One day, I turned to my husband and asked, “Hey, what do you think about doing a seven-week road trip up the California coast to Oregon next summer?”
His raised eyebrows told me he felt skeptical, but I knew I could convince him. With some prodding, intense planning and the promise of finding all the best surf spots along the way, he finally agreed.
In seven weeks, we traveled more than 4,000 miles up the California and Oregon coastline. We hiked 50 miles—with two kids under nine years old. We biked 40 miles, found 13 waterfalls, floated in six rivers and swam in two lakes. Across five different campgrounds, we encountered snakes, wild turkeys and skunks. Hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail, hikers had spotted a bear ahead and told us to turn back.
We picked wild blackberries and made cobbler. We ate local jams and cheeses, and made it a mission to find the best hazy, juicy IPA in the Pacific Northwest, visiting a dozen breweries in our quest. We biked across Sonoma and stopped at four wineries. We revelled in stunning coastline views, dodged patches of poison oak and encountered packs of giant elk as we hiked in Marin. We canoed with friends and leapt from rope swings into the Russian River. On the last two nights of our trip, we mapped constellations at Lake Tahoe as the Perseid meteor shower sparkled around us.
And we ate ice cream every single day.