southern california

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!