We get this question often – what exactly do you do all day on your road trip? What’s a typical day look like? Excellent question, and honestly it varies from day to day and area to area. But here I’ll break down some examples for you.
Category: Taste (page 1 of 2)
We recently celebrated Ryan’s birthday on the road, and I always love to bake him something delicious and sinful for his big day. This year I thought I’d try out a recipe that I found in the cookbook that I got with my Lodge cast iron dutch oven for easy Peach Cobbler. It was painfully easy, but there are a few modifications that I’d suggest to make it even tastier, and I goofed a bit and didn’t follow it exactly anyways (oops!). I normally prefer to bake things from scratch but it’s great to have an easy go-to recipe that you can use with some pre-made ingredients. Plus, calories don’t count on your birthday!
Life was meant for good friends and great adventures. It is especially sweet when good friends join you for those great adventures. For Memorial Day this year, a couple of our favorites joined us on the road for the long weekend. We met them at Shasta National Forest, in the very northern part of California, and began our weekend of revelry. We hiked from Castle Lake to Heart Lake, catching up on life and enjoying the beautiful views of Mt. Shasta.
I am not a baker per se. I don’t have the fancy scales, cake pans and pie tins that are hallmarks of a serious baker. I dabble in baking and usually it turns out pretty tasty … although I have never quite figured out how to make my flourless cake not crumble the instant I try to serve it on a plate. Regardless, I’d like to think that I’m a decent baker because I am a rule follower. To the T. So I can follow a recipe like it’s nobody’s business. When we finalized our plans for this trip, I decided that I wanted to learn how to make bread so that I can make some bread for us from time to time on the road.
THERE CAN BE FEW THINGS IN LIFE AS WONDERFUL AS SITTING AROUND A ROARING CAMPFIRE MAKING MEMORIES AND S’MORES WITH THE BEST OF FRIENDS.
Well we have certainly gotten off to a slow start on this trip! And that’s just fine by me. One of my goals for this adventure is to slow down and take my time and enjoy the present without worrying about what the future holds – whether that’s two days into the future or two years into the future. And so after a couple of days in Big Sur, we headed south to San Diego, where some of our favorite friends live. We dropped the camper in front of their home in Cardiff, headed for a late night dinner at Pizza Port in Solana Beach, and the next day we were off to Florida for a few days. Our nephew was being baptized, and conveniently we are temporarily retired and so we have all the time in the world to head back to the East Coast for such a momentous life event as a baptism! Ryan and I have always said that no matter where in the world we live, we will make it a point to not miss the important family events, and that includes the time that we are on this road trip.
Ah, sunny Florida
MAY THE WIND UNDER YOUR WINGS BEAR YOU WHERE THE SUN SAILS AND THE MOON WALKS. – Tolkien
We had the most amazing send off for our big road trip a couple of Saturdays ago. My parents flew in from Florida and co-hosted a camping- and fishing-themed send off for us with our neighbor besties Eric and Liz. It was the perfect way to embark on this great adventure and reminded us how lucky we are to have such a wonderful community in San Francisco.
One of my favorite things about San Fransisco is how many great places are close by for quick get aways! This year for our anniversary we hopped over the bridge for a weekend getaway at Cavallo Point, a beautiful hotel tucked away right under the Golden Gate Bridge just north of the City. The hotel is housed in an old army post called Fort Baker and the buildings were built in the early 1900’s, and renovated and reopened as Cavallo Point resort in 2008.
I’ve never made a bundt cake before, but I’ve had the pan for years. I love the shape of a bundt cake, and I love that the cake comes out looking the exact same way every time. So when I needed to bring something over to a friend’s dinner party I thought I’d finally try it out. Most bundt cake recipes call for buttermilk or milk, neither of which I had at home, so I searched around for a recipe that used Greek yogurt – a favorite of mine and staple in my fridge. I found a recipe here and spiced it up with some blueberries that I had in the fridge and wanted to use.
For Labor Day weekend, we headed south to San Diego to visit one of my besties from law school and her husband, who have newly relocated from New York to San Diego – quite a change for them! I haven’t ever been to San Diego, so I was looking forward to exploring a new part of California and looking forward to seeing two of our favorite people in their new home. Lots of people have said that we’d love San Diego – it’s a bit of a mix of California and Florida, where we grew up. While we were only there for a couple days, I’d say that I agree. Beachy and laid back like Florida, but with California’s mountains and the Pacific that I love so much.
We drove all the way from San Francisco to San Diego – unfortunately not along the beautiful coast, but through the dusty middle of the state, down the 5. Particularly dusty with the terrible drought we are in. We of course brought our furbaby Coconut with us – if we can bring her somewhere, she always comes with us, and she loves a good roadtrip, especially if she can stick her head out the window. The drive was long but not too bad and we were so happy to finally get there without too much traffic.
Coconut – the ultimate road tripper