The ULTIMATE Big Sur Roadtrip | Vanlife on the California coast

Over the next week we are going to be taking the ultimate van life road trip throughout Big Sur, California. We're going to be starting in Carmel-by-the-Sea and we're driving all the way through Big Sur until we reach San Diego. Along the way we're going to be stopping at all the best spots in Big Sur and I'm going to share all the details with you along with some of the mistakes I made while doing van life on Highway 1, which is notoriously a very difficult place to do van life. We got four honks in that time period. A ranger actually visited us this morning and as I was trying to leave he blocked the van. We'll be starting in Carmel-by-the-Sea, a small European style village located in California's Monterey Peninsula. It was pretty difficult to find parking for the big van here but we did a few loops and eventually found parking so we were able to go enjoy the beach. This village is very upscale and it's actually where most of the celebrities have their vacation houses. The architecture here is very whimsy, very fairy-like. There's some really cute cottages alongside the beach so as we were walking we were admiring the architecture and the houses. There's also some really cute shops in Carmel-by-the-Sea but we actually had to skip that because we just could not find parking anywhere nearby. And then in the evening we tried to find a spot to sleep overnight but that also proved to be pretty difficult. We're driving down the coast of California right now through Highway 1. It's a very heavily regulated strip of road. You are going to get the knock if you don't park correctly. We went to a spot last night that we saw a few reviews for on iOverlander and there were no overnight parking signs which typically means you can park there. We spent just one hour there from nine o'clock to ten o'clock and we got four honks in that time period. People just blaring their horns but after it happened more than two times we were like, I feel like this is about us. There were two other vans parked there and one of them ended up leaving. I think they probably had the same idea we had so we also decided to leave and we parked at a grocery store that we were able to stay there without any knocks or honks throughout the night so it was pretty good. And now we've just arrived at Point Lobos Natural Reserve. Wow you look so cute! Point Lobos Natural Reserve is just south of Carmel-by-the-Sea and it marks the beginning of the Big Sur coastline. We had heard amazing things about the reserve and so we reserved a few hours in the morning to walk the loop which was about six to seven miles. It's really easy terrain so it's great for beginners and there's beautiful views the entire way. Oh my god they're so cute! We're at Sea Lion Point and there are two rocks just completely filled with sea lions and they're making calls to each other. It's so cool and we also just visited the information desk in the parking lot and you were able to feel their skin. Now I'm touching a Pacific Harbor seal. Oh this one's even softer. This one's fake. Oh my god it's like a dog. Also on our walk here we saw an otter. They're so cute! Let's go! After we finished walking the loop in Point Lobos we began our drive into Big Sur and this is where I already made a big mistake because I did not fill up on gas before going in. The gas in Carmel-by-the-Sea was pretty pricey from what I was used to and so I decided to postpone but little did I know that gas in Big Sur was going to be very infrequent and it was going to be six to eight dollars a gallon. So learn from my mistake, get gas before you go into Big Sur. Whether you're coming from the south or the north it is going to be more affordable than the gas that you find along the coastline in Big Sur. Our first stop in Big Sur is the iconic Bixby Bridge which was built in 1932 and is one of the most photographed bridges on the Pacific Coast Highway. We're driving across the bridge. The view definitely feels like a historic bridge. It feels pretty ancient. I was going to say anxious but maybe that's just me actually. In the evening we went to Pfeiffer Beach which is perfect for sunset. It was $15 per vehicle to get in and find parking but it was very worth it to see this unique and beautiful beach. Another thing that this beach is really popular for is this arch and I think it's over here which actually means we need to cross again. Whoa the sand's really purple here. Wow look it's actually really purple sand Tori. Whoa I have officially found the most purplest of purple sand on this beach. It's so purple. Also over here we have the arch. Pretty cool. One thing that always amazes me about California is how it really has every single environment and I feel like Big Sur is showcasing that entirely. Like you have the forest and they feel so mysterious and deep almost like Oregon and then you have the coastline and the beaches and you even have desert in California. Like you really have it all. People who live in California truly are living in a different reality. Before we drive we need to tidy some things up because we quickly and sporadically made ramen before we went to the beach because we were so hungry. So I'm just gonna do a very simple cleaning here so that we can drive. We paid for a campsite in Pfeiffer State Park and it ended up being 50 to 60 dollars is the sites that they have. So pretty pricey but there's not that many options here and honestly we looked around at some other places and they were up to like 90 dollars for a campsite so we feel like this is a pretty good option for the night. I made dumplings and I also made egg rolls. Also at the camp store today I got this big t-shirt because I've been needing one to sleep in and it says Big Sur and it has a little otter. We saw an otter today. We saw an otter today. He was really cute and we also learned that back in the day they actually used to hunt and kill otters for their fur. I thought it was sea lions. No it was otters. In Point Lobos there used to be hundreds and thousands of otters but they hunted them almost to extinction for their fur. At the point where they were almost to extinction they only found 300 in Point Lobos. I wonder how many there are now. I don't know but fur is ugly. I like that. I have been having an issue with my Starlink so it is not working. So if I don't have service then we don't have internet. Tori is trying to get our hotspot to work and to get our show downloaded. We are currently watching Heated Rivalry and we're almost done with it actually. We only have one more episode so I really want to watch that if we have service. Good morning sir. It's a beautiful day in Big Sur. We woke up at 7am. Time to make coffee. Just got this new Dwell Dripper from Verve, one of my favorite coffee shops in California and we're gonna test it out today. This fan build has been made possible by Blue Eddy and specifically the Apex 300 which helped me power almost all the tools I needed to build this fan. I used it to power the miter saw, the drill, the oscillating tool, the shop vacuum, the router and so much more. I have it hooked up to 700 watts of solar and on cloudy days I use it as backup power for this entire off-grid workshop. I'm testing out plasma cutting today because I have never done it before and I wanted to test out the 240 volt function on the Blue Eddy power station because I haven't yet. Kind of nervous but let's get started. Step one is turning on the air compressor which is hooked up to the Blue Eddy. The best one! The Apex 300 is a beast of a power station and a few months into having it I added the B500k expansion pack for an additional 5120 watt hour capacity. I've tried a lot of different power stations and for me personally if I were to have a permanent installation in a van build it would be the Apex 300. This thing can easily power a fridge, a microwave, toaster, an induction cooktop, anything you need in a van build and it's so easy to set up with its plug and play system. If you're interested in getting a power station whether it's for an off-grid workshop, a van build, camping, I would really recommend checking this one out. I have the link in the description and I also have a discount code so be sure to take advantage of that and with that let's get back to the road trip. I love these little water glasses Tori, thank you for getting them for me. Mmm this looks yummy. Really good. Good tortillas. Really good. I love how thick they are. A ranger actually visited us this morning because we're at this overlook that you can't park at overnight and I think because it was so early they just kind of assumed that we may be camped overnight here so even though it was daytime the sun was out we were enjoying the sunrise they pulled into the overlook and came over to us which always makes me a little anxious. I would say that 80 to 90 percent of the time when a ranger or police officer comes to visit they are very nice but we have had situations where they have been extremely mean. I've gotten a $200 ticket in broad daylight at 9am but in this case the ranger was super nice actually he was complimenting the van he was like wow you built it it's so cool have an amazing day super friendly guy and was just wanting to let us know that we can camp here overnight. That's just the reality of van life though in some areas you are going to encounter police officers more you are going to encounter rangers and law enforcement more even if you're not doing anything wrong. Our next stop in Big Sur is at the Henry Miller library I've actually been to the library before and I knew I wanted to go again because it is such a unique library it's tucked in the forest and it's a non-profit library so all of the books don't have markups and the books there are curated by a group of people that are very passionate we actually had the privilege to talk to the person that was working there and he was so nice and recommended this book so we ended up getting it it is called Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller this was actually banned in France so we were like let's see what all the rage is about apparently it's kind of controversial so I'm excited to read this the last time we had a trip planned to Big Sur it was completely derailed by a huge storm there was level 5 flooding we had to evacuate to San Francisco and wait it out and it was very stressful there were super high winds and there were also landslides all across Big Sur so it was shut down and it has been for the last three years and it only recently opened up and I feel really grateful that it opened up just in time for us to be here to do this we were driving down south and then we looked over to the right and we saw huge elephant seals I've never seen elephant seals before they look massive so we pulled over and I'm so excited we're gonna go look at them let's go I hear them oh my gosh no those babies this is Piedras Blancas Rookery it is completely free and there are tens of thousands of elephant seals that span over a mile on this shoreline you can view them safely from boardwalks and at this time of year in January and February they're breeding so you can see all the babies which was so special they're cracking me up oh wait I want to oh I can read about this so I got this pamphlet and I'm learning a lot about elephant seals which I actually didn't know that much about before seeing them here for the first time but apparently they are here to birth and breed so they are at the heaviest that they have ever been they have just gone to Alaska and back and they can be up to 5,000 pounds and they're breeding here for the next three months so they're hibernating essentially you can see some babies on the beach as well and then once the babies are born they start vocalizing with the mothers because they need to recognize each other's voices so they don't get lost this is just the coolest experience ever and I cannot believe we just stumbled upon it insane we just stumbled upon elephant seals and apparently you can also see active births happening so I'm gonna keep my eyes out but I think that's probably a rare occurrence this one's so cute you can see that the elephant seals periodically put sand on their backs and we learned that it's actually because the temperature here is much warmer than the waters that they're used to so putting the sand on their backs keeps them cool oh my god this is so cool at this point we had officially left Big Sur but there's still a lot to see on the California coast that you don't want to miss out on and our next stop was in Morro Bay here there's a beautiful beach with a view of Morro Rock and we spent a couple days here enjoying the scenery catching up on some work and we also went to the bay where we were able to see mother otters with their babies. Otters are nocturnal so right now they're actually sleeping and they come to the bay because they don't have to fight the current so we spent a long time looking at these mothers with their babies they were so cute. We finally left Big Sur and we are now in the city last night we tried to find camping in San Luis Obispo and it was kind of a sketchy experience honestly we were both very stressed because when we turned into our campsite there was a man and there were no other campers around there were no other cars around no other people and no witnesses but there was one single man and he ran out frantically in front of the van waving his arms trying to get our attention at that point I decided I didn't want to camp there because it just kind of freaked me out and as I was trying to leave he blocked the van from leaving and he came in front of the van so I just continued to inch forward and he came over on this side like really close to the vehicle I haven't really had to deal with that many scary encounters in the van but I do follow a few different rules to keep myself safe and one of them is to not pull over and talk to people when there's no witnesses around even if they are seemingly asking for help or if they're just asking a question and especially not at night in the middle of nowhere where there's no other people around so last night I just pulled away I did not talk to that man because I had a really bad gut feeling about it and I also really did not like that he was blocking my van from leaving and like standing in front of the vehicle so we ended up leaving that campsite and we ended up finding a spot to camp in the city in San Luis Obispo which this entire trip has been a lot of stealth camping in cities I feel like the campsites we've been staying in haven't been the prettiest but we've been seeing the most beautiful things during the day we've gone on the most beautiful hikes and seen some of the most beautiful beaches and I feel so grateful to be able to experience Big Sur since this is the first time it is opening up after three years of being closed and I'm really grateful that I got to share that with you guys as well so if you enjoyed this video please like and subscribe because it really supports my channel and I'll see you guys next week for another video on Sunday. Bye!