The town that didn't want to be found.
One of our favorite pastimes as a couple is finding gem, hole-in-the-wall places, off the beaten track. This is especially true when we are on vacation. And this is something I was really hoping for when we were driving along the California coast, (though at the same time figuring how heavily traveled the drive, it would be near impossible).
Enter the town that didn't want to be found.
Late afternoon we realized we had yet to eat lunch. The towns located directly on the highway were busy and hopping with tourists. I was using our handy-dandy iPhone map to locate other towns along our drive when I spied this little town buried on the end of a peninsula. It was a little out of our way but figured we could give it a shot. We didn't see any signs for it but thanks to the beeping blue dot and a quick, "Turn here!" we were going down a little road next to a nasty lagoon. We came to a random assortment of handwritten signs, one of which telling us we were entering a "socially acknowledged, nature-loving" town.
Perfect!
The town itself was as wonderful as the handwritten sign. The people were just living life as usual. There were only 2 restaurants in town, an organic/locavore restaurant that was closed and the saloon, which was open. The saloon was hopping with locals getting ready to watch the Superbowl. They only served frozen then microwaved food, so we opted for some High-Life and french fries and settled in to watch the kick off of the game. Within moments a guy walked in carrying a vat of stew and set it down on the table we were sitting at, "You should have waited to order those french fries," he says as he leaves to get his second round. Within moments, everyone was coming up to get the stew and rice, of which we were invited to partake. (It was delicious!)
Before leaving the town, and of course after watching an open exchange of doubie on the main street, we headed to the beach to touch the Pacific Ocean. The beach entrance was covered in more handwritten signs, in essence, reminding people to be nice and to tell you that the toilets were by the tennis courts. The beach was filled with determined wetsuit clad surfers enjoying high tide and the watchers buried in blankets on the shore.
The entire town was simply wonderful. Outside of the 2 of us, there were only 2 other people in the whole town that were definitely not from those parts. When we got home we researched the town, which was hard as well, and they definitely are the town that doesn't want to be found. Within 24 hours of a new highway sign pointing to their town, the residents have it cut down.
However, if someone does happen to find their town, I don't think they mind the outsiders as long as they respect the environment, the atmosphere and aren't a jerk.*
*"Jerk" actually does refer to the one guy who was a jerk in their town and ended up in a reportedly bad situation.
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