california

Not so SoCal

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So last post I was feeling soooo SoCal, well since then we’ve moved not so SoCal. The journey is taking us slowly north up the Pacific Coast. Since Santa Barbara and Hobson Beach, we have parked our home and moved in to what I am now calling The Holy Trinity of National Parks…Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Yosemite. img_2746

Leaving Hobson Beach Park, a state park in Santa Barbara, I was a little heartbroken. Living next to the beach, listening to the waves crash at night with the windows open instead of our white noise machine, combing the beach each morning, and meeting some great people while we were there was really hard to leave. However, it was time to get back into the national parks and see the things.

As soon as we arrived at our campground near Sequoia, I knew I needed to be back in the nature of trees. Our campground was along a river with big willowy trees swaying in the breeze encompassed in Spring blooms. After walking down to the river, feeling the breeze, dipping our toes in the freezing cold rushing river, and quietly listening to the sounds, I was completely at ease. img_2633

Our first day in Sequoia National Park we happened upon some Petroglyphs, one of my journey obsessions (along with cacti, heart-shaped nature, dead trees, and Pelicans diving into the water). First we did the “must dos” and conquered the General Forest. We saw the General Sherman Tree along what we thought would be an easy hike since it was the most popular but going in we knew it would be harrrrd getting back out because it was allllll downhill. However, the tree was massive and awe-some!

After that crazy hike we drove up and through the Tunnel Log….twice. Once so I could go through in the truck and once so I could take pix. Then we hiked up Moro Rock, which is no joke! You go up, up, up and include some stairs and major drop offs and get to the most beautiful panoramic view of a national park. Then you climb down and cross the road and climb up another killer hike to see the Roosevelt Tree (if you’re tired or not in the mood, worth skipping it and just another big tree in my book).

The next day we spent finishing our journey planning, Gilmore hung outside sunbathing, and letting the girls play basketball, tether ball, and skip rocks in the river. A good day had by all essentially. Finishing our planning, contracting campgrounds/national parks, figuring out dates and then Shaun calculating when we’d ETA get “home” was super exhausting and even more depressing. I can NOT express enough how much I do NOT want to go home (except to see my loved ones) and would love to do this for just another year. I know many of you can not understand my drive but having my husband and girls in my business all of the time and seeing the greatness of America with them every day is completely priceless and AMAZING! Also, saving them and myself from the worry of what is happening in the world (not blinding them from it but protecting) and the current trends of young women is completely worth bubbling them in the RV and keeping the journey going.

Ok so after I depressed myself, blamed Shaun (not his fault but who else), and agreed on dates, we set off on a narrow, windy road towards Kings Canyon a day early. Why? A campground in-park opened that day and had campsites open that could handle our rig (our home, travel trailer is 36′ 11″ without the F250, which has to be perfectly straight when unhooking). So we moved….and QUICK! We didn’t, for the first time, have a campground ready and waiting for us to stay at and Shaun knew I was freaking out about this detail.

We got there and were probably the fourth person to park there for the day, aka the season. The site we parked in was the most amazing site we have ever parked in EVER! There was no one around us but trees. Oh, oh and the trees, I am in LOOOOOVE with the trees. They were giant, smelled amazing, and just encompassed the word beautiful!!!!! This is now where I knew I belonged. I want to be in the trees forever!!!! John Muir and I are one and we belong smelling, saving, dwelling, and living in the TREES!!!!! img_2706

So after I resolved to be one with the trees, we woke up cold and in the trees. We dressed and hiked from our campground right into the General Grant Tree self-guided hike (self-guided hikes ROCK) and loved it especially pre-Memorial Day rush. It was amazing and we loved it! Afterwards, we wentt home, made a massive fire and hung out as our amazing family does!

The next morning we woke up colder and damp. Propane was kicked on and I homeschooled to kill time before our hike. As we headed out to the truck to head to the Panoramic Point to hike up to the Fire Tower, that idea was quickly killed. The road was so foggy that none of us could see and we were just going to rise in elevation so we abandoned ship and headed back. We arrived to the campground and I whipped out my camera and Natalie joined me in a wet stroll along the Sunrise Trail next to our campsite and then Brie joined me afterwards. Photographing the trees and natural world during a post rain, condensation, and camp fire bound time was amazing to experience with my girls and such precious time for me to bond with them, one on one too.

Descending on the time to evacuate the chilly weather, we headed toward Yosemite. A scheduled campsite through our beloved Thousand Trails was pre-set and toward it we went. Knowing that there were long, hot showers with plentiful water running through our connected faucets (Berkey ready for filtering water), a river for fishing and playing, and another national park for exploring we ventured on. Originally we were supposed to be in Yosemite for a week but Shaun had an amazing opportunity to paraglide with an amazing instructor and we agreed he had to take it, so we shoved our Yosemite experience into three days of what we refer to as “active days” and I made everyone non-stop active the whole three days.

We were not far from the national park, which for an out of park campground is amazing. Monday we knew a lot of people would have off and so I planned an off-the-beaten-path hike. Hitting Hetch Hetchy toward O’Shaughnessy Dam and then Wapama Falls was not a hard but also not easy hike and walking through the falls, seeing all of the Spring butterflies, feeling the warm breeze, seeing the water at it’s best post-freeze, pre-dry season was amazing and priceless!

The highlight for the girls was walking through the waterfalls. Also, seeing multiple lizards, butterflies, and plants we couldn’t recognize but then meeting an amazing park ranger who found them all in a book she “couldn’t live without” was priceless. We hit the ranger station, bought the book, and it’s been priceless to us, The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada by (my buddy) John Muir Laws.

The second day in Yosemite, we decided to do the “must sees” as I call them. First we hiked to Bridalveil Falls, the largest waterfall in North America. Then we headed to Yosemite Falls, well hiked to the lower falls but could see both. We saw El Capitan, Half Dome, Cathedral Dome, and Sentinel Rock en route. Then we made our way to Cooks Meadow Loop which provided an amazing view of so many iconic spots, a beautiful meadow, and spring (especially the tadpoles under the boardwalk parts of the hike). After we decided to do the Mirror Lake hike so we can get into the heart of Yosemite and so I can photograph the rock formations in the lake. Well it was a pretty hike but the lake photography left much to be desired. We hiked in and quickly hiked out. The girls played in the Toulemene River at the campground instead while Shaun fished. Win win win!

The third, and final active day, we went to Carlon Falls. Three rangers recommended it, so how could we not?! It was a great hike, beautiful falls, vacant of people, farther than anticipated, and lovely. After we decided to hike to the Giant Sequoias in the Tuolumne Grove for a ranger talk to finish the Junior Ranger books with the girls. After hiking down, down, down, down into the forest we found the meet up point for the talk and ate our lunch because we were early. Our ranger was raring to go, informative, and taught us a lot about the trees and she was the most informative person we’ve ever met in the national parks/monuments/forests/etc.. We still had to hike up, up, up, up and after Natalie and I had to turn back in for her lost hat, gave up, and rehiked up, up, up, up and met up with Shaun and Brie we were beat (btw her hat was in the bottom of her backpack lol). The visitor center was our last stop in Yosemite National Park for the girls to earn their beloved Jr Ranger badges. Boy did they earn them after over 18 miles of hiking in three days!

After arriving back home we decided to pack up and get as ready as we could to leave early the next day so Shaun could go to his second paragliding certification course. It is such a blessing that he’s been able to work with this group of teachers whom know there paragliding info inside and out. He and I feel he’s in the best hands to prepare him for the best, worst and in-between when he goes out on his own in a sport that he loves and enjoys. It brings him closer to enjoying his down time and us supporting him in that.

While he did his training, the girls and I have slept in (which was needed after our Yosemite race), been to the beach, tried hiking but it was too hot, drove around seeing and looking for paragliders/aka Shaun, made new/awesome friends, homeschooled, read, made slime, biked, hunted lizards and more. We can get more done in our time in the RV then we could anywhere else. SIGH!

After this we headed to a national forest for a few days to wait, impatiently, until we hit San Fran with our family/BFFS! Peace out sauerkraut! We also celebrated Gilmore’s 2nd birthday!

SoCal SoFun!

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New Jersey has been my home my whole life and pretty much the same county even. Our journey traveling around the US has really opened my eyes to what could be. Even knowing NJ, especially our area, is one of the most expensive places in the country to live, it’s home. However, I think I have found where my heart would love to call home…the Santa Barbara area.

Needless to say it also shares the title of one of the most expensive places to live in the US. Worse off, it’s on the opposite coast from all of the people I love. What draws me to this area of SoCal? The salt life, the perfect year round weather, you’re within reach of everything you could need, want, and not know you wanted, there is so much to do, and it’s just perfect all of the time!

We were originally camping up in the mountains (pix above) of Oso (for those moms tortured by Agent Oso sorry for the memories this rehashes for you). Being up there in the mountains provided some killer hiking but we were so secluded from all of the good stuff. So we moved to the beach (if you didn’t know this yet…IG!) and are LOVING it!

So, I did what any right-minded woman would do and called a realtor to put our NJ sticks and bricks up on the market and started looking for a new sticks and bricks here. Just kidding! For our time here, I am just going to soak in all of the beauty, weather, salty air, great stuff, culture, and perfectness. The girls are definitely enjoying it here and Shaun is off paragliding and getting certified and there is four very happy Hammans 24 hours a day! We checked out the Santa Barbara pier and Channel Islands National Park, both gorgeous!

Currently, I am sitting outside, listening to the waves crash, every so often getting a light sea spray, soaking in the Vitamin D, watching the girls explore their findings from the beach this morning, all while the palm trees sway above, the boats and surfers sail by and I savor it all!

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California…no doubt about it

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We arrived on Wednesday to San Diego and it was beautiful! I get why people live there without a doubt. We loved the KOA there with their beautiful pool, jumping pillows, huge laundry room, book exchange, and handy store. However, the San Diego zoo was the highlight of that location.

Not being a huge zoo person, but still so excited to hit this iconic place. We spent the whole day there. Starting with the guided bus tour we made our list of what we must-see because I read it’s almost impossible to see the whole thing in one day. Most of our time was spent in the new Africa Rocks area. The whole place is just beautiful! Wish we could’ve seen the Safari Park area but we chose the zoo portion as the #1.

Friday we chilled poolside during the AM and then ventured out for the evening. We went to the Cabrillo National Monument. The tide pools there are super cool! This was the girls first time ever and our first time on this journey touching the Pacific Ocean…MONUMENTAL! After splashing, finding shells, touching all of the cool sea creatures, we headed into the visitor center to get our Junior Ranger books and earn our badges.

After slaying the badge earning we headed to Liberty Market for their First Friday Arts night. Soon I was made aware of everyone’s starving status and commencing whining. Shaun wanted to eat at a local brewery and we quickly found one of our favorites by some dumb luck. If you’ve never had anything from Stone Brewery it’s pretty rad stuff. Yummy food, good libations, outdoor beauty and then we hit the market.

This market is a must see for anyone in the area! In hindsight we wished we had gone there first and ate. Inside were individual store/stands with all local vendors. Some of the cool stops there are artisanal cheeses, ramen, fish/oyster bar, jewelery, good olive oils & aged balsamic, gelato and desserts, and much more. Then we went onto the big lawn to check out some local art, music, a museum and more. It was such a great, outdoors, local stop.

img_2067The next day we were waiting for a package to arrive at the campground so we decided on a pool/campground day. The package came earlier than expected and the campground got really busy to the point that the pool was too much for us. Family decision…we packed up in under an hour and head to the beach.

We arrived within three hours to Dockweiler Beach in LA County. It’s basically parking in a parking lot with hook ups and you’re feet from the beach. The view, the location, the beach is amazing! Bonus, we also made amazing friends with the family next to us. One of the best parts of the journey is the people we meet! We beached, we campfired, we watched the most amazing sunsets, we biked the path along the beach, and we beached some more! It was an amazing few days!

Today, Tuesday we galivanted to Santa Monica Pier. There we played in the arcade, ate some ice cream, people watched, and putzed. Then we headed down the PCH and I was so intrigued with seeing Muscle Beach in Venice Beach that Shaun stopped so we could check it out. It was everything I wanted it to be sans the muscley dudes. There was a great strip of shops, skaters/skater park, more people watching and so much more. After we went to the beach and chilled.

Now we are off to see more of Cali…

East Coasters landed on the West Coast

Although my last post might’ve seemed like I was on the verge of a hair losing in clumps breakdown or foot stomping arms pounding the ground tyraid about going home, I have not gone over the deep end just yet. I’ve reentered the still in the relishing every moment, making as many memories as possible, living this journey to the fullest and taking one day at a time stage. I vowed not to waste the rest of our time on worrying about the end of it because that is just silly and wasteful. It’s on journey…watch out!

img_1682To update you on where we are on the journey, we left Las Vegas and our short stint with Nevada. Then a pinnacle moment arrived and I really couldn’t have been more dorky-excited about it…we reached California!!! This meant we made it allllll the way to the West Coast from the East Coast. We made it! We did it! We took this journey across our great USA! Still so excited to actually touch the Pacific Ocean and hit the beach!

 

Although South Cali, from what we have seen so far, looks an aweful lot like New Mexico and Arizona and that was anticlimatic for me. Thennnnnn we reached 29 Palms and the hubby’s head exploded with Marine Corps excitement. I took pictures of street signs and such at his request (most blurry unfortunately) and it was really great to see his face light up. He was so excited to share his moment of life with Ronnie, who also is a former Marine (don’t ever call them ex-Marines btw) and I sent him pics as soon as we had service. OohRah! Semper Fi!

Then we reached Joshua Tree…wow! It was clear very quickly why they changed this once National Monument to a National Park. It truly is like NO other and not just because of the Joshua Trees but the whole atmosphere. After we arrived and scarcely fit the turn into our spot at the campground, we just looked around in awe. We also marveled at the stars. In Las Vegas, there are a few stars able to be seen but our Utah stargazing was missed and they were back.

This was our first time boondocking and staying in a National Park campground and Shaun and I were so excited, the girls a little hesitant about the no electric, water, cable, etc… Halfway into the journey, Shaun and I are ready to take the next step in full-timing and that seemed to us to be boondocking. Essentially, parking at a campground/designated camping area without any accoutrements. We do have generators to keep the refrigerator and freezer going since we have lots and lots of food in there and it keeps the essential lights up. Otherwise we are living the dream of being “real” campers. Don’t get me wrong, there are NO tents in our future, but this is real and hardcore for the Hammans and it’s freaking fun to boot. 

The campground we stayed in was called Black Rock Canyon Campground. Now this campground is located in Joshua Tree but not located at the main visitor center. Although I was a little bummed about this, it ended quickly. We were supposed to spend our 1 of 2 full days in the park leaving from the main visitor center but when the fridge was not working and we were figuring out the boondocking life, we chose to hike a trail connected to the campground. I have to say, like a toddler, I was a little wah wah about not going to the main source.

img_1767After chosing a 2 ½ mile hike, we set off and were immediately in awe of the wild flowers, cactus, Joshua Trees, lizards, rocks, and much more. We hiked up and up and up to the top of Black Rock Mountain via the Hi-View Nature Trail and the view at the top was totally worth it! The ranger told us to look out for the elusive desert tortoise but to our dismay we didn’t find it.

 

Later I took the girls to the Nature/Visitor Center at the camground to see if they had the Junior Ranger books. Not only did they have them but they had a small store, an informational nature center, a ranger was on location, a book swap shelf and more. They gave us the DL on the Jr Ranger books, told us some other helpful info, and we went on our way to learn. This was their homeschool/roadschool for the day and I made them delve in deep. The girls and I went on another hike while Shaun did some work and we conquered their books while having a lot of fun.

The 2nd full day in Joshua Tree we made our way to the main visitor center, the girls earned their Jr Ranger badges, and we headed in for some fun. Unlike our norm, we went straight to the trail that the ranger recommended to almost everyone and it was only a 1 mile loop too…blah. As we entered the park farther in, I was befuddled by the amazing rocks. They look like big chunks of play doh and are super cool. We also saw lots of climbers which I could watch all day long. As we arrived to the Hidden Valley Trail I was excited and ready to go!

First thing the girls wanted to climb every single rock, pile of rocks, mountain of rocks, and rocks rocks rocks. In fact, I did too. We climbed, climbed down, hiked, took pix, climbed up, climbed down, hiked, took pix, repeat a million times. What a completely unique, beautiful, and fun place for our whole family! Then we hit the Barker Dam Trail, a 1 mile out and back. There they had a cool dam, more fun climbing, and another beautiful and easy hike through the sand. Towards the end we found a short trail off of the trail to some really amazing petroglyphs. There were some with color which we’d never seen and were so glad we went.

This, and I know I’ve said this before about almost every national park and/or monument, is a must see! So happy we made this a stop on our journey! Wednesday, we headed to San Diego and there’s lots for us to see and do….till next time!