It’s hard to believe that 2019 has come and gone! Last year at this time, we were quietly creating a vision for Our Great Big Adventure. And now here we are, living our dream!
I’m always amazed as we reflect on the year prior. We had so many great memories in 2019! It truly was a year of personal growth and risk taking for all of us. Here’s a quick recap of our adventures!
In January, we boarded a plane for Punta Cana, where we enjoyed a week-long tropical vacay with the boys and both of our parents. We soaked up the sunshine (and alllll the fruity cocktails), and spent most of our time jumping in the ocean at Playa Bavaro. Grandpa, Levi and Harvey ate ice cream every day (sometimes twice a day!). Check out our full trip report here!
After we got back, Steven really started putting in some work to transform our Sprinter van into the full-time traveling home it is today. While we hadn’t told our family and friends our plans at this point, we were pretty quiet on the adventure front. Steven took every free weekend to strip down the van, rewire it, add insulation, solar panels and much more, while I slowly started evaluating our approach for selling a majority of our belongings. No easy task on either end! (For Steven’s overview of our van conversion, click here!)
In March, we shared our big news with our immediate family and friends: we were selling our home, the stuff in it, converting our van into a livable space and venturing off to travel full-time. We got a lot of incredulous looks and many tears, but ultimately we received a ton of support. It was easily one of the hardest things we’ve ever done, but as you’ll soon see at the end of this blog post, the BEST decision we’ve ever made for our family. It was also during this time that we officially put our home on the market!
In April, Steven had some traveling to do for work down in Ventura/Santa Barbara Counties. We decided to rent an Airbnb and try our hand at being together 24/7 before we made the official leap. ? This trip inspired our first-ever family-friendly travel guide, which you can check out here! While Steven worked a majority of the trip, I got to try my hand at exploring with two littles on my own. My favorite part of this trip was climbing up to the top of Point Mugu State Park with the boys. I had no idea if we’d make it all the way to the overlook, but the three of us powered through. While it didn’t seem like a big trip at the time, it taught us a lot about what to expect on the road full-time!
May brought some of the biggest changes we had all year. First, Harvey and I turned a year older. That month I also gave my notice at work and shared our big news with the world! It was also during this time that we were on the fast track to sell our home, and practically everything in it. Our house went into escrow, and I become a yard sale expert in a couple of short weeks. We were about to go from not-so-tiny living to about as tiny as it gets! It was total and utter chaos, but it honestly went so smoothly. Here’s a little peek into our system for downsizing!
Steven also used what seemed like every waking hour or weekend finishing up the van build. I’m pretty sure he was tinkering with things up until the day we left! By this time, we had our bed platform, a Dometic fridge installed, a new bench seat, cabinets, drawers and a fresh coat of paint. Some nights as he worked away, I’d come in the van and we’d sit in the driveway, imagining what our new life would be like. As the van transformed, it felt more and more like home. We were ready to rock!
June. Ahh, it’s hard to write about this month without tears. Tears of happiness for following our biggest dream yet, and of heartache at saying “see ya later” to our families. By June 8th, our home was nearly empty after two consecutive weekends of yard sales and an endless stream of Facebook Marketplace sales. On our departure day, we literally sold our bed the morning of! As we continued to clear out our last belongings, our best friends surprised us with donuts and champagne for final hugs and well wishes. (More tears!) Steven and I sat down with the boys in our empty living room, thanked our beautiful home for all of the incredible memories and said our goodbyes. After hugging both of our parents tight, we loaded up the van and hit the road for the Central Coast. (Lots of tears!) I remember thinking, “Were we crazy? Do normal people do this??” But as we drove away, Steven and I couldn’t stop looking at each other and beaming. We were doing it! During that 3.5 hour drive, we all knew we were right where we were supposed to be.
Our first stop on Our Great Big Adventure was Paso Robles! We rented an adorable little Airbnb a block away from Downtown, and used that as our home base to explore everything the Central Coast had to offer. We discovered the best beaches and state parks, and also learned a lot in our first month of traveling!
In July, we headed back to our hometown to celebrate three special family members’ birthdays — a 1st birthday, a 40th and an 80th! After fueling up on some family time, we made our way to Santa Cruz, where we rented a Tuscan-style Airbnb in the Seabright neighborhood. Within the first five minutes, Levi and Harvey made a fast friend with our neighbor girl Lucy, and the three of them became inseparable. We made the most of the beach being a few blocks away, and trekked the trails of every state park within a 30-mile radius!
In between our two-month stay in Santa Cruz, we made our annual cabin trip up to Pinecrest Lake with our Nascimento fam. Afterwards, we piled back in the van and headed to Sacramento for Steven’s work trip. The boys and I explored Old Town Sacramento, Sutter’s Fort and the California State Railroad Museum. It was a whirlwind week, but so much fun!
We also made our epic road trip to Yellowstone National Park in August! We stopped by Great Basin National Park on our way there, which easily became one of our favorite national parks. In Yellowstone, we saw lots of bison and elk, and really put vanlife to the test. Harvey learned how to grill up pancakes and hotdogs on the camping stove, and Levi became our resident expert on all wildlife. On our way back, we spent time in Boise, ID and Bend, OR, as well as Crater Lake National Park. Out of all of our adventures this year, this one takes the cake as our favorite! (We compiled a must-read list of tips for Yellowstone here.)
After Yellowstone, we came back to Santa Cruz for another month’s stay through mid-September. The boys and I started what we call wildschool — a blend of homeschool and learning in the natural elements — in early September. We found our groove fairly easily after a few weeks, leveraging local resources like museums and parks, workbooks, letter writing and a helpful computer program called Time4Learning. We’re all really enjoying this quality time together!
My besties came up for a fun girls weekend, giving this mama a chance to let loose and laugh a lot. We also enjoyed visits with my parents, Steven’s family and a trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium with my brother’s family. Given that we were in Santa Cruz for two months, we compiled a pretty awesome kid-friendly travel guide!
From there we camped in Sequoia/Kings Canyon National Park, where we spotted our first bear! It’s hard to believe we lived so close to these parks for years and never made our way out here. We absolutely loved traversing the trails to marvel at the massive old redwood trees, and Levi got his first Junior Ranger badge here!
Towards the end of September, Steven’s work had its annual conference in Anaheim… and when in Anaheim, you go to Disneyland! We surprised the boys with their first trip to the Magical Kingdom. It was one of the most perfect days we’ve had as a family, and seeing our kids light up with every character and ride was pure joy. On our way back up California, we spent a weekend in Manhattan Beach where we visited two of my favorite work pals and their families!
In October, we headed back to our hometown to celebrate Levi’s birthday and drop off the kiddos for a staycation with Mimi, Grandpa, Vava and Vovo. Steven and I hit the road for Sedona, AZ, where we celebrated our 10-year wedding anniversary!
In mid-October we made our way to Solvang, CA for our next month-long Airbnb stay. This small Danish town is so cute! We also enjoyed our time here by hosting lots of family and friends, and celebrating Steven’s birthday. Let’s just say I’m still working off all of those Danish sweets! ?
After Solvang, we headed back to the coastline to enjoy some time in Morro Bay in mid-November. The weather was perfect, and we hiked a ton. It also gave us the chance to see one of our favorite state parks, Montaña de Oro. If you’ve never been to this area of California, do yourself a favor and check it out.
Of course, we couldn’t celebrate Thanksgiving without our family, so we headed back to Turlock. We were only supposed to stay for a few days and then go camping on the coast, but Mother Nature had other plans for us as it poured down rain everywhere in the state! So, we extended our “hotel” stay with our parents and just chilled.
In early December another work function beckoned, so we tagged along with Steven to Sacramento. We had fun spending time at the Sacramento Zoo, meeting up with our Aunt Michele and BFF Laura, and the kids even got to see Santa!!
Mid-month we made the long trek down California over to Joshua Tree, where the cool desert air was waiting for us. We explored lots of kid-friendly trails and discovered that scrambling boulders is our new favorite pastime!
For Christmas, we drove back to our hometown for what might have been one of our favorite visits home. We got to spend quality time with our family, eat good food and enjoy the holiday season with our favorite peeps.
In the past week, we’ve made our way back to Joshua Tree, where we discovered SNOW! The entire National Park is covered in crisp white snow, and we’ve had a blast traversing the trails and building snowmen.
Looking back, I know that we’ve condensed a whole lotta adventures into one teeny blog post! (And I also realize that I have a lot of destination posts to catch up on!) It’s been a wild ride this past year. We’ve learned a lot about ourselves, our family dynamics and how to optimize our travels to work best for our style. We have realized that there’s no time like the present to chase the life you want to live, and that we’ve created a lifetime of memories in a short period of time. We’re so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to travel full-time together, and we look forward to all that 2020 has to bring.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for following along on Our Great Big Adventure. Your support means the world to us, especially as we ventured into unknown territory this year. Having you along for the ride, cheering us on, makes our hearts sing. We hope each of you have a Happy New Year! ???
P.S. Now that you’ve seen where we’ve been in 2019, where should we go in 2020? Drop a line in the comments with your suggestions! ??️
