Worth It?

A fun, no frills rating system born from an embarrassing moment.

Iconic McWay Falls photo by Laurens R. Krol

My sister recently shared an Instagram post from Noratheexplorah an influencer (I guess?) who rates touristy destinations on a scale of 1-10 and distills her reasoning into a blurb. I fully respect this approach, especially since we have a long running joke in our family using an even more efficient binary rating system:

Worth it/Not Worth It.

We use this for all manner of things and experiences. It can be travel related but also involve a food or beverage, an activity, a movie, a purchase, a pursuit or even a relationship. When weighing in on things we tend to skip the review and just ask: Worth it?

This all stems from an embarrassing moment more than a decade ago, on a road trip down California’s Highway 1. My son was on spring break and had never seen California’s coastline territory. My nephew was attending UC San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) so we decided to make the journey from our hub of family in the Bay Area to visit him. Along the way I’d get reacquainted with my roots and my son would get a little Golden State education.

A road trip down Highway 1 sounds relaxing— a scenic meander through some of the most stunning and accessible beaches on earth, studded with fun and funky towns to visit and find refreshment.

Meandering was not our jam. We had an agenda. We had a schedule. We were checking boxes based on recommendations from friends and family and my own weird nostalgia-driven hit list. Number 1 on that list: The Big Dipper on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

We took the less scenic express route to Santa Cruz where we would actually spend some time and the night visiting a friend. Night two would be at another friend’s place in Cambria. The drive from Santa Cruz to Cambria on Highway 1 is less than three hours if you drive it straight through. Unless you are someone who drives this jaw-dropping stretch of Highway 1 regularly, however, driving straight through feels criminal…especially with a first time visitor.

Working to our schedule’s advantage, this was late April, so not prime harvest season. There was no need to dally at fruit stands to eat insane tomatoes and berry pies or any of that. We did stop for lunch somewhere along the way at a place that had good ice cream, our only criteria.

We checked off Monterey’s Cannery Row but since we “could not do justice” (my words) to the Monterey Bay Aquarium we passed it by. I know. I know. I’m cringing just thinking of it and you may be casting a vote here for “worst mom in the world.”

On we went. Feel the soft white sand of Carmel Beach. Check. From there we retraced, in reverse, the route of my one and only marathon to Big Sur. Check. It was getting to be late-afternoon when we came up on our next must see stop, one that I had never seen: McWay Falls.

McWay Falls has been called a “once in a lifetime experience,” “California’s ultimate road trip destination,” a “majestic natural wonder” and so many other things. It is a rare “tidefall” that drops 80 feet from craggy cliffs into a turquoise Pacific cove at high tide and onto an arc of pristine white sand beach at low tide. It is also 1 ½ hours short of Cambria, where dinner, a pool and wine awaited. Even with our meager stops we were already four hours in to our three hour drive. I looked over at my son as we approached the turnout. “Should we?”

“Why not?” he said, simplifying a decision that should never have been one.

The iconic post card viewpoint is accessed by a well-worn and mostly level trail from a parking area directly off the highway. It is .5 miles round trip, a 5-10 minute stroll rather than a hike. Halfway into this stroll we encountered a couple on their return trip. As they looked up, their eyes still filled with awe, we exchanged some greeting. Before I could stop myself I said the words I will never live down: “Is it worth it?”

Even as the words came out of my mouth I wanted to take them back. I can’t describe the look that came across both their faces. The looks were some combination of offended, horrified, flabbergasted mixed in with pity perhaps? Indignance? Maybe a spot of anger? It’s hard to know. There was a lot going on in that split second before they mumbled an, “uh…yeah” or something and hurried along.

What I do know is that I have gotten endless mileage telling this story on myself and I hope that couple has been able to do the same. I’ve also enjoyed the discipline of distilling things into worth it/not worth it ratings, a system wholly inadequate in most scenarios but also darned handy.

This has been a long way of saying that I am working on a way to assure “Losing the Mothership” remains “Worth it” to all subscribers and especially paid subscribers.

This requires actual human support agents (remember them?) so it’s going to take a minute. For this week that’s all I’ve got. Whatever you do and wherever you go this week, I hope it is WORTH IT!

(PS If you have any worth it/not worth it ratings you want to share I’d love to hear them in the comments. No judgement!)

The worst mom in the world DID make sure her son and nephew had some beach fun!