Last weeks in SoCal...

Oye Oye,

Well well well... we are close to the end of our adventure in California, and what a journey it was!

I personally had no idea what to expect about the 'California lifestyle', and it certainly canno't  be resumed to the easy stereotypes we see in Hollywood movies, as it would be at the same time entirely true and yet too simple to really explain what California is about.

We met some amazing people, ate some crazy food, things like 'fa' (soup), 'shabu-shabu', New York style pizza, and drunk a hell lot of 'venti/tall non fat hot chocolate with no wipp cream'... and much more (Oh I was about to forget, Mexican food of course, chicken/asada/fish tacos etc...). We drove up and down the coast to amazing sceneries, parks and cities. And of course not to mention what the coast has to offer for surfing, from cold and grey Santa Cruz, to warm and hyppe La Jolla! 

I think 4 simple words really put it together: WE WILL BE BACK!! Be it as tourists, or who knowns, to settle there...

I have put together what I think are the most beautiful pictures we have made of this great 'escapade'!!

10 days to go before we hit Hawaii!

Best Of street arts in CA

Chinatown at San Francisco

Lake Tahoe to Yosemite National Park

 

Hi everyone,

So after our 5 days in San Francisco, and thanks to Nick from Lost Campers and his awesome advice, we decided to add the Lake Tahoe to our itinerary. And this was such a great idea! Having grown up in an island, I did not get to experience the mountains in winter, and our time at Lake Tahoe was simply overwelming! I canno't remember having seen that much snow in my entire life, not to mention the impressive alpin lake standing in the middle! We spent two days exploring the area, walking in knee deep snow (how awesome!), enjoying the incredible silence of the moutains. It is probably one of the most beautiful place I've ever seen! We then made our way to Yosemite national park, and again, what an amazing place... these big rocks hiden in the valley. 

We are now making our way to Death Valley...

Marie.

San Francisco

Hey guys,
After our drive along Highway 1, we reached San Francisco last Sunday. The city is simply amazing: the architecture, the people, the cafés, the food, the shops etc... We loved it. Below our favorite photos of beautiful SF.
We are now in Yosemite National Park, continuing our road trip to some other crazy place! But more on this later.
Marie

Pacific Coast Highway 1.....Big Sur

Following the famous Pacific Coast Highway 1 towards San Francisco, we hit Big Sur.

Big change from the Southern California, nobody there, real wild, big cliffs falling straight onto the ocean.
We actually felt right at home, be it New Zealand or Brittany...(probably because it started raining too!).

Next update from the city ....San Francisco !

Aquatic residents of Central Coast

I am just crazy about them....

Marie

A grey Saturday in SoCal...

One cold windy morning a couple of weeks ago, we met Ron at Huntington Beach. After a quick chat he got interested by what we were doing and invited us for dinner to meet his girlfriend Angele that can speak a little french. Ever since we have been hanging out together quite a bit and they've been amazing with us, showing us all the good spots to surf, eat (my main activity now that I'm landlocked) and offered us a real bed to break the "van routine" :-). Thanks You guys for everything and you have a place to stay anytime in NZ!

We caught up for some surfing last Saturday while we were down south in San Diego. After a false start at Torrey Pines (close out !!),we found a little spot close to Cardiff-by-the-Sea, the sky was grey for pretty much the first time in a month but thats not a problem for surfing right?

Check out the ladies surfing !!....sorry Ron I got distracted by Marie for your last wave :-). The sun popped out right on time for a feast at Swami's Cafe afterwards!

Simon

Set up

Marie

Angele

Ron & Angele!

Lunch feast at Swami's Café

Marie@Trestles

Pick your peak !

Middles

Lowers

The new Timmy Patterson seems all good no ?

Carvin' Marie

Hi there people ,

Time to discover the south of SoCal right ? After a quick stop in Huntington Beach to catch up with friends we made our way to San Clemente with 2 missions: find a new board for Marie and surf the famous reefs of Trestles.
As you can see, both missions accomplished ! Marie found a nice little Timmy Patterson 5'11 and we caught a little swell that lit up the Trestles reefs. Check out Marie trying her new board !

PS: You all wonder how on earth she got me to take pictures isn't it? ...well you remember this sleepy early morning check gone wrong in Panama ..Well after surfing in pain for about a month turns out I ll have to be landlocked for few weeks to make my knee right for the rest of the trip....
To "survive" this, we ll go up north to spend some time in San Fransisco and then get lost in the wilderness in the Yosemite Park !! Not too bad for a plan B !

Californian coast in campervan

Hi guys,

So we have been cruising along the Californian coast with our awesome Catie van for around two weeks now. I think it is time to let you know of our awesome experience. First of all, the van enables us to move around with the swell, stay and camp in amazing places, and the weather here is awesome, so no trouble being in the campervan for so long (yet?!).

Our van is a Dodge Grand Caravan; we rented it from a small company based in San Francisco called Lost Campers (http://www.lostcampersusa.com/). If you are keen on doing the same, their fleet his awesome, they have three different types of vans depending on your needs! It is very cheap and the people there very nice! Enough talking, here are some photos!

We are currently in San Diego. We are planning on moving to the central coast next week. Keep you posted.

Marie

Early morning - Ventura County

LA street art!

Chillin'

After-surf reading time!

Life is good!