Whatever I know about Laguna Beach I learned on MTV. Well, that was a miseducation.
I only spent three days in Laguna Beach, a quiet, wealthy and picturesque enclave on the Southern California coast. Like many Gen X-ers, I grew up on The Hills and Laguna Beach, among other MTV reality shows of the 2000s. I knew the place would be beautiful, but I had no idea it would inspire clarity.
It’s been a volatile, even if not terrible year. So as I stood on the cliffs of the Montage resort overlooking the Pacific Ocean, I thought: I needed this. I needed the vibrant colors of the native vegetation and the predictability of the grey sands getting washed away by aggressive waves every couple of minutes. I needed a place where luxury met wildly natural splendor. That’s Laguna Beach, in a nutshell.
In just a couple of short days exploring the seaside community, I managed to squeeze in lots of clifftop meditation and a 6-mile state park hike at nearby Crystal Cove. I also found time for excellent tacos, just saying.
What surprised me the most was the electric, accepting energy of the place. It wasn’t snobby as I’d assumed or exclusive as I’d feared. Maybe the malls or social hot spots were (I wouldn’t know – spent all my time out of doors) but the place itself was downright democratic. If you have a spirit of adventure; if you seek the gospel of the air and the lesson of the land, you will meet yourself here.
There is nothing like the pristine and un-judging presence of nature to jolt the soul back into place. I have found that, predictably, in desolate places like Joshua Tree in summer or the Southern Coast of Iceland at night. But to find that experience in so commercial a place as SoCal, takes either a special person or a special place. I’d like to think the two things came together on this trip.
