(So Many) Tiny Adventures in Encinitas, CA

My youngest son had a soccer tournament in California labor day weekend, so my husband, son and I made the desert freeway trek to CA from AZ. After a six hour ride we parked the car at our cozy vintage motel and lugged our bags to the room. My husband and son immediately visited the front patio and enjoyed the view of Moonlight Beach and the cool CA breeze. (That felt soooo good after our brutal 110+ summer here in Arizona).

…then CRUNCH. My husband turned to my son and said, “car crash”. (He knows the sound of a car wreck after working the highways as an AZ Trooper for many years). The two headed to the parking lot. There was our trusty Honda Pilot…smashed. (And smashed in the exact same place we just fixed because of an “oopsy” I caused myself). It was still driveable. We collected the drivers expired insurance info and headed to game 1 of the tournament. My son played 5 minutes. His team got “smuckered.” We drove back to the motel mostly in silence. Hit the sack. Woke. Headed out to game 2 and 3. The kids got “smuckered” again. Why did we just spend all this time and all this money on this trip??

At that point, we could have packed up, called it quits and headed back to hot as hell AZ. I almost suggested that, but we had planned to stay two more days in hopes the kids made it to the finals. So, instead, we put on our positive pants and said….let’s look for some tiny adventures! I started searching online and Encinitas is absolutely packed with tiny adventures.

We decided to scrunch in everything possible. We ate at some great new-to-us restaurants like Pannikin (man was that just-sweet-enough matcha green tea perfect)…Union Kitchen and Tap (my husband had a steak, topped with a crab cake, topped with a shrimp, yum!)…oh and my boys’ all time favorite…the Broad Street Dough Co. The cashier recommended the Churro Cronuts (1/2 croissant, 1/2 donut). They were made fresh and served warm. My son took a bite and his eyes widened. My husband took a bite and he literally did a little happy chair dance. I had a flash of what he looked like as a kid when he was rewarded with a special treat. It was freakin’ adorable.

After stuffing ourselves, we visited an orchid farm/hotel (yes, they’ll baby sit your orchids while you’re away!) Orchids are my favorite plant, and the only ones I seem to keep alive. I bought a beautiful orchid/moss/succulent arrangement and we chatted with the cashier who happened to tell us he was an ex high school football star…now turned orchid gardener. That’s a great story in itself!

We also hit up the Encinitas Botanic Garden. You could spend days here. We spent hours and saw a huge tree house for kiddos, a kids play area complete with a natural stream, a waterfall and jungle exhibit that made you feel like you were in Hawaii, a savage garden, complete with bug eating plants, a beautifully sculptured mexican garden and my favorite, a fruit forest that you could actually taste (ever try a blue, ice cream banana?)

We completed our days at Moonlight Beach and we were lucky enough to be there when you could see the bioluminescent waves in the evening. The three of us sat on the cool sand and stared out at the blackness…then, bam, a huge glowing wave would roll through the darkness and fade back into the water. Over and over. It was magical.

Could this originally crappy trip get any better? Yes, yes it could! My favorite tiny adventure of the trip was stumbling onto Dave’s Rock Garden, which happened to be located across from our motel. Apparently this beauty was once a trash filled parking lot. Dave, a neighbor, decided to throw away trash, add some plants and some artistic touches too, like painted rocks. This little love garden started growing and neighbors started adding their rocks …and then visitors too. Today, plants and beautifully painted rocks cover the entire lot, which you can stroll through on your way to the beach.

We met Dave who played music for us (Jimmy Buffet in honor of his death). Dave explained he provides paint and brushes for families like us to add our own rocks to the garden. (The paints and brushes were well loved, so we decided to go buy some new paints and brushes as our donation). My son left two rocks he painted, an alien and a pumpkin patch. My husband left an Arizona flag. I painted my Tiny Adventure Plan logo and left my little rock in the crevice of a large, decorative rock. (I pretended my little rock was on his own tiny adventure, rock climbing). The garden was beautiful and inspiring. In fact, afterwards, I spent hours on the beach collecting rocks and creating a mini heart rock garden (see heart picture above).

We could have missed all of this fun if we let our grumpiness and inner Eore win. We could have packed our bags, defeated and headed back to the hellish heat of AZ. Instead, we created some great family memories through our tiny adventures (with my favorite being FREE!)

Keep on searching for fun friends, even when you’re getting kicked around a bit! Tiny adventures will reignite you and give you the energy you need to find new adventures (and deal with the not-so fun adventures that are sprung upon us).