With a week down in our JUCY RV we had hit Lake Tahoe, The Redwoods and some of the Californian Coast. To see what we got up to in Cali before here check our other posts: Cali - Part 1

Day 8: Thursday 5th 

On Thursday we headed further south. From Pismo Beach we headed down past LA to Huntington, where we spent the day hanging out on the pier and checking out the local shops. Not much to report from this day, it was beautiful and sunny, as always in the Golden state. 

That night we slept in Doheny State park campground, just south of Newport. Another beautiful cliffside camp spot!

​Day 9: Friday 6th - Oceanside to Joshua Tree NP

Friday morning we woke up and headed out for a special breakfast in Oceanside, it was Sean’s 25th birthday! Woo hoo!

After loads of coffee, a tasty eggs benedict for Sean and an acai bowl for Bec we hit up the local Walmart before making the quick decision to head to Joshua Tree National Park for the weekend. 

We were originally planning to go to Joshua Tree a little later but with no surf and not much going on along the coast we decided now was as good a time as any. 

​We bough lots of tasty cooking supplies for the weekend, plenty of water and headed inland.

We arrived at Joshua Tree around 1pm, and were told all the campgrounds were full except one, and the one with some (very limited) space available was over 50 miles into the park! We raced through the park (at the speed limit of course) arrived at Cottonwood campground to snag one of the last spots!

That afternoon we explored the area around the campground before cooking pad thai for dinner and attending a ranger program on the stars. It was FREEZING, and we were in bed well before 9pm, a somewhat normal routine for us now. 

​Day 10: Saturday 7th - Joshua Tree National Park

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to the howling of a coyote in the campground. We made porridge and headed off for an explore of the park. 

We begun the morning with a pit stop at the Cholla cactus garden. This is a cute super short “hike” (it’s about half a mile round trip and takes less than 10 minutes) that takes you through a path of super sharp (but pretty) cholla cacti.

​After the garden we headed to one of the most popular hikes in the park, Ryan Mountain. After our climb we were rewarded with beautiful 360 degree views of the surrounding area, as well as cell service which we became aware of due to the 10 random people with their noses buried in their screens.

​After this we headed for Hidden Valley where we walked around the small but very pretty valley.

​Day 11: Sunday 8th - Joshua Tree to Encinitas

Sunday morning we left Joshua Tree and headed back for the coast. We drove to the beachside town of Encintas and managed to snag a spot in the state beach campground. 

We went for a quick dip in the ocean and then walked from the campground up to the town and shops to get some supplies for dinner before having a drink and watching the sunset. 

A nice and relaxing day.

Day 12: Monday 9th - Encinitas

Monday we had a chilled morning at the campground. We went to the store, I bought some new shoes and we had a cheeky midday beer with lunch in celebration of San Diego’s “Beer Week” festivities. 

Whilst puzzled over what to do for the arvo we made a super quick decision to head to the NFL Chargers vs. Bears game down in San Diego. We raced to the train station and jumped on. Whilst on board we met 2 couples headed to the game who helped us buy tickets for the train (that we’d already boarded, oops) and the game.
They invited us to tailgate with them before the game and it was a super fun evening.

Here’s a few pictures of the craziness that is American football. Folks over here really, really like it. 

Day 13: Tuesday 10th - Encinitas to San Diego to Carlsbad

The next morning after the NFL game we woke up in Encinitas and decided to head down to San Diego for the day. First stop was the USS Midway museum, and it was amazing! We ended up accidentally spending around 5 hours on the ship leaving not much time for the rest of SD, however that was okay because the museum was so cool. 

The Museum had loads of old fighter planes and helicopters which were incredible. However perhaps the most incredible thing for Sean and I was the abundance of Veterans on board. The vets were giving short tours and presentation about equipment and protocol on the ship, as well as telling first hand stories of their own experiences on the now retired carrier which had been their home away from home. We loved every minute of listening to what these amazing gents had to say and it really made our day. If you find yourself in San Diego or nearby and this is your kind of thing, we honestly can’t urge you enough to go check out the USS Midway museum. You won’t be disappointed!

We had originally planned to spend a few days around San Diego, but Bec's foot began to play up again, and after our 5 hours on the ship we really needed to find a place to stay the night. That afternoon we headed north again and ended up snagging a camp spot at south Carlsbad campground, another picturesque beach side location. Excellent!

Day 14: Wednesday 11th - Carlsbad

Wednesday was pretty relaxed (boring). We just hung around Carlsbad in the morning and checked out a local produce market in the afternoon.

We did a bit of cooking that day, banana pancakes for breakfast and minestrone for dinner. Yum!

Since we didn't have any exciting or new for you from day 14 here is the recipe for our Banana Pancakes!
Banana Pancakes (Vegan for all you animal lovers out there)

- Mashed bananas
- Water (or almond milk for a lil more protein. Haven't tried soy milk but I'm sure it'd work too)
- Rolled Oats
- Vegetable Protein powder

Mix it all up to a sticky consistency and it's delicious! I like to top it with orange juice or lime and a lil brown or raw sugar.

We're picking up Sam (my twin brother) this weekend from the airport and I couldn't be more excited. 

Check back for weeks 3 and 4 in the van!

As you may have seen from previous posts we did a 3 week road trip in the USA about a month ago with JUCY. We visited Yellowstone, Grand Teton and a lot of the national parks in Utah. It was awesome! Resultantly we wanted to get back in the van again, ASAP.

The JUCY vans come complete with 2 double beds (one inside, and one in a "penthouse" on top of the car) and a kitchen, complete with 2 gas burners, a fridge and a sink! It is absolutely perfect for 2 - 4 people who want the convenience of an RV, without having to attempt to manoeuvre those huge things around and fork out lots of cash for the crazy amount of fuel they consume! So you can see why we wanted to get back in one, especially considering the price of dorm beds in California start at around $45 USD per person, per night!

Resultantly we flew to the states a little earlier than planned, hit up JUCY to see what they had available. And hit the road. 

Here's how it went down.

Day 1 - Thursday 29th: LA to Placerville (close to South Lake Tahoe)

Our day begun at 5am in Samesun Hostel, Venice Beach. Sean's body was still used to Havana time, and I'm a light sleeper. So we got up and tried to work out what the hell we were going to do and where we were going to go. It was the 29th of October and we weren't meant to be picking up out JUCY van until Nov 11. 

We decided we'd try our luck, give them a call and see if we could pick it up some time earlier. Like maybe today. 

SUCCESS! We were to pick our van up in 5 hours at the Jucy LA branch. For the next few hours we got busy on google working out where we wanted to go, packed our bags had some breakfast and headed to the office. 

From LA we headed 400 miles north to Placerville KOA. A campground on the way to Lake Tahoe. The drive wasn't too bad, it was cool to see all the fruit and vegetable farms along the way. ​

FUN FACT: when you rent a van with JUCY in the USA you get 10% off at all of KOA's campsites (and there are 100's all over the country!) It's nice to have friends with hook ups!

Day 2 - Friday 30th: South Lake Tahoe

Both exhausted after our multiple airport days and a full day of driving we slept in until 8am! We then grabbed a bowl of raisin bran before hitting the road to Lake Tahoe.

Along the way we stopped at a cute roadside coffee/general store and got a couple of coffees and a cinnamon roll. The owner was an absolute legend and told us what to do, where to stay and where to go with only one day on the lake!

If you see this combo van (pictured below) pull on in for a few handy hints!

Day 3 - Saturday 31st: Lake Tahoe to Oakland to Benbow

We woke up bright and early to drive from Lake Tahoe to Oakland to swap over our Jucy van. Unfortunately the MIL (malfunction indicator light) had come on the day before in the van. We spoke to the guys at Jucy over the phone and they were super helpful. They said we could take it to a mechanic, they'd find one locally for us that they would bill directly, or we could swap it straight over if we were going to be close to one of their offices. Luckily we were headed back towards San Fran before continuing up to the Redwoods. We decided that since we were going to have the van for another 4 weeks, getting a fresh one would be best. 

We arrived at 9am swapped over our van and headed off, but not before Sean could "borrow" the Jucy office's wifi to stream the rugby World Cup final between New Zealand and Australia.. We won't talk about that though. 

We headed up the coast hoping to reach the Redwoods that evening. Alas we wouldn't make it to our destination as low and behold along the way we passed a large sign advertising a corn maze AND a pumpkin patch. Having never done a corn maze or picked out our own Halloween pumpkin (being from Australia neither of us have actually had a Halloween pumpkin) we excitedly pulled off the highway, paid our maze entrance fees and went exploring.

Day 4 - Sunday 1st November: Benbow to Redwood National & State Parks 

Unfortunately when we woke up Sunday morning it was raining, and rain is never fun whilst camping. None the less, we cooked breaky, packed up our things and headed up to the Redwoods.

We arrived at the entry to the park, hit up the visitors centre for the relevant maps and hiking guides, watched the informational video they offered and then headed into the park to find our campground for the night, Elk Prairie, and yes we saw plenty of elk there. 

We found the campground and our campsite and it was all beautiful. Like I'm talking the most beautiful campground I've ever seen, maybe because it was completely magical and felt like we were on the set of fern gulley. 

​Day 5 - Monday 2nd: Redwood National Park and back to Benbow

Monday we woke up, walked back to the site of the fallen tree to check it out in day light, and have a chinwag with our fellow campers. It was incredible! Such a huge tree right in the middle of the campground and nobody was hit! We took a couple more photos, seeing is believing, and headed back to camp before setting off on a large hike for the day. 

We started our hike from the Elk Prairie visitors centre. We took the James Irvine trail to Fern Valley and back. The trek ended up being about 12 miles long and incredibly beautiful. 

After not much hiking or activity for a while we were both pretty pooped and sore by the end of it. It took us around 5 hours with lots of photo stops and with a nice long lunch and bathroom break to rest the legs in the middle.

After our hike we piled back into the car and headed back south to Benbow KOA to spend the night again before heading further south.

​Day 6 - Tuesday 3rd: Benbow to Santa Cruz

From Benbow we headed southwards to the coast. We arrived in Santa Cruz in the afternoon and headed to New Brighton State Beach to set up camp for the night with some wicked views of the west coast and its magical sunsets.

Day 7 - Wednesday 4th: New Brighton State Beach to Pismo State Beach

We woke up Wednesday morning and headed off for a little run before breakfast. Now I mean seriously little. I'm hoping to run the half marathon, whilst Sean does the full, in Sydney in September but I need some serious training to get there. 

After our run/jog (walk for Sean) we ate breaky and headed south along the famously beautiful Highway 1.

As we're coming back to do Highway 1 properly in about 2 weeks time when my twin brother gets here (I CANT WAIT, IT'S BEEN A YEAR SINCE IVE SEEN MY FAMILY!!) we didn't stop for too many photos and made this just a quick scoot down it for a change of scenery (we were both craving some ocean views).

The road is stunning and we can't wait to get back on it with Sambo! Here are a couple cheeky shots!