Our Great California Road Trip Part I

It has been a little while since our last post, and for that we sincerely apologize. Truth be told, there has been a lot going on. A lot more than we're used to in terms of movement and travel! We've been attempting this California RV road trip now for a few weeks and have some had some interesting experiences to say the least. The overall mission for our California trip was to be in San Francisco by April 16th, my birthday! My sister moved out to S.F. last year and since I've never been, we added it to our list.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. We started our California road trip adventure in Joshua Tree.

We met up with some friends who have their own fabulous design and lifestyle blog Birch & Pine. It was here that we braved a dust storm, shared our meals, and welcomed in-depth conversation and genuine bouts of laughter. They introduced us to some incredible BLM land that we devoured visually and spiritually. It was such a warm way to begin our California trek.

We also made it to Joshua Tree National Park for a day, after a lucky break in the clouds. The park itself was magical simply because of the rocks and crags and unique trees. But to be completely honest, I was expecting more. I'm not trying to rain on anyone's National Park Parade, but I really expected Joshua Tree to be different. It was very much overcrowded, and seemed to spiritually cater to more of the climbing community than the exploratory kind.

From Joshua Tree, we ended up heading to Palm Springs to meet up with some friends for Dinah Shore. One of the main components of our California adventurer his far revolved around friendship, which is something Vanessa and I truly appreciate. We have had such wonderful friends and family take care of us throughout this journey, especially in this leg of the country. Palm Springs was not only beautiful, and astonishingly relaxed, but it also allowed us to spend some time with friends and reconnect.

We ended up coming across a vegan spot in Palm Springs that was so tasty, we went back twice. It was called Palm Greens Cafe and we HIGHLY recommend this place. To me, it's really hard to nail a Reuben for the vegan community. There are so many non-vegan and vegetarian friendly components to that Sammie, that I always end up being disappointed. Until Palm Greens Cafe. The vegan Reuben was to die for. It really captured the flavor and texture of the pastrami, not to mention provided a choice of dairy-free cheese to use at your disposal.

We we also drank a pretty phenomenal date shake. Apparently, date shakes are fairly famous in Palm Springs, and the one at Palm Greens Cafe really threw us for a loop. It was sweet, but not sugary, and with the almond butter they added instead of milk, it was incredibly creamy and smooth. Mmm...okay I need to stop because I'm getting hungry.

After Palm Springs, we took a detour south to San Diego. We had some friends from Florida who had moved out there a few months before, and we also picked up a job trimming medical marijuana for a dispensary. Turns out, the job fell through, so we had a bunch of free time to traipse about the city, which was nice.

I'm sure many of you read our diatribe on the RV parking in San Diego, but we did manage to secure a few nights of free parking in Mission Bay. I wouldn't go as far as saying it was the safest place to park (someone tried to steal our hubcaps in the middle of the night), but we were right by the water and nobody really bothered us.

Our favorite part about our San Diego visit (besides friends Mark & Sahar, and Mari & Alex) was our visit to La Jolla. First, it took us about three days until we were corrected in the pronunciation "La Hoya". So there was that. But La Jolla beach was such an experience. I had no idea you could get so close to the sea lions, mere inches away as they splashed in the water or slept on the beach. It was so much fun to watch them ride the waves in, and listen to them barking back and forth. We took so many pictures it's hard to choose a favorite.

After La Jolla, we had some garbage weather for a few days, so nothing was quite as pretty as that moment. But we did however, decide to take an impromptu trip to Tijuana......did I mention we don't have our passports? Dun dun dun.

Part II of the great California road trip coming soon.