Sea Ranch,CA

During November 2017, we flew back to the West Coast for my aunt’s wedding. She chose beautiful Sea Ranch, CA and it was the perfect locale. We flew into San Francisco and drove a few hours north to get there. The drive was scenic, as it took you north, along the coast. As beautiful as it was, it was a nerve wracking drive. There were many spots on the road with no guardrails and just cliff straight down to the water. It was a very thrilling ride up, and, fortunately we had the sunlight most of the way there.

Once we reached Sea Ranch, we made our way to one of the three houses my aunt had rented for the family. She had a very small, family wedding. In all, we totaled 21 people. I only know that because the chapel she was married in held 20 people only. Although there was a woman guarding the road up to the chapel counting people, we snuck an extra person in.

Back to the house…our house was pretty much on the coast. From the spacious living room, with high ceilings, you could see the water while drinking your morning coffee. There was a small meadow before the cliffs, and we were able to view deer and turkey roaming through it. There was a legitimate path to the beach, but we took it only once. It made the walk to the beach three times longer. We ended up cutting through a few neighbors’ backyards to get to the sea cliffs. There was a tiny path already, so we weren’t the only lazy people around.

There really are no words that can do the view justice, so I will just add a bunch of photos for you to salivate over.

The wedding was perfect; succinct and heartfelt. I felt privileged to be there. The chapel was a tiny historic buildings called the Sea Ranch Chapel. The story behind it is very interesting. If you get a chance you should research it.

After the wedding, we had a meal prepared by my aunt’s husband. He’s an amazing, well-known bread maker. On top of that, he makes everything from scratch and its all organic! I don’t know how he found the time to make the delicious meal after his own wedding. And as if that wasn’t enough, most of the meals we had over the long weekend he prepared with my aunt and their son. Overall it was a bonding family experience.

If I could live in Sea Ranch, I would. The only negative is that the town is small, but not as small as Orca’s Island was. I would definitely return to Sea Ranch.