🚐 CALFORNIA 10th STOP 🚩

July 14th- 19th

Malibu

We made it to California!

We have 5 nights in California before flying home. The first stop is Malibu 🏖

Our RV site is right across from the beach. We quickly changed and headed down for a few hours in the sun. The water was surprisingly warm. There was a nice breeze and not a cloud in the sky- a perfect beach afternoon.

We ordered takeout from Malibu Seafood and ate dinner overlooking the ocean.

How perfect is this wine for our trip and current evening! 🍷

Zuma Beach

The next morning we headed to Zuma Beach for a few hours. The kids love the beach and enjoyed running around and playing. They built sand castles, splashed in the waves, dug for sand crabs, and made up their own games.

On our way to Santa Barbara we stooped on the Pacific Coast Highway at Point Mugu State Park at Thornhill Broome Beach. There was an enormous sand dune and we wanted to climb to the top. There were other families climbing, and two friends walking up with boogie boards to ride down. Owen and Henry made it to the very top, and the rest of us got pretty high up. The views were amazing and running down was pretty fun too!

Santa Barbara

We made our way to the OceanMesa site in Santa Barbara after lunch. We parked and took a scooter ride down to El Capitan beach. There was a beautiful path down to the beach and a sister-site that had "glamping" spots. The beaches were not very big, but there was plenty of space to spread out. Families had made the neatest tee-pee huts out of logs and sticks- our kids got to work trying to build their own. Owen and Grace played a music concert with instruments they made from beach materials, and George built rock towers. It was a little chillier than Zuma and Malibu beaches, but it was a great afternoon.

Santa Barbara was a beautiful place, but we are off to our next stop- Paso Robles. The third largest wine region in California. On our way to Paso Robles we drove to Pismo Beach for lunch and a quick beach trip. ChipWrecked is a must for anyone in the Pismo area- the food is amazing!

Pismo Beach

Off the coast and headed inland. 🍷⛰

Paso Robles

We arrived at The Wine Country RV site around 4:45. The wineries close around 5 or 6 on Thursday evenings, so we had a limited time to explore. After making a few calls we decided to drive to the center square (about an 8 minute drive) and grab some food and drinks. We settled on Asunción and enjoyed a wine tasting. The man working was very knowledgeable about Paso Robles, the history of the town, and the wine he was serving. Our kids at spaghetti and drank smooties from the italian place next door, while we enjoyed the many sips of wine. We ordered several bottles to ship home and headed to the center square for the kids to run around and play. We ended our night with a trip to Coldstone then headed back to the RV site.

Faces from the dinner table. 😊

Hop on daddy in the park.👆

Pacific Coast Highway

Is it possible or rationale to want to move to a highway? The drive from Paso Robles through Big Sur to Monterrey was absolutely magnificent. I must be getting used to the heights and the twists and turns, I was leaning out of the window filming each new beautiful sight. I took pictures, videos and enjoyed the scenery as we drove up the coast on our 3 hour journey. Our first stop was along San Simeon State Park to see the elephant seals! These animals are enormous, and loud, and they fight constantly. The kids had read about these seals in their deadliest creatures books and told me all about what they knew as we watched them.

We received a recommendation to stop at Nepenthe for lunch along the way, so we did. It is a beauitful restaurant and cafe overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We ordered sandwiches and hot chocolate (for the kids) and enjoyed the incredible views.

Back in the car for another drive through Carmel-by-the-sea and to the 17 Mile Drive through Pebble Beach Golf Course in Monterrey.

¡Adiós, RV!

Our fantastic journey is coming to an end. Today we woke up early, showered in Carmel, and headed to Newark, California to drop off our home on wheels. I am sad this amazing trip of a lifetime is over. I'm trying to remember that saying, "don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." 😊

San Francisco

After dropping off the RV we took an uber to The Westin at Union Square in San Francisco. We checked into our hotel room, dropped off our bags, and headed out to see this city.

Our first stop was the farmer's market at the Embarcadero. We sampled all kinds of pastries, oysters, fruit, and crepes. A rickshaw took us from the farmer's market to Chrissy Field where the kids played and enjoyed the views of the bay and the bridge.