Spending time with friends, Los Angeles County, California
- Madi/Adam
- Jun 5, 2021
- 6 min read
One of Adam's best friend, coincidentally also named Adam, moved out to the LA area a few months ago. We were driving right past, so we took some time to visit and relax at his house. We explored the LA area, hiking, walking, and eating our way around southern California.
Hiking
Our first weekend in California was spent exploring around Tehachapi, California. Fortunately for us and our hiking hearts, the Pacific Crest Trail runs right along the city. We end one day hiking about 7 miles along the trail with Adam and his girlfriend, Perri. We packed up our little water packs and left after breakfast. We had no idea what this section of the trail was going to be like except that it was in the desert. We had an even less expectation of seeing any thru-hikers. To our great surprise, we saw four thru-hikers getting dropped off at the trailhead when we arrived. We took some time to talk to two of them about the trail. They said that this section of the trail we were going to hike on, north of Tehachapi, was a 30-mile stretch without water. Sometimes trail angels (people who support thru-hikers by giving rides, food drops, or stashes of snacks and water along the trail) refill water caches, but it's a rough section without them. We were just doing a couple of miles so we didn't have any worry about water, but we did keep that fact in our memory boxes for any future section or thru-hike along the PCT.
The second weekend we were at Adam's we hiked in the Santa Monica Mountains near the coast. We found a little parking area in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and hopped on the trail. We ended up doing another 6-7 miles that day in a very different environment. Just a few hundred miles away, the coast had a huge impact on the climate near Malibu. It was green and full of wildflowers, mosses, and interesting lizards. Adam got great pictures while we were there. It was great to get out of the cities and desert and explore a new area. Neither of us had spent much time in this area of California and we got a breadth of experiences on this visit.
Eating
Cooking for four people (the weekend Perri was there visiting) was a new adventure for us. We're used to cooking for two people on one camp stove, most of the time only in one pot. We had access to a full kitchen and a grill. There were some great meals made at Adam's. We made street tacos twice with grilled chicken and salmon, grilled corn tortillas, cilantro, salsa, and onions. We had great breakfasts of egg scrambles and hashbrowns. One morning we even added french toast for good measure. We made homemade pizzas one night and topped them with a bunch of fresh veggies. Adam has a pizza stone and we had never used one before. Not that it would fit in the van, but we were super jealous of the perfect crust the pizza stone helped cook. It was restaurant quality with homemade crust, homemade red sauce, veggies, and large pieces of fresh mozzarella cheese. We were so proud of the pizza that we took a picture with it.
There were also a few great meals from local restaurants! We had thai food twice while we were there. Adam had yellow curry both times and Madi got a pad thai and another noodle dish. We tried the coconut curry soup, egg rolls, sweet cucumber salad, and iced thai tea. We have never really been into thai food, but now it's been a regular craving. We also went out to eat in Long Beach the second weekend we were in California. We went to a seafood restaurant right on the bay in Long Beach. It was delicious! Adam and Adam split a massive seafood platter. Madi had fish and chips. We all got drinks and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
What we miss about house/apartment living
We slept on our mattress in the guest bedroom for most of the stay. This area of California gets super windy in the summer months so it was a little tough to sleep well in the van. The house didn't rock in the wind like the van, so we simply drug the mattress inside and slept there. We were away from the van for about 10 days and we discovered that we missed a few important things about living not in a van.
Having a full kitchen. Adam loves to cook and he was overjoyed with the full kitchen we had access to. We've made some great meals in the van and vanlife cooking isn't boring or bland. But we don't have a multi-burner stove and oven that can be going at the same time. We don't have room for a charcoal grill in the van. These things just don't go along with living in a tiny, mobile house. It was really nice to be able to make a mess while cooking pizza dough and not be scared of the bugs that would invade the house (as we would be in the van). It was nice to have multiple pans cooking at once so no part of the meal was cold when it came time to eat (like sometimes happens in the van).
Having a yard for Acadia. Traveling and being in the van often means we take Acadia on walks or hikes on trails and sidewalks. Leashes are required in nearly every place we go. We can't really just open the door and let her go outside on her own for house. We were able to do that on this visit. She loved the freedom of wandering out to the backyard, enjoying the sun, and then wandering back inside whenever she wanted to. We loved it because we didn't have to keep her busy and entertained all day.
Solid internet connection. We got so much work done at Adam's! While he was at work, we would both do our own work. Adam did photography editing and his yoga teaching training course. Madi did work on her thesis. When we get internet while on the road, we soak it up and do as much as we can. However, public internet is not always the fastest speed or the highest reliability. We had access to a home internet system and we both able to get work done that requires high-speed processing. It was the most productive week either of us has had on the trip so far.
What we missed about the van, being in a house
That being said, there were some things we quickly missed about the van, being away from it for so long. Most of these might seem trivial or even weird if you don't live in a van, but think of it as living out of your house for an extended period of time.
Having everything you need in arm's reach. In a van, everything you need to live is in a very confined space. This is great when your pen runs out of ink, or you want to make some more coffee. We frequently would have to go to the backyard where the van was parked to grab our clothes or water bottle. The convenience of everything being close by was lost in the house because it wasn't our house; our house was parked in the backyard.
Knowing where everything is. Everything has its own spot in the van. We missed knowing where all of our stuff was when we needed something. Sometimes we would look for our mugs and spend five minutes walking the house and yard trying to find them. In the van they would have been hanging up where they always are. Our toothbrushes and toothpaste are always right by the sink. We brought our stuff inside and then there were five places those two items could have been.
The challenges of living off-grid. This might be the weirdest thing we missed. We live mostly by the sun for our electricity. If we drain the batteries, we can't plug any electronics in until the solar panels recharge the batteries. It was quite strange having access to unlimited electricity at all house of the day. It just seemed too easy. We missed having to time our charges to match up with sunny days.
We enjoyed our time in California with Adam and Perri. It was great to catch up with friends after a year of not really spending time with anyone outside of our family. There were lots of laughs, stories, and memories shared. Thank you for letting us take over your home, yard, and kitchen for the two weeks we visited. We can't wait for our future adventures with friends! For now, we continue our journey north to Lake Tahoe.
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