So I feel somewhat guilty for taking the time to blog our personal travels amidst a busy wedding season! However I have a lot of wedding couples requesting this blog to help plan their own honeymoons! SO…if COVID has your honeymoon plans like ?!!?! I’ve got you.

This particular trip takes us all over Central California, however if you scroll to the very end I’ve also included some of our all time favorite US destinations in states such as Tennessee, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Montana, the good ole Midwest too, and of course – California. And because we’re not really “city peeps” and prefer to take in as much nature as possible when we travel, all of the locations on our list are social-distancing friendly 🙂 Especially if you’re gonna rent a van and road trip it vs. hotel stays!

If you read my latest travel blog of our time spent in SoCal then you know I’ve been longing to get back to Cali. I had plane tickets and an itinerary all set to go for celebrating my 30th golden birthday in Iceland, but when we got closer to date (and we were still kicked out of the UK) I realized it was time to devise a Plan B back to the golden state of Cali.

Ever since our first month-long van trip out west, we’ve been dying to get back in a van. Soo we decided to rent a van and explore the remaining bucket-listed locations of California. Actually the more I devised this Plan B, the less I worried about Iceland, and when we were down to the wire and I realized that Iceland was ultimately a no-go, I of course was pretty bummed we wouldn’t be able to FINALLY get overseas. But I didn’t have to feel too sad or overwhelmed. I had already built up excitement a road trip through Cali. Now having only two weeks until leaving for our trip, I quickly threw together a route, booked a few campsites a long the way, and off we went!

VEGAS BABY

Soo having just 10 days, we didn’t quite have time to road trip it all the way from Wisconsin to California. Instead, we flew into Vegas & rented a van there through Escape Campervans. We scored an awesome deal (I wanna say like $35/day!?! Literally no one was traveling yet end of June as everything was just finally reopening). This company has TONS of different designed vans all painted by local artists, and are located in several areas throughout the west, so next time you travel check to see if they are located by you! It was way more fun for us than when we hopped from hotel to hotel. Vanlifing always makes a road trip really feel like a road trip and you get so much more experience & stories out of it. We were paired with an optical illusion design van & decided to name her Trippy aka “Trip.” I hoped so badly Trip would make it all the way to the coast, through the mountains, and back. The mileage on her scared me & also the breaks were a little sketchy — eep! But the trade off was that she had everything we needed. A bed in the back that could fold back up into a couch, a sink, cabinets, solar panel for the mini fridge (THE BEST), and a fold up table. We were SET!

DEATH VALLEY DEATH TRAP

Just outside Vegas is vast, desolate desert. We had always wanted to drive through Death Valley and check out the lowest and hottest point in the US, Badwater Basin. However after driving nearly an hour to the park, the entrance was closed. It was also predicted to be 114 degrees and the thought of driving three hours through a National Park – with no cell service and an old van in this crazy desert heat – didn’t sound much appealing anyway. The only reason we were going to try to go through Death Valley was because it would have saved us a loooot of driving time, as our next location was driving through the  Sierra Nevada valley to get to Big Pine to camp.

So we had to turn around, hook all the way to Highway 15, and take a bit of a detour, I luckily got cell service and rerouted us all the way down and around. About an hour later somewhere in between Death Valley and the town of Baker we realized we were seriously in the middle of nowhere Desert USA. Definitely no service. Wondering how many dead bodies were buried out here “Breaking Bad” style. There is literally no reason for ANYONE to be out this way unless you’re up to some shenanigans.

We started passing by like 20 or so rental vans, all parked on the side of the road. Still in the middle of nowhere. Alex and I were like OKAY something sketchy is totally going down there omggg I don’t want to be a witness. Then we passed by about 20 or so cops all with their lights on, heading straight to the group of vans. I turned to Alex and was like “how funny if one of those cops comes behind us thinking we’re a part of it” Cause for some reason it just occurred to me that Woah – we are in a rental van too. Not just any rental van either, we had the one that was hand painted in total trippy graffiti. Well another 5 seconds later and my wish came true. We were being pulled over. In the middle of a drug raid in the middle of the desert.

I watched the cop in the mirror slowly and steadily coming towards our van, gun pointed up and ready. I rolled my window down and anxiously awaited him to just get to the dang window already cause my pounding heart couldn’t take all this.

When he got to the window, he said he was checking for fireworks and asked us what we were doing out here & so we (like a thousand words per second) explained this is a rental van and we’re doing a road trip yada ya, we were trying to go to Death Valley but it was closed cause it’s too hot. He was trying to make sense of our route in his head and I was like WELL I have it all on maps on my phone I CAN SHOW YOU OUR ROUTE IF YOU WANT!?! As I’m already leaning over and trying to grab my phone on the van floor (looking back, this was NOT a smart move I am very very lucky that this guy had great instinctual abilities to realize we were truly just two lost doofs and not a threat).

“Oh I see, yes…I know where you’re going. Big Pine you’ll like it there. Honestly the best thing that could have happened to you today was skipping Death Valley. It’s way too hot to be out there.”

10 hours of scenic valley driving later (no joke, it took forever), we arrived at Big Pine just in time to climb the scariest hill up to find a campsite. Thankfully there was a few left for us & we crashed as soon as it was dark for what would be an *epic* hike the following morning.

BIG PINE, YOU FIIINE

We woke up at the crack of dawn, eager to conquer the 16 mile hike up and around 7 alpine lakes. This would be my last day in my 20’s and couldn’t think of any better way to cap off the decade. I had stumbled upon this location while googling random areas on a California map. I really wanted to live in the outskirts of Vegas but Alex hates the desert, so I was trying to find a place that was close enough to Vegas but offered some evergreen trees + cool temps for Alex. That way we could have the BEST of both worlds.

Well, somehow I came across Lone Pine and then Big Pine and it all just looked incredible. And better yet, it was pretty off-the-instagram radar which is SUPER hard to come by these days. I then researched and found that the drive up the Sierra Nevada valley is one of the most scenic so I knew I had to make this a part of our trip. Plus it made sense with our original plan of seeing Yosemite National Park, which would have been on the way up to Lake Tahoe. But Yosemite was limiting the number of passes each day and the availability didn’t work very well with our trip. We would have been suuuper rushed, and no one wants to rush Yosemite. Sooo we will just have to return to Cali again to *finally* cross off Death Valley & Yosemite (as if I was mad for a reason to come back!)

Anyways back to the hike. For some reason I was expecting this to completely ruin me. But this hike was so enjoyable, such a steady incline and beautiful open mountain views the whole first half of the way up. After zigzagging through the woods for what felt like forever we finally made it to First Lake, and stopped to soak in the view before taking 50 more steps over to Second Lake for an even more impressive view. What was most impressive though, was that we had this all. to. our. selves. It was a Sunday, yet no one was here for a full hour straight. We felt so lucky, and never have we ever been this alone in a place this gorgeous.

After about an hour laying in the sun, shoes and socks off, we heard a few people beginning to come and wanted to let others enjoy the main view. So we stood up to get ourselves ready again and WOWAAHHH. There’s a reason you don’t want to stop moving halfway through a long hike. We were so stiff! Luckily, it was all downhill and we made it back in much shorter time than it took to get up. We started around 9am & finished around 3, with stopping multiple times. Totally doable for a day hike.

I mentioned there were seven lakes, although I would have loved to do all seven (all are relatively close by in a loop) We heard that after first & second lake, the others aren’t as impressive so decided just to head back…but now in hindsight I wish we would have done all 7 cause when can you nonchalantly mention you once hiked 16 miles up a mountain and passed by 7 lakes all in one day? Probably not often.

Afterwards we got back to camp & ate a ton of trail mix (for some reason we forgot to go grocery shopping prior?) We were so parched and thirsty and craved a mighty meal of carbs, but survived instead on trail mix, cheese itz and water. Alex passed out cold at like 6pm which made for a veryyy very long night. Keep in mind, there was still no cell service for me lol.

THIRTY, NOT SO FLIRTY, BUT THRIVING

June 30, 2020. Weather: perfect. All 30 years of my life I never can recall a rainy day on my birthday. I’ve always loved having a birthday set exactly halfway through the year, in the heat of summer sunshine. We started off this particular birthday by living to actually see a day in my 30’s, testing the van breaks all the way down our first mountain. Then it was another long day of driving through the Sierra Nevada valley. It was a beautiful drive & we were just so anxious to get to Lake Tahoe and get ourselves a hotel bed & shower and some actual eats at a local restaurant.

We took a quick stop at Mono Lake nearby, cause after visiting the Salton Sea we realized we love looking at dried, washed up desert lakes haha. This one’s water used to source LA (crazy) and now that they realize the lake is drying up at rapid rates, they are trying to reverse the damage done so the water levels don’t keep dropping. The crazy rock formation is called Tufa and basically is limestone that forms when water from heated underwater hot springs rich in calcium meet with the carbonates in lake water (reference: google).

An hour before sunset, we finally arrived to South Lake Tahoe and checked into our hotel at Hotel Beckett – highly recommend cause it’s super close right on the downtown area with gorgeous mountain views & the inside is soooo cute! The bathroom was also HUGE. Having come from not having one for a few days this made me very happy.

We got a bite to eat – the Thai Chicken Curry pizza at Base Camp Pizza to be exact. It was incredible. Then walked to see the lake for sunset (harder to do than it would seem as much of South Lake Tahoe shorelines are gated off and very residential).

We went to the G store as well and loaded up for the following days. Got a slice of chocolate cake and a candle and Alex sang me happy birthday outside the hotel late at night. I even caught it on video to savor forever. It was a very fun night chilling by the fire, despite it being just the two of us (now 30 year olds!!) we made it a really fun, low key golden birthday.

WILD WINDY KAYAKING

The next morning we got up early to travel to the north side of Lake Tahoe, where we would be renting a clear bottom Kayak. Quick note: if you think these are cute, they are. But if you think you’ll be actually kayaking in them – you won’t LOL. The bottoms are actually flat so they barely move, and Alex and I are pretty decent kayakers. We thought we’d have time to make it to the recommended areas like Secret Cove and Hidden Beach…however we didn’t even make it around Crystal Bay during our 4 hour rental. It had already taken us an hour and a half to “float” that far, and we knew we’d be battling choppy waters on the way back now that it was 10am and the boats were coming out. That being said, I don’t think it was super necessary to go that far, I really just wanted to find some jumbo rocks to play around on and kayak through, which we found nearby on the north end and I’m sure are located throughout the whole lake!

After kayaking we decided to hike the Eagle Lakes Wilderness trail to get a beautiful bird’s-eye-view of Lake Tahoe and another more remote alpine lake (can ya tell we looove our alpine lake hikes?) This hike was much shorter than our last, although definitely a climb to the lake. It was also a muuuch smaller lake. We got there and found a secluded spot on the shore off the to the left. As Alex was taking video of me about to dip into the water I swear I saw a brown bear dash by on the trail behind Alex. Alex, who was busy pointing a camera at me, of course didn’t see it run *behind* him so it must not be true. Will remain a lifelong debate.

Then after this hike we decided to do ONE more hike, the iconic Rubicon Trail. A much more beginner’s hike although it was still pretty strenuous going down the hill to the shoreline from the road up top. The trail is VERY long and connects two different state parks. I heard the area by Emerald Bay is the most beautiful and it happened to share the same parking lot as the hike we just did at Eagle Lake, so we got very lucky (parking here is a B!)

Honestly we didn’t really hike the Rubicon long cause it felt a little tooooo touristy but we did it to say we did it. And we LOVED the giant redwoods. The way the light falls between the trees, ugh. Pure heaven.

LAKE TAHOE TO NAPA TO SAN FRAN TO MONTEREY IN A DAY = WHAT WAS I THINKING

The next day we had another looong day of driving ahead. Ya know, I probably should have made this two separate trips: Vegas + the Sierra Nevada mountains (including Yosemite & Death Valley) in one trip, and The Coast as another. But you just never know when you’re going to get the time to travel again, so I just couldn’t resist trying to see it all. The plus: we got to see it all. The downfall: We got to see it all for like one second. Haha, but hey. We were there, we saw it. And now we always know where we want to “revisit” again when the time comes!

We stopped to rest our feet in Napa at my favorite winery from our first van trip we took back in spring 2018. Napa Valley is all so beautiful, but these textures, omg. Even more beautiful than I remembered.

Unfortunately due to having to still drive akjdglksdajgdsja miles we couldn’t stop and drink the wine. But I took a swig of my Barefoot Moscato I had left over in the back of the van just to say I did LOL. Then it was onto the coast <3333

We finally arrived in San Francisco and got in and got out of there as quickly as possible once we went over the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. There was a jumper on the bridge and I am hoping everything worked out okay in the end… afterwards I googled Golden Gate Bridge to see if anything was in the news but there is on average one person every two weeks. Ugh, I didn’t like reading more into it so I stopped researching. We have heard great things about San Fran but honestly Alex and I were having minor panic attacks being on constant ramps and 5 lane highways and seeing homes stacked and literally connected to eachother and their driveways basically a foot away from the highway. It took two hours to get out of this traffic, and by this point we were so beat out of shape lol.

Eventually we made it to Monterey and drove a little inwards to the beautiful Carmel Valley for sunrise and to make camp. We got to enjoy sitting by the pool and these views from the van before a much needed sleep.

DRIVING THE HWY 1 CALI COAST

You would have thought we would have given us a day to rest, but the coast is very long. And if we wanted to get back to Vegas in time for our flight, it meant we would have to keep moving. Poor Alex. This is when I really regretted not breaking this up into two trips. However, I still am so happy we got to see the coast. I mean…just look at it. It made my photographer self very happy & out of our whole trip I definitely took the most photos here. We must have stopped every 5 minutes to get out and look at the next view around the corner. It was all spectacular, especially the first part by Big Sur. After many years talking about it, we finally can say we drove Highway 1!

We made another pit stop at Morro Rock. One of my bucket list items was to touch the actual rock. I bike this beach on my Pelaton for my 5 minute cool downs / meditation but never quite made it to the rock. I saw this location was on our route so I figured real life would be the time.

So turns out the rock is huge, and there is actually a shortcut and separate parking lot right up against the rock and so after spending time at the beach (and realizing it would haven taken hours to walk to the rock) we cheated a little, drove closer and voila – finally touched that dang rock!

After Morro Rock we still had a bit of a drive through the hills to our next campsite in Ojai, California. The scene quickly changed to this rust colored grass and twisty trees. It was a nice break from all the scary cliff driving. By now we were nearing the outskirts of LA so this is a beautiful town of so many incredible mansions and celebrity homes. We camped up on the hill and googled which celebrities all lived below us and watched the sunset over the town.

ONE LAST STOP AT THE MAGICAL JOSHUA TREE

Before making our way back to Vegas we decided to spend our last night in Joshua Tree. My happy place. We drove through Thousand Oaks and Calabasas and I tried to find the K krew from the highway. Once we saw the magical field of wind turbines I knew we were coming into Palm Springs. It was Fourth of July and I was worried we wouldn’t be able to find a campsite in Joshua Tree but turns out there are tons to choose from. We got really lucky with site #14 at Ryan Mountain campground and had so much seclusion + had these awesome jumbo rocks to gaze at and climb (if it weren’t 108 degrees!)

It was actually so hot that once we got there we couldn’t do anything other than lay in the van where there was shade and turn the AC on every now and then, although it quickly heated back up (Even at night it was still in the 90s but we managed to still sleep through it. Thanking the long drives for that!)

I had packed two nice dresses and despite the major unshowered vanlife hair at this point, got a little dolled up to take some pics as a new 30 year old woman. So here’s being 30, camping in my favorite place on earth and afterwards watching the brightest full moon rise over the mountain and the Joshua Trees casting eerie shadows against the night sky.

The next morning, we made the final trek from Joshua Tree to Vegas through the Mojave Desert. Our flight wasn’t until midnight but we had to drop the van off by 4pm. So it made for a long night at the airport. But it gave me plenty time to look back on this trip and just be so thankful for all the beauty there is to see in our own country, always just a road trip away.

Annd, without further adieux, for anyone having to reroute their overseas travels or honeymoons and needing to come up with some local destinations instead, here is a list of some vacations/road trips we’ve taken and love, as well as some that are still on our bucket list!

US DESTINATIONS WE **LOVE** // FOR YOUR VACATION / HONEYMOON IDEAS:

1. Glacier National Park, MT – the mountains are calling and you MUST GO. Seriously. If heaven was on earth, it would be here. Get your hiking boots ready & get life-changed. Read/see all about our trip here.
2. Yellowstone National Park, WY – if just chilling in nature, crazy & beautiful geothermal activity, and taking drives and watching buffalo roam sounds up your ally then Yellowstone is perfect! Make sure to avoid summer months though, or you’ll be caught in a line ride the whole time. We chose opening week of April & felt we were the only ones there & it was spectactular. Other option: October
3. Zion National Park, UT – This is the place to REALLY get adventurous + take in some red rock views. Angel’s Landing is one of the most dangerous hikes in all of US and not for the faint of heart, but if you can make it to the top it is certainly worth it (I wouldn’t know, I’m faint of heart LOL). We’ve also always wanted to hike the Narrows but the water was too high in spring. This is a place we will have to return to! The park is much smaller than the other parks, and is super accessible by free shuttle to all the different stops. Stay outside the park at Under Canvas Zion in a cute little canvas tent for a one-of-a-kind glamping experience! (note: these are also at some other National Parks too!)
4. Palm Springs & Joshua Tree National Park, CA – Okay sooooo this might be my favorite place on all the earth, even though I love the mountains. Something about the desert just speaks to my soul (We stayed for a few months one winter and I talk about this area a lot HERE.) The Joshua Tree are just so whimsy & fun and I legit can’t get enough of them. The towns outside the park are also really cultural and small (they don’t allow any chains – everything is local). Vegas is a short drive away through the Mojave Desert, otherwise Palm Springs is directly below and we also LOOOOVE it there! Rent an airbnb with a pool and enjoy the desert heat!
5. Outskirts of Vegas – who knew that going to Vegas meant more than casinos + nightlife! Red Rock Canyon, Valley of Fire (do the Fire Wave hike), Hoover Dam and Lake Meade area, plus so many awesome hot springs hikes (some of my favorite hikes still to date, ask me for the deets!). Death Valley is also nearby as well as Zion. Honestly a lot is a day trip away from Vegas but no one ever thinks about it unless you live out that way! It’s a great place to fly in, do the Vegas things & also see a lot of cool nature.
6. Sedona, Arizona – Okay sooo there’s tons to see in Arizona. Grand Canyon, Antelope Canyon, Saguaro National Park, Scottsdale was a cute town!, but my favorite would have to be Sedona. There’s just something godly about this place, where the red rocks meet up with sage greens and make unique structures and endless hiking. It’s also a very artsy town and there’s tons of restaurants, boutiques, and things to do! We shot Kim & Nick’s wedding here, and now I have to go back and do more personal exploring!
7. Pigeon Forge, Tennessee – Okay so I CAN’T leave out this place cause it’s super special to us. Alex and I got engaged in one of these rental cabins overlooking the Smoky mountains (there are thousands of these cabins to choose from! And most are surprisingly so affordable + include pool tables and hot tubs with mountain views on the deck!) We loved it so much we returned here for our honeymoon! Tons of interesting things to do nearby such as Smoky Mountain National Park, town of Gatlinburg for your free shots of moonshine (and Dollyworld, if that’s your thing :P)
8. MIDWEST – If you’re from where I’m from, getting time in beautiful nature doesn’t mean ya have to cross the entire country! We did a Lake Superior Road Trip including Duluth MN + Apostle Islands, WI + Porcupine Mountains, Upper Michigan. And it was SO incredible! Read all about our trip in our 2019 year in review!

REMAINING US DESTINATIONS ON OUR BUCKET LIST:

1. Grand Tetons – a 2020 couple of mine just honeymooned here & it wasn’t really on my radar until I saw pictures in their stories! And it’s near Yellowstone so you could probably hit up both if you wanted! There’s too many backpacking trails and alpine lakes I lost count! Also makes a great winter retreat at one of Jackson Hole’s many ski resort & spas.
2. Oregon & Washington – We really didn’t get to see a whole lot here on our first van trip. But if you love mountain air and waterfalls, and mossy green forests (Washington!) then this is your mecca. Another fun idea would be driving the coast as most of the mountains and views are on the western half of these states, stopping at various places along the way!
3. Charleston, SC & Savannah, GA – we actually have never made it down to the East Coast and the “southern charm” states. Our eyes always wander west, but there’s tons of history and adorable culture to see out this way that we’d love to get around to!
4. MOAB – really all of Utah we still need to see!
5. Bryce Canyon – another Utah National Park we really need to see & have heard is a favorite amongst many national park enthusiasts!
6. Yosemite – one of these days we WILL get there. And it’s located next to all the areas on the first half of our trip above in case you wanted to venture around more places while you’re in the area  ;):)!

 

+ Our list is always growing. There’s always more to discover and explore in the incredible US. Is there a place we’re missing from the list? Let us know in the comments below!

If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read all about our Cali trip (and maybe even stumbled upon some other trip ideas along the way!) I hope you have gained some inspo for your next case of wonderlust!

 

Stay wild,

Meghan

I’ve been watching the show Big Little Lies on Hulu, and it had me missing (read: pining, obsessively longing, constantly reminiscing in daydreams) our time spent in California winter 2018-2019. It’s so extreme how last winter we were exploring the US on a travel trailer, each day bringing a new backyard. Deserts, mountains, forests, the ocean. And this past winter, the entire world facing it’s first pandemic, sheltering in place in a tiny one bedroom apartment in Appleton, WI. I’ve had a few long quarantined days to look back at it all and relive it, it really was the most magical place – California. And truthfully, it’s made its way to the forefront of my mind every single day since we left it. I understand now that there’s a reason so many songs are written about this piece of our country, and I am 100% part of the cliche “someday I’ll head out west to live in California” bandwagon. I just feel it in my heart that I will inevitably live here (or live part time here) someday, someway, in this lifetime.

When you think of Cali, your mind probably pictures the beaches, palm trees, and surfers. Beautiful villas perched on coastal cliffs, like The OC, Malibu, or Monterey, overlooking the bluffs and beaches blow. Or you think of beautiful people doing interesting things, the celebrities, the LA vibe…Hollywood glam. So many films are set out there, being so close to LA – the film making capitol of the world and we found that with all that, it attracts some of the world’s most interesting and artistic people.

But there’s so much more here. So much more to the Cali nature. You can literally have it all when in California. The mountains, the desert, the forest, and the sea. On the northern coast you have coastal bluffs, sea rock formations, Giant redwood trees, crisp and clear air. Wine countries in Napa Valley, Santa Barbara, and Malibu. And pristine aqua waters of Lake Tahoe. National Parks like Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon, Death Valley, and Joshua Tree. Heading in the southern region you’ve got the desert.  Desolate, vast, and the undeniable feeling of being “free.”

Already having done the Northern region, this southern desert region is where Alex and I decided to spend majority of our time on our new home on wheels. The weather is a comfortable 70 degrees here in the southern part in December and January. And to my pleasant surprise, it’s not all flat and dry. In the desert, there are plenty of mountains that cast purple and blue hazy shadows, and I found myself admiring them while driving into Joshua Tree National Park and *soaking* in the desert hot springs once we made our way back to camp. In the Palm Springs region alone there are a three national parks/preserves for desert lovers, Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park located near the Mojave Desert (a beautiful drive from Palm Springs to Vegas that I highly recommend). Driving through the Joshua tree, exploring the eerie abandoned Salton Sea and witnessing the darkest skies + brightest stars I ever knew were even imaginable. The coyotes howling in the distance. It was easy to fall madly in love with the desert, so different than everything we were used to back home in Wisconsin.

Southern California desert has this unexplainable charm, and it’s funny that this engagement session with Janelle & Brian that I’m about to share (also featured on “Southern California Bride”) was our very beginning point of our entire 6 month sabbatical out to the southwest. Before we even KNEW all it’s magic. We had just completed a grueling two-week-long trek getting from Wisconsin to California, slowly hauling our home on wheels behind us (which was, by the way, the same size as our Suburban. We averaged about 50 miles an hour at BEST on the highway). We were about to live under 150 square feet for the next 6 months and we picked Palm Desert, CA (a beautiful quiet, clean, suburb of the busier and well known Palm Springs) as our first two-week stationary stop and where we would be meeting up with Janelle & Brian for our upcoming J-tree photo session. Also if you were wondering (you probably weren’t) that our Suburban was the only Suburban we came across in the entire Palm Springs area. 😛

Upon arrival to this shiny new area of Palm Springs, California we realized right away we weren’t in Wisconsin anymore, and had actually stationed ourselves smack into the Hollywood getaways for celebrities (who are looking to get out of LA hustle bustle for the weekend). Our first errand was a trip to Home Depot so we could continue making progress on our home-on-wheels (which we didn’t quite complete it’s remodel before our trip). I was dazzled by every single female worker, not sure if we were part of a movie set or if people actually just get themselves glammed up this way everyday! I had never seen such perfect makeup and eyebrows. Let alone on every woman. And why were they all so gorgeous? Like SO gorgeous. I instantly felt like a homeless, dirty, vagabond. Oh wait, I was.

We stayed in this Palm Springs area for 3 weeks, mostly keeping to ourselves at our RV park we were bunkering down, making small talk with the RV folk and passerbys as they admired our “vintage” camper. Really it’s a 2018 but it’s modeled to look like a 50’s Holiday House so everyone wanted to take a peek at our unique looking rig and ask about it. It’s funny how at the RV parks we stood out like sore thumbs. Shiny vintage trailer. Young couple not in retirement yet amongst a bunch of 50-70 year olds who were. And although sometimes we wished we could just “blend in” it did make for some company along our trip and some interesting encounters (like the old man who had welcomed himself into our trailer at 10:30 at night wanting a tour).

On the flip side, anytime we left our campground and went into the “real world” of civilization in Palm Springs, California I felt completely blended in (or perhaps standing out in a not-so-good way!) I never knew if the person I was walking by was actually famous or just looked they were. I also wondered what people thought of me, make-up less, dressed in $2 flip flops and TJ max leggings and some old Tshirt, unshowered. I usually don’t care at all what people think about me, but I found myself feeling suddenly insecure about my outer shell. My inner best friend had to remind me “Hey, your purpose right now? Is solely to enjoy yourself. Just keep  doing you, showerless and all. And remember, you’re on a personal sabbatical out west. You’re technically glorified CAMPING for the next 6 months, you are gaining experiences and knowledge and growth and memories that will be invaluable until the day you die. They will never see you again, you are on your own journey. Here, you can be whoever you want.” The feeling that I could be whoever I wanted, dress however comfortable I wanted, without fear of people I know judging me. Not afraid of who I might run into at Walgreens if I didn’t shower that day. I decided not to care about a lot of things on this trip from here on out. And it was the most freeing feeling.

Yes – California is filled with fascinating people with wildly different priorities from the midwest. And while Alex disagrees strongly with their materialistic behaviors, I found them to add to the overall California charm and sense of wonder. No two-month stay in California would be complete for me without at least one trip to LA and running into at least one celebrity. The day before Christmas, we arrived in LA (also the day we ended up getting stranded and broken DOWN  in LA – but that’s another story for another time). Before the breakdown I will not be acknowledging here, we headed to Larchmont Village, a little suburb area of LA. A friend of mine who used to live 0ut here gave me this tip when I asked “where is the surest place to run into a celebrity?” It’s a quiet street with some boutiques, amazing vegan brunch restaurants, and there happened to be a farmers market going on. A place for celebrities to do their everyday things, away from the touristy areas of Hollywood boulevard and paparazzi.

We were there a total of on hour (maybe less) and ran into 3 (THREE) celebrities circling these two blocks. First, the Property Brothers & their wives and children (we walked out of brunch at the same time, their restaurant happened to be the one next to ours!!). Alex had to embarassingly remind me to stop jumping up and down like an idiot while frantically whispering OMG THE PROPERTY BROTHERS blurbbablurbb sdklgjdsl PICK MY CHIN OFF THE FLOOR akdskgjlsd WUT” We also walked by Jillian Jacobs – from a few quirky shows and movies we’ve watched, and last but not least my favorite celebrity encounter/ LOL moment – Chris Kattan walking straight into Alex’s belly in a Rite Aid pharmacy, too busy with his head down into his phone to notice where he was walking. Yes he is THAT short in real life (okay if you’re like who the heck is Chris Kattan – anyone remember the movie Night at the Roxbury with Will Ferrell, or the good ole SNL days like this “more cowbell” skit?) I grew up watching him on my clunky TV in the early 2000s and I might be the most excited person ever to have run into Chris Kattan. WHO is Chris Kattan? Well now you know.

I had no idea how much I would end up falling for California. But I did know before arriving that I was absolutely mystified by images I’d seen of the Joshua Tree. It seemed they were popping up everywhere on my instagram feed (problems of following too many travel photography accounts?), and calling me to come out and see them myself. The way these trees wind and tangle in its own self and twist certain ways. Each one unique. It was the top place on my bucket list of places to shoot in my lifetime, and with perfect timing in life, Janelle & Brian who knew I was planning a long trip out west, contacted me to do their Cali engagement session while they’d be vacationing there. Guess which place we chose? 🙂

We really couldn’t go wrong anywhere in the massive Joshua Tree National Park, but we decided to spend most of our time near the northern entrance where the Joshua Tree and the big rock boulders were most prominent. I only wish we had more time, as an hour and a half session just doesn’t do this place justice. I’m pretty sure we shot til our cameras (and our ISO levels) couldn’t take it anymore. The cool thing about this engagement session was Janelle & Brian are another Wisconsin wedding photography husband/wife duo who I was SO excited to finally meet after months of talking back and forth. We had wanted to meet up for headswaps but the timing never worked out with our schedules back in Wisco. And we both thought it was so funny it took going all the way out to California to finally meet face-to-face! To this day we still stay in contact almost on a weekly basis – a lot of times when I’m booked I’ll refer the couple to Janelle and vise versa, and it’s also been so nice having someone to always talk shop and bounce ideas or just vent to during stressful times such as these new times we are finding ourselves living in just a year later.

The quarantining and sheltering-in-place restrictions is also a huge reason I find myself longing more and more for the days where we had this total freedom. I never thought the freedom to travel or to roam could be taken away, that the National and State parks across the country would be shut down and considered unsafe. That there would be any reason at all for me not being able to travel or to roam other than my own will and motivation. Quite the opposite world we are living in now, but I’m thankful for this new realization. I will never take our travels for granted, ever again.

The morning of the session, Janelle & I had so much fun getting our makeup done and showing eachother our dress selections for our photoshoot swap! We hopped in the suburban us 4 and Janelle and I talked all things travel + photography. I don’t think Alex and Brian could keep up with us – we were so excited to finally meet LOL I don’t think there was a single moment of silence our entire afternoon. We had both scoped out this massive park separately, the couple days prior for our own pleasure and to prepare for our session. But it was still just as magical driving through the second time, this time each having company to share the enjoyment. What pictures can’t show, is how the trees look as you’re driving through. They almost appear as if they are dancing for you, each one a different shape and twisting and turning in fast forward motion. Kind of like they are waving to you and welcoming you into their world (ohhh also, there’s probably a reason Jim Morrison spent a lot of time here back in the day to get inspiration for his poetry and songs) Pick a good album, roll all your windows down, and enjoy this whimsical scene straight from a Dr. Suess book. OR climb the jumbo rocks and find a good view for a picnic.

While the main focus was Janelle & Brian’s engagement session, Janelle was also able to give Alex and I some beautiful pictures of us, and perhaps my favorite place on all the EARTH 🙂 These ended up being our only nice pictures of us two taken on our whole 6 month trip and I’ll always be able look back to this day with a smile. Finally meeting this amazing couple. Driving through the park & popping out of our cars a million times with each new turn and cool view (it was all a cool view). Their incredible energy and similar life goals/interests as us, and how how they were in the midst of planning a destination wedding in Iceland – where we are heading *hopefully* as our first Overseas trip. There’s so much we have in common with Janelle & Brian and I’ll always cherish this day two photographer husband/wife teams from Wisco met up and explored this neck of the woods!

Fun Fact: Joshua Tree only grow here in the Southwest, and Jerusalem. They have to be at the perffffect elevation and temp, otherwise they don’t reproduce. With temperatures rising, they predict Joshua Tree won’t be around in a few generations…which literally breaks my heart. Go see them and tell me I’m not the only one who thinks this place is pure magic.

WELL, this was supposed to be a brief summary about an engagement session we shot at Joshua Tree, but I see that I can’t help myself when it comes to California. There’s just so much to say I could write an entire book describing everything we saw and felt and experienced in our two months here. Maybe someday I will. But for the purpose of this blog post, I’ll end it here. And if you ever need a place to go and see a lot of diverse landscape in one trip, seriously let it be California. You may not have time to see it all in one trip but you have enough at your disposal to make any trip to California worthwhile. Joshua Tree to the towering Redwood Trees , the rocky coasts and bluffs, Malibu, Lake Tahoe, Yosemite, Mojave.

“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far!

PS: For more travel inspo and our road trip out west – I’ve put our entire (condensed) year-in-review HERE 🙂

YEAR IN REVIEW

JAN – APRIL

I don’t normally do an extensive year-in-review, but I decided this year was simply too incredible to not be documented in a special way.

We started 2019 with no idea where we would be (literally) when Dec 31 hit. Geographically & mentally speaking, it was all pretty up in the air. At the turn of 2019 we were brand spankin new at fulltime traveling. Only one month into our new living situation – our family of 3 in a 21 foot travel trailer – and settling down in the Southwest for the coming winter.

A few moments I will remember forever:

• Arriving into our first destination: Palm Springs, California. With all its palm trees that greeted us into our first long-term stay while living on wheels. And the feeling like we were homeless within this magical Hollywood getaway destination (Kris Jenner one of many that has a home here). Nonetheless it was the first and only place that made us feel home while away from home. The wind turbines, the joshua trees, the hazy purple mountains. The late night desert hot spring soaks and the cackling coyotes. Something about this place fascinated us and to this day is a place we often talk about visiting again. Also it had all the malls and restaurants and hiking I could ever dream.
• It snowing as we drove into Santa Fe, and later on the whole desert?!?! It seemed we were bringing the snow with us from Wisconsin everywhere we went. But it was actually really beautiful seeing the snow contrast with the red rocks and covering the palm and cactus landscapes. A different type of scene that was for sure.
• Breaking down Christmas Eve in LA and scrambling to find any available car mechanics, also breaking down Valentines Day in Vegas (why did we always break down in major cities and on romantic holidays?) Also our car being broken into and my laptop stolen while parked at Venice Beach. Good times had by all.
• Walking up to the Grand Canyon at sunset to get our first peek of it. We were so giddy to finally see it & I’m happy I got Alex’s reaction on video. His face as he looked back at me said it all.
• Conquering the climb up  to the top of Cathedral Rock. This was the first real attempt I made at conquering my phobia of heights  (which afterwards, created a whole new thrill for me in taking on more dangerous hikes)
• Driving through Joshua Tree National Park, the Doors album through the speakers, feeling like I was a 70’s California flower child
• Soaking in natural hot springs in the redrock mountains after climbing/descending chutes and ladders and ropes (by far the quirkiest hike we’ve done! We also had to dodge some naked men!)
• Driving through Slab City & seeing how the real deal hippies live. Being mind-boggled by the Salton Sea
• Stepping outside the camper at night and instantly being in awe. We were staying in the middle of nowhere near the Salton Sea and the stars were so bright they were actually twinkling and even seemed to be dancing. Alex spends many nights looking up at the stars, but this night he could see Orien in full for the first time. He pointed it out to me star by star, point by point, line by line, all the while as the stars twinkled and danced there way before my eyes until its figure was so evidently there. One of the most beautiful memories of my life.
• The old man who welcomed himself into our camper at 10:00 at night
• Camping alone in the red rocks just outside Zion National Park, and realizing the giant sheer mountain face just a few steps past the little river stream by our camper was the park’s iconic Watchman mountain (it took us going all the way in the park to realize we were camped right on top of it! Surreal)
• Taking a night swim in Desert Hot Springs and hearing a pack of cayotes howling/chanting/cackling – the most startling sound I’ve ever experienced.
• Celebrity spottings in LA – Chris Kattan literally running his face into Alex’s Belly as he exited a Rite Aid, not paying attention where he was going. Also seeing the Property Brothers casually leaving brunch across the street on Christmas Eve in Larchmont Village.
• Overall just everyone in California looking so chic and with perfect brows meanwhile I’m a dirty homeless hippy in need of a tweezers.
• Cash’s excitement to get into the SUV anytime we were packing up the trailer to go some place knew, also Cash’s excitement to get out of the trailer anytime we arrived some place new. Just like me, he never got tired of it.
• Anytime I realized we were living in a camper and traveling the country with my two boys. For the first time in my life there was simply nothing more I was searching for.

 

There are so many lessons and so many memories I will take from this experience that made me feel I was truly *alive.*  Full body, life changing experiences. They are also the hardest to put into words. Living on wheels is a challenge for sure, but no matter what happens this way of life for me anyway is **10 times more rewarding** because it creates deeper experiences and really creates a special bonds within yourself and the people who shared in the experience with you. I now get to share so many of them with Alex.

Lastly, I discovered that traveling fulltime is both a beautiful blessing and curse. When you’re going at it fulltime, you don’t always have the mental capacity to pause and reflect and truly appreciate these experiences the way they deserve. You’re too focused on the schedule ahead and the next experience. As incredible as it was to be traveling months on end, I am now a firm believer in doing everything in moderation. Even when it’s a good thing, you need to take mental breaks, and every once in a while you just need to come home 😉

MAY – AUGUST

After spending our share of time in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, back to Arizona, then New Mexico – it was April and time to head back to Wisconsin for wedding season <333! We were fortunate to work with 15 lovely couples + meet many more 2020 couples.

We kept our “home on wheels” travelin’ life still going strong back home in Wisconsin,  using each week’s wedding location as our home base for that week or two until the next came along.

Although I likely won’t do it again because it required tons of extra planning and coordination during an already busy wedding season, I am glad that we gave one summer on wheels a go. We were able to check off so much on our bucket list: Apostle Islands, Upper Michigan, the charm of Lake Geneva, +  finally got to check out Duluth where Alex used to live (pics of our Superior trip later down in this post!) We were able to see so much of our home state of Wisconsin + Midwest that we never saw before and might have never had the proper chance.

SOO without further adieux, here are 2019’s loveliest **newlyweds!**

KIM + NICK | CATHEDRAL ROCK | SEDONA, ARIZONA (FROM MARCH 30, 2019 )

MEGAN + DEREK | BLACK SWAN | MILWAUKEE WI | MAY 4 2019

KELSIE + JASON | THE LAGERET | STOUGHTON WI | MAY 24 2019

ALI + FATIMA | SHORES OF LAKE MICHIGAN | WHITEFISH BAY WI | MAY 30 2019

AMBER + RYAN | THE LAGERET | STOUGHTON WI | JUNE 7 2019

LEXIE + JASON | ST JAMES FARM FOREST PRESERVE | WARRENVILLE IL | JUNE 13 2019

LAKE SUPERIOR TRIP

This was the summer of work hard / play hard. During the off-weekends we made the most of it by checking off some long overdue bucket list items. We took a two week trip dedicated to Lake Superior, and involving three different spots: 1) Duluth, MN 2) Apostle Islands, WI and 3) Porcupine Mountains, MI.

Favorite memory: Chasing all the cargo ships coming into Duluth + biking Madeline Island after one two many drinks…but we stumbled upon the quintessential Apostle Island view!♡

 

We then got ourselves stationed at Neshonoc RV Resort near La Crosse – our favorite of all the WI Thousand Trails membership locations (pssst, if you’re going to be doing some fulltime RV traveling I highly recommend looking into a yearly membership through them) We enjoyed the view of the lake and got ourselves ready to photograph wedding #1 of 3 at Burlap and Bells this season. So many of our couples chose the forest to say “I do” and we could NOT have been more on board!

CAITLIN + ROBERT | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | JULY 27 2019

DANIELLE + ANDREW | WHITE OAK CHAPEL | BRILLION WI | AUGUST 3, 2019

GLACIER & BANFF

August marked 3 years of marriage & 10 years of Alex and I being together. I forced myself a year ago to block off this whole entire month so we could set aside time to take a major trip. We went with Alex’s location of choice and lifelong bucket list item — Glacier National Park. I won’t get too much into our time here because I wrote ALLLL about our trip in this blog post here. But basically, this place was insane. Definitely the highlight trip of the year and our new favorite place on EARTHHH. We’ve seen a lot of cool shizz this past year but if I could recommend just ONE place you see, it’s Glacier. HOLY LIFECHANGING.

 

SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER

We came back from our Glacier trip refreshed & ready for a fully packed fall season. 6 weddings in the month of September alone + meeting soo many of my new 2020 couples! I still need to get these lovely weddings on my blog so stay tuned this off season while I play catchup!

CARLY + DAN | MAXWELL MANSION | LAKE GENEVA WI | SEPTEMBER 1, 2019

BEKKA + NATE | BUBOLZ NATURE PRESERVE | APPLETON WI | SEPTEMBER 6, 2019

SARA + ADAM | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | SEPTEMBER 7, 2019

CHRISTINE + MYKAL | HARTMAN CREEK STATE PARK | WAUPACA WI | SEPTEMBER 19, 2019

AUBREE + ELLIOT | BURLAP & BELLS | BLACK RIVER FALLS WI | SEPTEMBER 21, 2019

JORDAN + ZACH | CASTLE FARMS | CHARLEVOIX MI | SEPTEMBER 29, 2019

During this trip to Charlevoix for Jordan & Zach’s wedding we also made a few stops along the way to Mackinac Island and Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes (but don’t go all the way down to the water, unless you want to spend two hours getting back up or pay to be helicoptered out!)

 

We had a month to play catch up on all the editing, and then last not but least we celebrated:

EMILY + DUSTIN | BRIGHTON ACRES | OSHKOSH WI | OCTOBER 26, 2019

+ SHOT MANY ENGAGEMENT SESSIONS AT SOME RAD PLACES

 

+ SHOT AN ANNIVERSARY SESSION WITH AMANDA + JOE BACK WHILE WE WERE IN BANFF

 

+ DAPPLED WITH A FEW FAMILY SESSIONS

 

NOVEMBER – DECEMBER

With the cold weather moving in Alex and I started discussions on what to do next. Another adventure down south, or put the travel trailer in storage and find an apartment around here to bunker down for the winter. For months we weren’t seeing eye to eye and it was so difficult to know what to do. I didn’t want all good things to end. I could have seriously lived on wheels forever. I didn’t know it a couple months ago, but now I know for sure that pauses are good and breaks are necessary. All good things must end– at least temporarily.

Alex has been simply amazing, always. He has encouraged me try out a lot of the things I wanted to do this past few years — like start up a biz and join me in my travel lifestyle, and now it was my turn to ask him what he needed – which was some serious structure and routine. In October we signed a year long lease to an apartment and although I went through a little identity crisis and may have cried a little (read: actually began SOBBING in a Best Buy parking lot on our way to get our cable router LOL), my anxieties quickly subsided when we began actually living in our new space and I realized how NICE it was to have things like a washer/dryer, full size fridge, stove, oven, SHOWER, couch to spread out our legs and hallways to move our feet from one room to the other. The finer things in life 🙂 Boy, looking back at this past year we were REALLY slumming it.

The first few days in our apartment (of course had to add in all the adventure decor/feels as possible).

 

SPONTANEOUS TRIP TO ARIZONA

My newfound love of bunkering down in Wisconsin for the winter was put to the test when our nephew Daniel asked us to join him in a road trip to AZ for a week. Part of me was worried I wouldn’t come back haha. But I am SO happy that we decided to do it. We stayed at the cutest hotel in Scottsdale for the weekend and checked off the Kasha Katuwe Tent Rocks on our way back home in Santa Fe (we happened to miss this gem while traveling through last year)! After Santa Fe I was actually missing home and just so anxious to get back and start decorating our new home for Christmas + get into the holiday spirit.  And just to simply enjoy a season of REST.

 

Right before we left for our trip to AZ we celebrated Alex’s 32nd bday at Lambeau Field (our first time seeing actual STARTERS play!) & ended up being a high scoring and *winning* game vs the Raiders. My sister and I also took a day trip to Madison to see Lana Del Rey, which is now about the only music I listen to while editing. After we got back from Arizona we celebrated my Grandma’s 80th birthday at the casino (and she won big!) and enjoyed the perfect Thanksgiving meal, plus Black Friday + Small Biz Saturday with the girls.

 

We started this Christmas season with a new tradition, Alex and I went to get us our first real tree. We spent a wonderful holiday with family and friends and it felt TWICE as merry as usual (to make up for our last doozy of a Christmas :P)

 

2010-2020, WOAH you were a crazy decade in the best way possible. I met the love of my life, graduated college, adopted our fur child, had multiple career changes, married the love of my life, started a business, took a chance living on wheels, and saw more places in this beautiful country of ours I never knew I’d see in my lifetime. People always ask older people “what were the best year’s of your life?” Well…my 20’s were simply the best + most rewarding years of my life thus far. But I’m hoping (and have a good feeling) there’s still more to this story 😉

Thank you so much to all the friends, fam, couples and vendors that I have worked with this past year and decade! You are all so loved and appreciated! Cheers to the NEW 2020 DECADE!