Encinitas is a little town located on the Pacific Ocean about 20 minutes north of San Diego airport. It’s just like a 1960′s California beach town. Hand made jewelery shops, the world famous Swami’s Mediation Retreat, more than two dozen yoga studios and spas, a dozen Mexican take-out restaurants, and locals and tourists alike walking around with surf boards give Encinitas a 1960′s feeling.

Ann Dunham is the hostess of a lovely little Bed and Breakfast called the Inn At Moonlight Beach, situated on a hillside overlooking the ocean. Moonlight Beach is the most popular beach in Encinitas, a great spot to simply get some sun, enjoy a picnic, play a game of pickup volleyball, try your hand at surfing or boogie-boarding, body surf, read a book, people watch or simply “chill.”

The lovely suites at Ann’s Inn At Moonlight Beach are decorated like the rooms you’d find in a French Country Inn. Each suite has a private bath and refrigerator. What makes Ann’s Inn really special is that she bakes her guests delicious home-made, warm-from-the-oven cakes and pastries along with their breakfasts every morning.

Guests at the Inn might begin their day with a walk on the beach in either direction at the crack of dawn and then return to the Inn for Ann’s home-made breakfast – all included in the cost of the night’s stay. Swami’s Beach was made famous in 1963 by the Beach Boys and is just a ten minute walk along the sandy beach where world class surfers still surf every morning.

Guests who leave their windows cracked open at night can hear the sounds of the surf at night and then awaken in the morning to the melodic sound of the of the meditative waterfall. Now it’s their choice: they can drift back to sleep or get up and take an early morning walk on the beach or through little town as Encinitas awakens.

If you choose some strenuous early morning exercise, you can then return to the Inn at Moonlight Bach and relax – you’ve earned it! – with a cup of fresh Starbucks coffee and the morning newspaper in Ann’s sunny, cheery breakfast room. If you prefer, you may enjoy your breakfast outside in the sunshine on one of the lovely decks and porches.

Each day at sunset often finds guests taking a walk on the beach before dinner. Others simply will relax on the front porch of the Inn sipping a glass of wine while enjoying the evening twilight and watching the goings on in the little town of Encinitas. For other lodging options, excellent Del Mar California Hotels and Carlsbad Bed and Breakfasts are plentiful in the coastal San Diego beach towns.

Encinitas is a wonderful place to live and to visit. No other beach town in the San Diego area has such a great selection of restaurants from Mexican take-out to fine Italian dining. If you come to visit, bring your appetite!

Swami’s Beach, immortalized by the Beach Boy’s in 1963 (let’s go surfing now, everybody’s learning how, come on a safari with me!) is just 6 blocks south of Moonlight Beach on historic Highway 101 and still draws the finest surfers in the world on a daily basis.