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Updates from AZ, and storing the RV.

If you have been following along with our travels, you know we have been staying at Bens folk’s house near Phoenix Arizona. I am currently 26 weeks pregnant, and we have been getting the RV ready for storage while we are in Utah for the next few months.

As an update, it really has been nice to stay at a house. The Beck’s have a lot of room so we can bring stuff in to organize and sort so we know what to leave, and what to bring up to Utah. It’s been awesome having such a large fridge and counter space to cook! It’s also been nice to have so many stores close by like Target, or for food like Rudy’s. We missed BBQ real bad!

We super lucked out and made a connection that will let us park our RV on their gated property. There really are some super nice and generous people here in AZ!

As we researched how to store the RV, we decided it would be best to take it to an actual RV park overnight so we could use the 50 amp electricity, as well as their water and not worry about flipping any breakers or using someone else’s water supply. You would think we would be over RV parks by now! However, it just made sense.

So on Friday, we drove the RV to a run-down park and started working!

We first went through all the drawers and “dejunked” whatever we didn’t want to bring back to Texas with us, then vacuumed and wiped everything down. After a deep clean with the kitchen and bathroom, we sterilized anything fabric, then swept and mopped the floors. It was a disaster zone for a while but we made it work.

If you look close, you can see our list of “to-dos” on the mirror.

We came back on Saturday morning to complete some finishing touches and clean the tanks for storage. This place has never felt so clean!

It was actually fun to be back in the RV with Benjamin and work the day away. We made some good memories with this beast and will miss it. It took care of us for 16 months and was our first home.

After everything was checked off our list, we pulled in the slide-out and headed back to store for the Arizona winter.

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This was a major project to tackle before heading up to Utah and I am glad we got it done. See you in April Allegro Bae!

If you are interested in a final summary of our adventures, click here!

This really wasn’t what we were expecting…

So most of our Thousand Trails membership RV parks are within 30-40 minutes from the main city which is fine for us. This park was about 40 minutes from San Diego, but 20 miles away from any civilization or a simple grocery store. When we got there, the staff wasn’t very helpful, they didn’t have full hookups, and (the nail in the coffin) a terrible internet connection.

As we work from our RV, this is a deal-breaker. We even bought the premium internet package they promoted at the park but it still didn’t work. We asked the staff if something was wrong as they said it was because of the wind… but there wasn’t any wind when we went outside. Ugh… It wouldn’t be bad if there was a lodge that we could use the internet from but alas… nothing.

Ben and I did some brainstorming and decided we really wanted to visit the San Diego Zoo, then we’re ok with calling it a day with our RV adventures. I am almost 6 months pregnant and he was stressed out about work. We were also really ready to stay in one place for a while. SO! We made arrangements with Ben’s parents in AZ who were more than happy to have us come 2 weeks earlier than expected!

Let’s Go To The Zoo!

The next morning we woke up nice and early and headed to the zoo. We planned to be there in the morning, then work a bit during the hottest hours of the day and head back for the Hall-Glow-Ween events they had at night. This is a world-famous zoo and we knew we didn’t want to miss it!

Going in the morning was a great idea. It wasn’t very crowded for a Friday and the animals were still active as it wasn’t the hottest part of the day.

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Some of our favorites to see were the hippos, giraffes, rhinos, polar bears, and tiger! Not sure if you can see in the first photo but this kangaroo was totally posing for the picture. The zoo was laid out really nicely and had events and shows throughout the day.

For a mid-day break, we stopped at a nearby park called Old Town San Diego where we took a nap under a tree, walked around the shops, and worked for a few hours. It was decorated as “Dia-De-Los-Muertos” which was also super fun. It inspired us to watch “Coco” that night and I totally cried. #pregnancy

Heading back in the early evening was also a great idea. Things had cooled down and the sun was setting. Usually, the zoo closes at 5 pm but was open until 9 pm with activities like dance parties (directed toward kids) bands, and even an acrobatic show!

During the sunset, Ben and I took the Skytram back to the entrance and enjoyed seeing the city from so high up, as well as the zoo animals below. It seemed like a great way to end the day, as well as our RV adventures. As much as I have loved seeing all these different places all around the USA, the best part of this trip has been spending so much time with this guy. He is truly the love of my life. I am so grateful to be his wife and to be taking this next step together into parenthood.

Let’s Go!

Ok… We can do this!

The drive from San Diego to Pheonix AZ is about 350 miles and about 5 1/2 hours away (as GPS says but it takes longer in the RV). We usually don’t drive over 250 miles in a day so we knew we needed to pace things out, and that it would be a long day.

We got everything ready to go and were on the road at 7:30 am! If you couldn’t tell…we were super ready to get out of there. The trip was bittersweet, as we drove we talked about all the places we visited and how different the east coast was from the west coast, and what places stood out to us the most. We also knew it was time to close this chapter of our life.

Switching off about every hour helped, as well as our audiobooks. One thing I will miss about the RV is our long talks with the beautiful scenery. I came to love the moving days. As stressful as they were, it was also exciting to be in a new place together.

We found ourselves in Pheonix around 2:30 pm in the afternoon and parked right outside Ben’s parent’s house for the night before putting it in storage the next day. It feels SO GOOD to be with family again.

I called my dad to let him know we made it safely, and he said: “I am glad you are in a safe port for a while.” Which is so true! Being in a home again really feels nice.

Thanks for coming along our adventures and reading our blog. Not sure what the future of this blog will bring but we appreciate you tuning into our lives.

Until next time my friends…

Oh! and happy Halloween!

We spoiled ourselves…

After our “lovely” (eye roll) RV park that we stayed at in Acton CA, we decided to stay at a super nice park in the city. We originally booked a place an hour away from Anaheim but we spoiled ourselves and stayed at a place called Orangeland RV park only 3 miles away from Disneyland.

It was awesome and was actually the most expensive place we have stayed (per night) in the 14 months we have been on the road. It had all types of citrus trees around the park which I haven’t really been exposed to in my life. Ben grew up with a grapefruit tree in his backyard but I grew up in Salt Lake with more apple and peach trees. So! It was fun to see these things grow on trees.

The office even had orange pickers for us to use! The oranges were super sweet but hard to peel. A fun experience for me!

A highlight of Anaheim was being able to visit Bens partner company Klient Boost. I went there a few days as well just to work and get out of the RV. Everyone there was incredibly friendly and so welcoming. We also went to dinner with the owner Johnathan and his lovely wife Hailey. Great people that we hope to see sooner than later!

Disneyland!

We couldn’t miss a chance to go to Disneyland while in Anaheim!

Being 5 1/2 months pregnant, we did our best to really pace ourselves throughout the park. I waited for rides I couldn’t go on while Ben took the single passenger line (so smart) and he patiently went on rides that were “pregnancy approved” that were not as exciting. We walked slow, drank lots of water, and rested frequently.

Some of my favorite rides in the park were ones that I could go on like the Haunted Mansion. It was holiday-themed for the Nightmare before Christmas so that was fun. Why is Halloween so fun?

Ben went on rides like Indiana Jones, Starwars Millenial Falcon, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain. It was a bummer that I could go but since we did Disneyworld earlier this year it was fine. I enjoyed being able to sit down for a while without making him feel like I was slowing him down. We really wanted to stay to the end for the projection display on the castle but it was 7 pm and my back was killing me. We decided to call it a night and was asleep before 9. #oldpeople

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Overall, I love Disney and am always surprised by how much it’s integrated into my life. I am also grateful I could go with just my husband for now. In a few months, we will have a little one and everything will have changed.

Next and Final Stop, San Diego!

P.S. It wasn’t what we expected…

This is LA!

Backing up just a bit, before hitting LA we stayed at a place between Yosemite and LA for a week in a town called Paso Robles which is kind of by Bakersfield. It was a nice RV park and we really planned on just catching up with work and getting our ultrasound at a nearby hospital. After we found out the gender of our baby coming in Feb, we started brainstorming for announcements.

Luckily, there was a fun little pumpkin patch about 10 minutes away so we did a little photoshoot there.

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There were actually some high school girls there who volunteered to take our picture. It worked out perfectly.

Ok, onto our LA experience. We headed to our next RV park which was about 50 minutes north of LA in a town called Acton. As we pulled in the lobby area, the park looked nice but as we found our site we realized this RV park was on its last leg.

Our RV park was really out of the way and we knew it didn’t have great reviews going into it. However, it was a free place to stay for 2 weeks through Thousand Trails. Once we parked, we knew automatically we didn’t want to stay very long. They didn’t get internet around the park except for two of the lobbies, and my phone didn’t get reception at all. Luckily, Bens’s phone plan is with Verison and he got some reception where we were parked so we could at least do some emails and planning inside the RV.

To make matters a little worse, the RV water and sewage next to use seemed to be shared with the RV that was supposed to leave the next day (according to their sign in the window) but never left.

Getting The Full LA Experience

Something I personally didn’t expect from California was how brown and yellow everything is this time of year. Someone said during our visit “it is the golden state!” which makes more sense now. From memory, California was always really green!

Somehow made it to Friday and headed to downtown LA only to find out there were multiple fires in the surrounding mountains and the main highway to LA was totally blocked off… ugh! The traffic was terrible. It was a huge cluster and so many cars and people trying to figure out what to do. We stopped at a Starbucks for an hour or so of work to hopefully let the traffic and fires die down but no such luck. It felt like no matter what we did all the roads were cut off!

Eventually, we found a little side road through the mountains which could potentially get us there. After an hour of switchbacks, I had to get out of the car to barf. I hate throwing up with a passion. So far LA had not been my favorite.

We finally made it to the city and had planned to go to the Griffith museum but since our arrival was a few hours later than expected, we just headed to The Getty which is a famous art museum.

The Getty

I personally enjoy art. I like reading the stories behind the illustrations and how the artist interpreted ideas or events in history through different mediums. Ben on the other hand just really has a hard time getting into it. He is such a good sport at these things but I could tell he was dying inside. It’s about 30 minutes and he is done.

Venice Beach

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We had a bit of time before meeting up with friends so we made a stop by Venice beach! Also known as muscle beach. It wasn’t a long time we spent there but enough to enjoy people watching. Always great to be by the ocean.

Bens High School Friends

A big part of why we wanted to go to LA was to visit Bens highschool friends named Jordan and Blake. These guys have lived in LA for a while so it was fun to see them connect and tell stories about the “good ole days.” Jordan’s wife and Blakes’s girlfriend were lovely and really easy to be around. The kids watched a movie while we all sat around and chatted for a few hours. Meeting new people on the road is one of my favorite things to do.

We decided to stay the night at Blakes as they had a spare bedroom and had a few things planned for that Saturday. We had so much fun, we ended up staying a second night!

Mermaid Linden

Many of you know I work on an affiliate marketing website around the topic of mermaids. It does really well and I enjoy researching the topic and doing reviews on mermaid products. Being in the “industry” you get to know some bigger names and THE mermaid that I have always wanted to meet lives near LA and we went to lunch.

Mermaid Linden is one of the most genuine, sweetest people on the planet. I am so happy about the success she has had in the industry and only wants the absolute best things for her. She is one of the original mermaids who paved the way for so many others. She also really focuses on ocean conservation and education which is what I love. How cool… I was a little star-struck. Thanks so much for hanging out with us Linden!!! You’re a beautiful mermaid inside and out!

L.A Art District

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That Saturday night we went downtown and had some Sonoratown tacos which have probably been the best tacos we’ve had on the road since Austin! We walked around and visited the last bookstore, as well as General Market.

We even got to see a set being filmed at night. Not a bad night out on the town!

The Magic Castle

I had never heard of this place before visiting LA. But Ben’s highschool friend, who is an inspiring actor, had a connection to a member and we were able to go. Let me start from the beginning so you actually know what this place is.

The Magic Castle is an old hotel close to the LA Chinese theatre that hosts magicians. It’s this crazy nice old hotel with multiple rooms where magicians perform all throughout the night. You can only get in by being a member or being invited by a member. We were fortunate enough to go and it, for lack of a better word, was magical.

Photography wasn’t allowed so the only pictures we got were outside. There is a dress code and it’s like a black-tie affair so everyone was really dressed up. It gave us a good excuse to get out some of our fancy wear we have been carting around in the RV this whole time and unable to use! You can’t see it but my baby bump looked amazing in this dress.

There is even a secret door that opens with a secret password! Anyway, as you enter the decorations seemed old and fit in well with the holiday theme. There was a “ghost” playing piano all night. I am sure it was connected to a guy in another room but you would ask it to play anything and it did! I requested Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash and he played it!

The place seemed to go on forever with an upstairs and downstairs. There were multiple rooms/stages where professional magicians would perform and THESE GUYS WERE GOOD!

The first room we went to was an up close and personal card magician from Spain. He was super entertaining and did some tricks I had never seen before. I kept trying to figure out how he did it but the talent and skills of these guys really blew me away.

The second room we went to was probably my favorite. It was two different magicians and I could go on and on about the tricks they did but I will save you the time and just tell you my favorite.

One magician took two chicken eggs in his hands and was put into a straight jacket. The trick was supposed to be getting out of the straight jacket and not crack the eggs. He was able to get out but there were no eggs in sight. He proceeded to take out two fully grown chickens out of the straight jacket!!!! I was totally blown away!

The last act was a magician that had music and told lots of stories as he performed. We were sitting in the front row and Ben and I got to help out with a trick. There was some really cool stuff and was fun to see the different styles of performing.

It was about midnight but Sam (the member who helped us get in) had a few tricks of his own! He had been a member for a number of years and was working on some card tricks that were really good! He plans to perform next year but I think he could do it sooner than that!

Ben and I walked away really grateful for the experience. It was so unique to the area. We had never been to a magic show before but really respect the art and would do it again!

Thanks for the good times LA!

Benjamin and I are looking forward to our first child coming in February of 2020.

It’s a Girl!

My birthday is June 8th, and all I really wanted this year was to be pregnant. We had been “trying” since the first of the year and not really sure if we could even get pregnant but June 4th, 2019 rolls around and that was the day we found out we are going to be parents. IE birthday wishes do come true!

We were exploring southern Utah at the time and had planned to keep the RV life going along the west coast until the end of the year and possibly longer. With the new baby on the way, we had a lot to think about.

To spare everyone from all the details, we decided to head up to SLC and find a midwife who was willing to work with a traveling couple. SLC made sense to have the baby there as we both have family in the area, and could use the extra support during that time. We found a great midwife named Heather from Segolilly Midwifery who helped us come up with a game plan for what we needed on the road, and what the monthly check-ins would consist of until we got back to SLC. Throughout the process, she has been extremely helpful and available at all times day or night.

Travel Plans

We’ve kept our original travel plans and had a great time visiting national parks as well as our family and friends throughout Idaho, Oregon, and California. We plan to conclude our adventures before Thanksgiving and plan to be back in SLC the first part of December to get ready for the holidays, and Baby Beck arriving in February.

After some recovery time, we plan to head back down to Austin Texas to settle down as a family. We have honestly loved this adventure and couldn’t have had a better first year of marriage traveling and spending so much time together. We are both lucky, and so excited about this next stage of life.

Here are a few questions you may have!

How has being pregnant on the road been?

Well… I don’t have anything to compare it too but it was rough the first trimester. My mother had 5 kids and said she doesn’t remember getting any morning sickness for any of them! Me thinking my genes would make this stage a breeze, I didn’t anticipate the brutal reality of morning sickness. It wasn’t fun but Ben was a really big help. The worst part was just feeling too hot in certain areas of the country. We do have AC in the RV but it can only do so much. When you feel like you are overheating and there isn’t a place to escape, it can be rough. If we were by a body of water or a pool I would often go take a dip and cool down. There were times I felt like a hot iron being cooled off by water with steam and bubbles coming off my body as I slowly submerged myself (to give everyone a visual).

At nights, I would have a squirt bottle by the bed and Ben, being the amazing husband he is, would squirt water on me which would help cool me off.

As we got into Oregon and near the coast, the weather cooled down and has been really pleasant for the most part.

Why did you keep traveling after finding out about the pregnancy?

Great question… Because we like to do difficult things? This RV life has been a blast and we really were looking forward to exploring the west coast. We figured we would just go for it , and if needed, adjust along the way. It’s been great and I am glad we decided to keep going rather than settling down while the little gummy bear grew.

Did being pregnant limit your life/travel style?

The first trimester I felt really exhausted, slept and gagged a lot. I remember making lists of things to do during the day and if I got two thing done it was a good day. We still went on daily multiple walks, but slower this time. As far as exploring each area, we did take it down a notch as my energy was limited. However, we still enjoyed hiking in places like the Oregon coast, Redwoods, and Yosemite. We even went to the sand dunes and had a blast riding around in a dune buggy! So the answer is yes and no. We still enjoyed every place we stayed but had to be more conscious of energy expenditure.

What about the 20-week ultrasound?

This was the one tricky thing that our midwife was not able to do herself. We contacted a midwife in the area and asked for a one-time appointment and a California referral in the area for a 20-week anatomy scan. We had to wait until week 22 as we were in Yosemite for weeks 20 and 21 but it actually wasn’t that hard. A very nice midwife in Paso Robles named Jennifer who came to our RV and talked for about an hour. The next day we went to the ultrasound and then went over the results with her. That information was relayed to my SLC midwife and added to my chart. So not to bad!

What do your monthly midwife check-ins look like?

Heather has been really helpful, caring, and available to chat/text/email whenever I need. There have been a few times I reached out with questions or concerns and she got back to me within the day. Our monthly chats consist of me giving her my blood pressure (which I test myself in the RV) and questions from me or from her regarding the progress of our baby. She asks things like “have you felt any movement yet?” or “have you experienced blurry vision or dizziness?” sort of stuff.

I really appreciate the personal touch of a midwife. I couldn’t imagine dealing with different Dr’s offices along the way. Everyone is different in the kind of care they like but we have been very happy with our choice.

Any crazy cravings?

The only thing that stands out is I kept craving crappy birthday cake at Yosemite national park. Like the kind of cake you get in a box from the store and the tub of Pillsbury frosting to put on top because you are too lazy to make your own. It seemed like every Netflix show we watched had some form of cake in it that made this craving worse. Eventually, we went to the only gas station nearby and found me some cake. It was delicious.

Any other questions that I missed?

Conclusion

Our RV life has been amazing but we look forward to planting some roots and having a family. We have seen so many places in the USA and seen so many of our family/friends scattered around the world and know this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. We also know we will never run out of amazing places to explore whether it’s here in the USA or abroad. Now we get to have a little one to share the experiences with.

Here we go!

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul alike.” – John Muir

After San Francisco, we stayed midway in a town called Lodi close to Stockton. I was actually nervous because the weather said it was going to be the mid 90s-100s while we were there. Last time it was that hot was in Cloverdale and we were… miserable. Luckily, this place had a pool which we frequented a few times a day for a dip. It’s the small things in life right? Anyway, it wasn’t that bad. I even went into town and got a much-needed haircut.

Yosemite Lake RV Park

The road to the RV park was drivable but nerve-wracking as we drove up the switchbacks. Luckily, its only 5 miles away from the entrance to Yosemite! Of course, we spent the first few days settling in and catching up on work. The weather gets a high of 85, and low into the 50s at night. It’s great 🙂

The only complaint we have is a few days in our first week the internet was extremely spotty. Our year of doing this, only a few parks have had terrible Wifi. I know that’s a super “millenial” thing to complain about, but since we make our living online, it’s a necessity.

Let’s Go To The Park!

On Friday we headed to Yosemite National Park and were really taken back by the huge solid granite cliffs on each side of the valley. Growing up in SLC, I am familiar with huge mountains but these are solid granite! Nature be crazy.

We did a short hike to Bridal Veil Falls which were the only falls in Yosemite valley that had water. It really would have been amazing to see all the snow runoff on the other falls but still a great trip!

Next, we headed to the visitor center, and the parking was packed! We learned about how the mountains were formed and the people that inhabited the area for centuries. After talking with a ranger, we learned that taking the shuttle was the best way to get around so off we went!

Mirror Lake Hike

Again, there wasn’t much water so Mirror Lake was more of a Mirror puddle. It was still a great few mile hikes to see some amazing granite mountain faces! Ben and I really enjoy being outdoors and spending so much time together.

This is actually the bottom of Half Dome. You can’t really tell at this angle but people climb all the way to the top!

After that little hike, we hopped back on the shuttle and made our way to the upper and lower falls of Yosemite. You can see the path of the waterfall but even the marble coloring of the granite is so beautiful.

It’s really hard to portray what it was really like there, but hopefully, these pictures will help!

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After hiking all day, we went into the city of Groveland which is just a small town 30 minutes outside of the park entrance. It was super small but they did have some good burgers!

The next week was mainly work, hiking around the RV park, and I actually ordered a “paint by numbers”. It has satisfied the craft itch so far.

Let’s Go To The Park Again!

The next Friday we decided to go exploring again. This time we went to Glacier’s point which was an hour’s drive from the park. Totally worth it! We drove out to the main point and was surprised by how many people were out. We were not aware that it was “Yosemite Face Lift” day and hundreds of volunteers were helping clean up the park. So cool!

This is Half Dome! There are other smaller domes around the valley but this is by far the largest. It broke in half and the granite was crushed and moved down the valley by the glaciers that carved the deep canyons here.

Next, we headed to Sentenial Dome which is another lookout point of the whole valley. We are definitely not in shape enough to do the half dome hike and this was just a few miles. Still fairly difficult though!

The Beck family all grew up doing gymnastics and now they have handstand contests of doing them in crazy places. This is one of my favorites.

Again, I can’t quite get over how cool these mountains are… Also, how do these trees grow out of pure granite?!!?!?

Thanks, Yosemite, we really enjoyed being here! Next time we will see you in the Spring!