We started our epic Road Trip from Los Angeles. After we picked up The Beast, we were ready to hit the road. The plan was to go along the  California Coast, visit some National Parks and Forest and then eventually head inland for some more National Parks. Yes, lots of National Parks.

California Coast

Our first drive was towards the town of Ventura. I have to say this, the LA traffic is nuts! Speeding, cutting lanes, not indicating, tying a tie, applying make up and loud music. WOW. It took us a while to get used to the madness around us. Eventually we were in a supermarket and stocking our camper with food and drinks.

Driving on California 1, which is along the California Coast, we arrived at Emma Wood State Beach. The beach looked amazing. Massive waves, full wet suit clad surfers and runners all along enjoying the ocean. We were all excited and decided to take a dip. Singing California Gurls, we changed to our swimmers and stepped in the water. IT WAS COLD! WHATTTTT. This can’t be the Cali beach we heard about in songs. Oh and another bummer. There were homeless people around so it wasn’t the safety to be roaming around till dark. But the first night sleep on the cozy cozy bed was amazing.

The sun rose and we woke up to beautiful warm sun rays and sound of the waves. After eating some cereals for brekky and updating our blog, we were on the road towards Santa Barbara. The other exciting thing was – we had no idea where we would sleep that night!

Driving on California 1, we made plenty of stops along beaches before finally getting to Santa Barbara. After a great meal and some drinks, we headed towards Los Padres National Forest to find a camp site. Luckily we did! And also lit our first camp fire. A great day indeed!

We were slowly making our way to Big Sur. I had a campsite booked at San Simeon State Park and we decided to visit Saint Ynez Wine Country and the Town of Solvang. The wineyards looked pretty under the shining sun, clear skies and mountains around. But it was Solvang that blew our mind! Solvang is a Danish town in the middle of California. The barns, the windmills and the souvenirs, the town has it all! It was like visiting some town in Denmark.

Big Sur

Big Sur is the famous stretch of California Coast between the towns of San Simeon and Carmels. To simplify, it could be compared to the Great Ocean Road. However, the comparison isn’t fair as the Big Sur is more famous, more beautiful (in my humble opinion) and more untouched (because of the Parks along the coast).

Waking up on Sunday, it was Shruti’s birthday and we were heading to Big Sur! We started driving from San Simeon early in the morning to enjoy the view and get a campsite. Again we had no bookings so we had to try our luck! But we had to stop when we got to the Elephant Seal Sanctuary. We had seen Sea Lions in Galapagos but the Elephant Seals were louder and wayy bigger! In fact the males could easily be 300 kilos.

As we left the sanctuary, the road turned to a windy mountainous road but the view got better and better. One of the reasons I said the Big Sur is better than Great Ocean Road is that there are no trees on the side of the road and there are pullouts every few miles. This means that you have a better view during the drive but you also have a better opportunity for photos. The view of Big Sur amazed us each time we passed a bend! We couldn’t believe our eyes.

While enjoying the view, we were getting anxious about a campsite. A popular stretch like Big Sur had limited campgrounds and they are likely to fill up quickly. We passed by the first campground and it had a FULL sign, not encouraging. We passed the Kirk Creek Campground and thought the same would be the case. But I thought we should ask the camp host and turned The Beast around. They had a spot!!! What a win!

We had a spot just above the Pacific Ocean. As Shruti prepared dinner, I got the camp fire going and we enjoyed the evening with the stunning view of the sunset and beers. It wasn’t an expensive birthday celebration but it was priceless.

To end our rendezvous with the California Coast, we visited the Marine Parks and Sand Dunes along the coast. We also saw the California Sea Lions and Sea Otters chilling in the water. The otters in particular were very cute. It was a great few days spent on the California Coast!

Golden Gate Bridge

We weren’t supposed to visit San Fransisco till the end of our road trip. That meant, no driving over the Golden Gate Bridge and no photos of the bridge with the car. Shruti wasn’t happy about that! So I decided to alter the plan. We decided to passed through San Fransisco on the way to Napa (more in next post).

The traffic getting into and out of the city was insane! Jams everywhere. After dealing with the traffic for over an hour, we were finally on the bridge. It was sooo worth it!

We then headed to a few top viewing spots for the bridge. The crazy chilly wind in June were giving us shivers. But boy, it was all worth it.

Finally! After loads of planning and bookings, we were nervously looking forward to kick off the big West Coast Road Trip. After getting familiar with the USA road and rules, especially the right hand drive, on East Road Trip, we were good to go. But that was just the start. We had no idea what we had signed up for. A true adventure awaited us.

Background

But first, how did we get here? Well, with Europe being the original plan, logistics didn’t work out and we were sort of back to square one. Just then Shruti thought out loud – would you mind living on the road? We could do a big road trip in USA.

I have to say, I was a little worried. I wasn’t sure how would we ‘survive’ being on the road for 40 days! Well, now I can say – it turned out blardy brilliant and we in fact extended our campervan booking for extra 5 days. WINNING!

Home & Car – Campervan

Growing up on main stream entertainment, West Coast USA and road trips have been featured way too many times. Some of the examples are right here, including songs! We thought, let’s end the trip on a high note. Let’s do the West Coast Road Trip by living / driving around in a campervan. It was the most budget friendly option – a mode of transport that will get us to places and a ‘roof’ to sleep and cook. Cheapness overloaded.

We looked up few options and finally signed up with Escape Campervans. The graffiti work on the cars blew my mind, actually maybe more of Shruti’s, and we had to get one of those!

We booked one of the smaller vans and got to the shop to pick it up. Turns out, they only had the bigger models available and they were ready to ‘upgrade’ us for free. Well, I was thinking – it isn’t really an upgrade cause I am not confident driving this beast. And that’s how our Starry Fox got it’s name- The Beast.

We were amazed at how the van could transform to a nice, comfortable bed! In the morning it could be a spacious ‘living room’, with a table!!!, and at night, a cozy bed. And, it came with a mini kitchen! Portable stove, solar fridge, pots and pans and basic utensils. We were so stoked when we picked it up!

West Coast Road Trip Map

Here is a map with all the places we visited. The Big Sur and ALL National Parks were a highlight. Oh, and not to forget Vegas!!

Driving over 5,500 miles (8,550 kms) in 45 days – What An Epic Road Trip!

After spending a good week in Washington DC, we were ready to move to our next destination. We wanted to see Niagara Falls and the Amish County. After quickly checking the bus options, we decided renting a car was the way to do it. Buses are expensive and at odd hours. Driving would also train us for the big road trip on the West Coast!

East USA Roadtrip

Once we agreed to drive to Niagara Falls and back, we decided to utilise our time on the road in the best way possible. We planned and booked Airbnb at various locations so we could experience more. 1000 miles (1609 kms) later, we had USA road experience. Here is the route we took –

Pennsylvania

We picked up the car from Hertz and we were on our way. Our first stop from DC was the Pennsylvania Dutch Country famous for Mennonites and Amish communities who are originally German. We had thoroughly researched how to avoid the tourist traps and were not disappointed.

Pennsylvania Dutch Country was incredibly green, beautiful and full of barns. It was picturesque. We visited farmer’s market and bought fresh apple ciders and pretzels. We enjoyed smorgasbord, which is a Amish buffet. The food was hearty and warm.

We were delighted to watch real Amish people going on with their lives in traditional ways. What a wonder! Before heading east, we visited a working museum showing the life of 19th Century Pennsylvania, especially the German influenced area. They spoke German there until the early 20th century. Who would have thought!

Our next stop was Philadelphia which is a great historic city in the eastern United States along with New York and Boston. We lived close to the Art Museum though we skipped visiting it. We’re no art aficionados and DC had spoilt us with free museums. But visiting the Rocky Steps were a must! There were lots of people around, some posing in iconic Rocky post at the top of the stairs.

The city is meant to be extremely walk-able and hell yeah it was. We walked from our Airbnb apartment to the center without any issues. We saw the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall, both Iconic Symbols of America’s Freedom and Modern Government.

Other than sightseeing, the city had lots of bars we visited especially for SIPS. City’s bars had specials on Wednesdays and we were able to enjoy that. We even found a local bar 2 doors down from the apartment. Fancy that! Philadelphia was a great little city which has been cleaned up and is a great place to stop at.

Ithaca

We were slowly making our way from Philadelphia to Niagara Falls. Ithaca was a great little town on the way there. We stayed at an Airbnb house next to the woods in Ithaca.

The town is home to Cornell University which we visited for the Waterfalls and to see what an Ivy League university looks like. The waterfalls were beautiful while the University was historic and had a bunch of reunions happening.

We visited the Ithaca Lake for sunset and it was an incredible sunset. The downside was that returning from the lake we had to be extra careful of deer crossing the road. The town itself was cute and we had nice drinks and tapas. Due to the university, it was very lively even on a weekday.

The next day we visited Robert Treman State Park, Buttermilk Falls, Taughannock State Park and Watkin Glenn State Park all in one day. It was a lot of driving but we saw some incredible places and hiked beautiful trails. Watkins Glen in particular was strikingly beautiful.

The craft brewing culture is quite big in USA and Ithaca region is a wine producing region. Therefore, we were able to mix the two and taste wine and beer in the same vicinity. Wine is produced in summer after the harvest while beer can be produced all year round, it’s a fantastic idea. The beer flights were quite cheap while we found it odd to pay for wine tasting. I suppose Hunter Valley back in Australia has spoilt us there!

On our way out, we spotted at a farmer’s market to enjoy some fresh breakfast. To our delight we came across a Sri Lankan gentleman selling authentic Sri Lankan meals. Of course we had a fulfilling brunch ;)

Niagara Falls

The primary reason we took this road trip was to see Niagara Falls. Ithaca to Niagara Falls was a 3 hour drive and it was quite comfortable. We were only expecting the falls but the area around was like a carnival. Lots happening on both sides of the border.

Something we didn’t know – there are 2 falls, American and Horseshoe falls. The Canadians have the better view of both sides. However, the American side gets you closer to the brink. Its a different experience seeing a huge river get to the edge and just fall. It’s hard to put the experience in words. Although the viewing area around the Horshoe Falls was under restoration, we managed to get the glimpse of the falls.

Luna Island is a little island on the American falls where you are surrounded by the river on both sides before it falls down hundreds of feet. The wash is carried by the wind and standing close to the edge gets you and your electronics pretty wet.

 

After the falls we drove to Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes on the border of US and Canada. It was windy and cold but seeing Toronto’s silhouette made it all worthwhile. We were so close to Canada!

We met Shruti’s friend Neha in Buffalo, the other big city in the area. We went to Anchor Bar which is where Buffalo Wings originate. We ate, drank and chatted for several hours. Finally we drove back to DC, returned the car and killed final hours before our flight to LA with the Patel Family. It was a great end to a great trip.