunflower seeds, dried apricots cut in small squares, farmer’s market dried cherries no preservatives
• Found a perch with a great view to eat our super spinach salads- Vegan & gluten free. Super easy & simple ingredients too! SUPER SALAD: Spinach, cooked quinoa, shredded carrots, dried cranberries, grape tomatoes, garbanzo beans, roasted pumpkin seeds, edamame. CARROT GINGER MISO DRESSING: carrots, olive oil, sesame oil, water, ginger root, shallots, seasoned rice vinegar (water, rice, sugar, sea salt), shiro miso (organic rice, organic soybeans, water, sea salt, koji), and salt.
• Cayucos state beach to check the waves
• Arrived at Big Sur & coasted around the cliffside bends wishing it wasn’t past sunset…oh well, you live, you learn.
• Esalen hot springs at night overlooking the expansive ocean lit up by the moon & stars for $20. Yelpers are LOVING this spot & so did we!
• Got a campsite at Pfeiffer state park to make brunch. $10 for a day pass which was valid at all state parks until sunset
• Did a bit of back tracking because we heard McWay Waterfall trails was a MUST and I do concur it was STUNNING even on a semi foggy day. Check it out!
• We were going to check out Nepenthe Restaurant, but decided to park at an overlook and watch the sunset there instead. No matter where you stop it’s always a rad view, but I hear Nepenthe has a stellar overlook and it’s worth doing a glass of wine there during sunset.
• Slept at the overlook & woke up to a cop telling us it was illegal to sleep on the side of the road. Ooops! And he told us we were going entirely too SLOW and that we had about 30 cars behind us the previous day and we needed to pull over more often…double Ooops! Guess you stick out like a sore thumb when you’re in a mint green 1979 VW bus, huh? We didn’t mind the early wake up call because it was MC’s birthday! Honoring the fact that it was a day to both celebrate and meditate, we were excited to party & squeeze in some yoga!
• We headed to Santa Cruz to check out Steamer’s Lane, world famous surf spot. We did bring along 2 mini cupcakes & purchased 2 chai teas at a local coffee shop to do a bit of guilt-free birthday indulging on our trip. By this point, we deserved it :) All in moderation. We met up with an old friend who gave us a tour around town and of the Digital Media Arts Center at the University, so fun!
• Did some birthday vinyasa yoga at Donation Based Urban Flow Yoga in SF. Got down with MC Yogi, who taught a super dope class with an intelligent and intuitive sequence and was an incredibly chill dude. You gotta go!
• To balance out the previous day’s flow, we hit up Bend Yoga for a restorative class in preparation for 3 days of MUSIC! It was a great class in an intimate studio, and just what we needed.
• The next 3 days at Outside of Lands Music, Food, Wine, and Art festival at Golden Gate Park was INCREDIBLE. Words don’t describe, so happy I got this as my birthday present this year :). There was food trucks galore, good music to jam out to, people watching for dayyyysss, not to mention that we were surrounded by life and nature. BOMB.COM. I learned from the veterans I was with, first and foremost, key is to go with a group of friends. Spread out a blanket and all your belongings (backpacks & water bottles allowed) at 1 stage with most of the acts people want to see. Everyone wanders around going to check out the different stages and sets while 1-2 people are responsible for holding down the fort. Works like a charm! No body gets lost because you always come back to home base, we also had fun sign (the gaggle we called it) we threw up from time to time so people knew where we were when they tried to find us! Genius!
• We were told at MC Yogi’s class we had to go to Rusty Well’s class on Sunday…it was described as “going to church.” And that it was! Challenging flow, but the energy in the room was joyful, and Rusty brings it. A mindblowingly spiritual vibe connected the room and we left vibrating at a higher frequency FOR SURE! Highly recommend it.
• Fav Restaurant: Zazie’s for brunch- Lemon Lavender water, need I say more? Long wait, but check out Finnegan’s bar right next door, garden is great on a sunny day :) We lucked out, weather was perfect.
• GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE…Betsy made it :)
• Headed up to do a bit of R&R with friends in Healdsburg, CA. Checked out the local bar and grill for lunch, fell off the healthy wagon for a second and treated ourselves to mango sorbet & honey lavender gelato..(yum) from powell’s sweet shoppe, went kayaking, Picked fresh lavender, veggies and fruit straight from our friend’s mega magnificent garden, made a farm to table fresh dinner (oh my! can you taste the difference!!), drank good wine with good people, and slept well. Just what the doctor ordered.
• Made our way back to LA on the 5…man oh man is that route a drag. Nothing but sand and 110 degree weather. Pick up fresh fruit and healthy snacks in SF if taking this route, nothing but gas stations and fast food for the majority of it. Right when we though Betsy survived, she died on us turning into the alley to the driveway. Hahah! We pushed her into the garage and were grateful we had a BEYOND amazing trip. No worries, she was back in working order the next day after a quick alternator belt fix and good ol’ fashion jumper cable start.
• Hope your travels up the California coast are just as memorable and health conscious :)