The California Coast + Joshua Tree National Park | US Road Trip Days 1-3

sunset ever do these hats make us look like tourists our Christmas roadtrip has officially begun whoo for the next 15 days we are gonna be traveling from Seattle down to Texas and back we have a ton of fun stops along the way here's a quick little list of where we're going so today we're headed to Southern Oregon where we're gonna stay the night and rest up in our car sleeping in the car is kind of our thing it's a really good option if you don't plan on being somewhere very long and you don't want to spend money on a hotel or air B&B or set up a campsite because sometimes that takes some time too so our cars really really packed so we're crossing our fingers that we actually have enough room to sleep in it so stay tuned for that and then tomorrow we're gonna head to Carmel California and then Sunday we're gonna go to Joshua Tree and then Monday we'll make it to Texas and we're kind of rushing on the way to Texas because of Christmas and we're trying to get there in time but on the way home we'll have a lot more time to slow down a bit go to more national parks eat a lot of tacos and then we'll make it home I think around January 4th or 5th if I remember correctly so we're really really really excited and we're super pumped to have you guys along for the ride first pissed off of the Christmas road trip 2018 is a Matt's barbecue in Portland to say that I'm drooling is a bit of an understatement we have a pound and a half of brisket here with tortillas beans chips and queso I got a smoked jalapeno here this is torture right now hungry we have all kinds of sauces here that we're going to try out too I'm excited it's gonna be good you know so hey Plus alright protip get the chip dip it in the case of put the brisket on top maybe a little salsa if you're feeling crazy my goodness noon brisket Oh even Kona gets to enjoy some of the barbecue in case L [Music] all right this is our home for the night we got our sleeping pads or sleeping bags or blowup pillows we're able to put everything in the front so that way we could lay in the back should be a pretty good maybe five hours of sleep nice and cozy I got an Oni here to keep us warm oh yeah kunas gonna love to code all right corner good morning we are officially in Cali whoo Cali Cali we made it we're gonna town called Eureka I don't know that's how you say it but that's how I like saying it we just stopped for some gas me go the bathroom we've been on the road for a little over two hours now we got maybe four hours of sleep we left at 4:00 a.m. from the rest stop the rest stop was really nice on the bathrooms were super clean super big and spacious at least the women's one is the nicest rest up ever vent I think so yeah it's very well lit which made it hard to sleep at times but we felt pretty safe there were a lot of other people stopped there too there's just a huge rest stop um we'll link to it in the description below in case you find yourself needing a rest stop until that Oregon highly recommend so we're gonna keep driving we have about six and a half hours left until we get to our first stop we're really hoping the Sun comes out soon or the light at least because yeah we've been driving you know since like 2 o'clock yesterday and we drove a lot like after we ate dinner and then we've been driving over two hours tonight so it feels like most of the trip has been in the dark and we're missing out on some yeah like it's getting we can tell there's like lots of mountains on the side and stuff yeah we're getting up in elevation here between like Oregon and California so we can tell it's a really pretty drive right now and we just want to be able to see it so we saw a little over an hour till the Sun comes up and but yeah we're in Cali hopefully catch some of that Cali sunshine [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] vivy a please one in California we got four patties on this one and three patties on this one two things of fries and a milkshake because go big or go home right or patties [Music] do these hats make us look like Tories we're the only ones wearing them here but they're so fun I mean we've been in and out twice before once in Texas I've been doing it once in California and this is by far my favorite experience before I was kind of like knit it's okay the fries still aren't that great in my opinion but my burger was good I don't know about yours burger was great yeah we get them protein style so we skip the button but the and then we get some fries so we can enjoy those extra meat lots of cheese the fries are a little weird but the burger is great it really is any fry a bad fry oh yeah good boy not bad that's for sure milkshakes good it's melted cheese in the burger was top notch so I mean it's the only time we're gonna come here on the trip we just saw it when in California we might as well just do it um no regrets I loved it I'm loving it yeah [Music] we're making a quick stop at Monterey to grab some coffee and walk around then this awesome little pathway that goes along the water there's a marina so there's a bunch of boats we can hear some seals kind of barking right now it's just fun reminds me of San Francisco we came here like two summers ago on our way to Yosemite and the weather was so foggy that day Monterey was actually the only spot on our entire day on the coast where you could actually see anything so it's fun to be back the weather looks really great today so we're gonna keep heading down the coast and go play at the beach Kona's been cooped up in the car all day so she's definitely ready to go run around eat some waves and we're ready to just kind of sit down for a bit and relax after driving for about eight hours I think to get here [Music] [Music] so in Monterey there's a spot called old Fisherman's Wharf which kind of like one of the piers the main pier in San Francisco it's pretty touristy but it's really cool to walk on there is a hidden gem that you should know about called water and leaves it's a coffee shop it's a really high quality coffee shop they're these huge like tubs of honey on the wall I guess they make their own honey in a really cool way of steeping tea I'm so highly recommend checking it out and it's on the water and it has this awesome view of all the boats [Music] [Music] this is the crazy does that ever there's so indeed beautiful we almost left like five minutes ago so in case it wasn't obvious we absolutely loved that sunset it was probably the most colorful sunset we've ever seen definitely one of our favorites of all time it looks like highlighters exploded everywhere now we're camping at Marina Dunes RV park which is in Monterey California or just a little bit north of Monterey I think so it's actually an RV park but that is like really cute cottages you can rent they also have like maybe four or five different tent sites which are very like Utley open no privacy and they're pretty basic but it means really nice no one else is camping so we kind of have the whole little strip to ourselves with a fire pit which is awesome they also have really nice bathrooms and showers just definitely going to take advantage of because we're pretty gross so we're camping tonight so we're kind of like going from roughing it to like nice accommodations last night we slept in the car tonight we're camping tomorrow we're staying this a cabin thing and then we're gonna start staying at Airbnb is for pretty much the rest of the trip so we're gonna hang out by the fire you watch some youtube and then go to bed because with a pretty early morning not as early as yes or as not as early as today was but we're gonna hit up a spot that we couldn't go to last time we're on the California coast because it was closed and took a bucket list item for me and then we're gonna make our way to Joshua Tree we're super super pumped there's been a government shutdown but we don't think that Joshua Tree will be affected so crossing our fingers we can still get in and see what we plan to see there good morning day three of the road trip the sunrises and sunsets are just ridiculous here we are loving it I don't think I want to leave California everything just never thought I'd say that yeah we thought since we were driving along the west coast that we wouldn't see an awesome sunrise and then it's just beautiful and then there it is I just I'm so happy I have no words speechless I'm speechless loving it we tried to come to this park last time we're at Big Sur but the road was closed because of a landslide it was closed for months and so it finally reopened and we were super excited to come here today and it looks like it's closed again so we're not sure why because we looked up like the waterfall you're trying to go view a couple days ago and I mean see anything about it being closed so we have cell phone service so we're just gonna kind of lurk around and see if we can maybe find a safe spot to view it from just from the road I'm sad I guess third time will be the time I don't know kind of losing hope it'll ever get to see it so we parked along side of the highway and we're just kind of walking on the highway and we can kind of see part of the view we're not sure if we're gonna get to see the actual view we came here to see but what we can see right now is beautiful so if this is all I get I will be happier I'm so sad but I'll be happier okay I lied I'm super happy this is exactly the view I want it it's beautiful so we will disclosure we went over the railing of the highway but there are no signs saying you can't do that there's a ton of open space so we think it's okay but we're not condoning any bad behavior but we don't do anything that doesn't feel safe and the view is incredible so I'm very very happy [Music] right after a beautiful morning and Big Sur we are headed to Joshua Tree National Park we're gonna check off another off our long list the national parks I think this will be number 11 for us so we're really excited about that the visitor center won't be open so we won't get to buy our patch which we collect patches at national words but I think we can buy one online so that's okay cheap yep so we're saddled up we've got a little over five hours to go and when is this hit 336 miles we're going through Los Angeles though that's the route it's taking us and we all know how that's supposed to go so we'll see if this time is going accurate maybe we'll find a quicker route we kind of want to see like the famous Los Angeles traffic but we want to see it from like a different Road just be like looking on to it we don't want to actually do that so what we'll see what happens yep so we're saddled up we got coffee we got chicharones my one of my favorite Road snacks well they smell so bad they don't taste bad they just smell bad yeah Kona discovered a new new snack she likes too so she's she's on my team on that one so yeah we're ready to go we'll be there before sunset yep [Music] we made it to Joshua Tree our 11th national park in a typical California fashion beautiful sunset one step further use so we probably like maybe 15 more minutes till the Sun Goes Down and then we're gonna make some dinner in our car and then we're gonna stick around and hopefully get some cool night shots gonna be fun [Music] [Music] oh my gosh another one another woman this is nuts we didn't think the sunset would actually be that great so super cloudy holy crap this is beautiful another magnificent one we made it to Arizona but kind of barely because we're like the first exit once you cross the California Arizona State Line so we're not sure if that really counts we solve the whole state ahead of us yeah just barely so yeah we're here in Arizona we're staying at this RV park called Arizona Oasis and we're singing this little cabin I'll give you the quick little tour here so we're gonna have some mattresses to actually sleep on yeah yeah yeah I mean we have our sleeping pads but matches it'll be much much nicer see how we're gonna hit the hay here in a second and then we'll get up in about what four or five hours and and then get on the road at four cuz we've got a long way to go yeah we're going to Texas tomorrow so you all of Arizona all of New Mexico and then part of Texas to hit so this actually marks the end of road trip vlog number one so thank you for tuning in we have many more coming your way so yeah that's it for number one good night [Music]