Our lives are now neatly packed into either (A) some 10′ x 10′ storage unit in suburban San Diego, or (B) an even smaller 2007 Ford E150 – exciting times! We mosied right on up to Ben and Lindsey’s place in Rancho Santa Margarita, where we have our first snap of the van in the wild – true hobo life never felt so good as when you’re parked on a driveway…

We kickstart the adventure with an immediate stop in a major metro area… LA! No roadtrip is whole without starting off sampling the local Matcha – Rachel’s first of many I’m sure. Then we’re off to sushi with Randy & Marissa, with some of the spiciest dragon rolls we’ve had in a while. I’m not sure if the heat is making me cry, or whether Gutsy’s should perch is already making me miss the cats…

From LA, we made our way up the coast headed to the Bay Area stopping at Point Dume in Malibu for a great ocean view. Staying in El Capitan State Park for a night opened our eyes to why the CA State Park Pass is so much more expensive than the National Parks pass – the bathrooms are on a whole ‘nother level.

The next morning we set out to Scandinavian California – Solvang, a Danish town plopped down in the middle of nowhere. The baked goods were great, but I can’t say it’s worth more than an hour stop. At least the wine at Presqu’ile Winery nearby was definitely worth the stop, with a surprisingly awesome rose. Finally we stay the night on San Simeon State Beach where the beach itself is not amazing, but at least we have some good sun for our solar panel…

Before we are back in the Bay Area for a long stretch, we decided to bump up to Hearst Castle – think The Great Gatsby, but somehow even more ostentatious. It turns out a few million USD went a lot further in the roaring ’20s and you could build an entire castle with guest houses the size of modern mansions on a hill in the middle of nowhere. Jokes aside, it is an impressive structure with crazy amounts of historical novelties that are totally worth a stop while on the PCH north of Paso Robles.

Finally, we stop at Pinnacles where we speed-hike the Balconies Cave trail – it turns out it does have caves, despite my insistence that the name was just for show…