This Insta-Worthy Road Trip To Sleep in a Human Nest is Everything

Two weeks before I took this picture, a friend of mine named Megan debated on whether she’d act on a reservation she’d made to spend a couple of nights sleeping in a human nest. Some of the most interesting experiences in the states are often booked, and thankfully she booked for a November trip way back in January. After a few happy hour drinks and emoji text messages, I was in and was going to make sure she slept in that nest. And so it began.

Leaving Los Angeles was bliss. Aside from being able to get away from the traffic, driving up the coast parallel to the pacific was euphoric. Highway 1 is a scenic paradise of car gazing options. I was never bored looking out of the window. It was completely refreshing to pass by spaces occupied by people camping and enjoying the sun and sounds of the waves.

Our journey started in South Central Los Angeles at the Underground Museum. This quiet, modest location of curated shows by the late Noah Davis connected thought, perspective and intention to the next-day journey up the coast.

The exhibition displayed a curated show of works entitled “Non-Fiction.” Each piece and the museum’s nook of black literature was a perfect way to see Los Angeles from a different tone and place of thought. Henry Taylor’s “Warning Shot’s Not Required” reminded Megan and I that our intentions for our trip needed to be rooted in being present and mindful of current happenings.

We dipped in and out of farmland and photogenic ghost towns, making use of doorways for impromptu photo sessions.

Megan and I maneuvered through perfectly paved switchbacks dipping below and above the fog, reaching Treebones Resort. This family owned paradise is acres of yurts and our nest of a home. Megan’s dream was now a reality!

There are many types of camping. Sometimes there’s a tent, sometimes there’s a car and sometimes you’re glamping. This nest was the latter. This was comfort, style and the peace of the outdoors all wrapped in one experience.

Branches and tree limbs stretched and bent around us, shaping a cove of comfort. The breeze was able to pass through, but not too much. Light of the day shined through as well, but again not too much. Somehow this nest understood what was needed for comfort and it made it happen.

We were able to watch the night’s approach dance with the pacific ocean’s waves, spraying the warmest oranges, blues and pinks across the sheet of the sky. We were placed in position to experience nighttime in the best way ever. Laying outside, so close to all of the things that make way for a star gazer’s joy, was absolutely amazing.

Big Sur has treasures sprinkled throughout the entire region. Los Padres National Forest covers much of the coast and allows for primitive camping and gateway to swimming in the northern Pacific. Outlets like this, Sand Dollar Beach, make access to both steps away from Highway 1.

Before this moment I’d only seen foggy treks on the beach in movies. If you haven’t done it before, you should. It felt like the air and sand wrapped around every inch of me.

This was the happiest my hair and skin had been in a while. (This was before I spun around drinking up every inch of joy.)

Being in the fog felt like something between’ Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Twilight’. There’s magic in mystery and we were in all of it.

Big Sur (outside of the twists and turns of Highway 1) asks you to relax. It gives you space for you to be in your own space. It allows you to reflect on what you’ve been doing in your daily spaces. And it gives you space to discover opportunities in all spaces.

From our nest, were we able to see how the surrounding community complemented the coast’s naturalness with the coolest looking camping spaces and homes.

The length of Highway one is highlighted by the most gentle pampas bushes. The wind blew they swayed together.

Watching the earth move in each bush, then looking across to the oceans waves was complete receipt for an afternoon chill.

Everything in Big Sur is spread out. The food at each stopping point gives flavor for each mile it takes for wandering drivers to reach them. Lucia’s Lodge’s fish and chips was made in the heavens and I’ll gladly put all the respect on their name.

The cherry on top of Big Sur’s landscape were the Pacific Ocean’s Elephant Seas. They flopped, we watched.

Sometimes sharing the journey of someone else’s dream sends thoughtful impact to your own dreams in ways you don’t expect. Big Sur and Megan’s nest are pieces of a pacific dream I’d recommend we all experience more than once.