I was talking to my sister-in-law the other day about our California adventure, and she asked why I described it as a “once in a lifetime” trip. It was a fair question, especially since I said in the same breath that I hoped we would have a chance to experience a similar trip again! I think I describe it as once in a lifetime because if our recent trip was the only time we’ll have that experience, I’ll have no regrets – we saw everything we wanted to, ate exactly where we wanted to, stayed where we wanted to, and had the weather we wanted. Needless to say, we are grateful. Aside from the weather, our lack of regrets was not by chance, but through a lot of careful planning. So before I get into a full recap, I thought I’d offer a few tips we picked up along the way!

Surveying from the top of Nevada Falls in Yosemite

1. Plan in two chunks. This was our first time planning a point-to-point trip, as opposed to a stay-in-one-place-all-week trip, and as I mentioned in an earlier post, it was a bit stressful! In order to keep the process enjoyable and not get overwhelmed, we found it was best to plan in two chunks:

— 5-6 months out: We opened Google Maps and started a new Google doc, then plotted every town we could possibly visit between Los Angeles and San Francisco, in order. Then, using our initial research, we streamlined our route, chose the towns we wanted to stay in each night, and made our “big” reservations – hotels, flights, rental car. We also brainstormed possible places to eat, things to do, and sites to see in each location. We were pretty wiped out once we had completed this step, so we waited a few months for the next one…
— 1 month-2 weeks out: One day at a time, we filled in each day’s itinerary. We did tons of additional research on each town we were visiting, pored over reviews, narrowed down restaurant options, made restaurant reservations, bought tickets, researched hike trail heads, etc. This all got filed into the Google Doc, too.

2. Gather research. As you may have surmised, we did a lot of research before this trip. I wanted to pass on a few of the resources we used:

— Knowledgeable friends or bloggers. Before any big trip, I always like to check in with my friend Meredith Perdue of Map & Menu! She’s one of the most well-traveled people I know, she’s a great researcher, and she has discriminating taste! Hopefully there’s someone in your life who has a similar skill set :) If not, there is a WEALTH of information on personal blogs – if a blogger you admire lives in the area you’re visiting, search their blog to see if they’ve written about it, or email them if not! Some of my favorite folks who take lots of trips include Meredith, Joanna, Jamie, Jamie, and Jordan.
— Magazines. We like national magazines, particularly Travel + Leisure, and also like to ferret out great regional magazines, like Sunset in the West or Our State for North Carolina. The NY Times 36 Hours series and Design*Sponge’s City Guides are also great resources.
— Pinterest. While a lot of pins of beautiful places lead nowhere, searching the location you’re interested in on Pinterest can turn up great blog posts, articles, and sites to see.
— TripAdvisor and Yelp. John uses TripAdvisor for hotel and activity recommendations and I prefer Yelp for restaurant reviews. Jetsetter is also a great place to find hotels.

3. Bring a dirty clothes suitcase. For our 8 day, 7 night trip, we brought one large checked bag and two carry-on roller bags. Obviously all of the clothes started out clean, but over the course of the trip we converted one roller bag into the laundry hamper, which worked out well to keep things organized.

4. Buy a car charger. For a trip like this, you’re traveling in a car a lot (we drove more than 1,000 miles) and using your Maps app a lot, which drains battery. A car charger is essential.

5. Bring a map. Speaking of your Maps app – a lot of the California coast is very remote, and the cell signal is not always great. If you’re a AAA member, I’d recommend picking up a free CA map from an office before you go for backup.

6. Pack a zip up sweatshirt. The temperature, sun, and wind varied greatly even from stops a few miles apart. We found keeping a zip-up hoodie sweatshirt in the backseat made it easy to adapt to changing conditions on our frequent stops and explorations!

7. Ignore San Francisco weather predictions except in a very general sense. We traveled all over SF in a few days, and experienced many of the something like 36 microclimates known to exist on the peninsula. Plan to wear many layers, as conditions can vary greatly from street to street.

8. Monitor rental car prices. We initially booked our rental car through Priceline in January for about $500 for the week. John checked pricing periodically for the next few months, and we were able to rebook for $270 about a month out! Definitely worth keeping an eye out.

9. Bring socks for the plane. We took a direct flight from RDU to LAX, which was about five hours. I don’t know about you, but when I’m wearing sandals on a plane my feet always get uncomfortably cold, so I brought a warm pair of fuzzy socks in my tote bag. I may have looked ridiculous, but I was very comfortable! :)

First travel post coming up later this week!

Hopping on the goals train a bit late again this month, but with good reason! We just got home from our California trip late Sunday night (actually, early Monday morning), and yesterday was about getting back into the swing of things. I am bursting at the seams to tell you about our adventures; this trip was truly epic, and worthy of being “once in a lifetime” though I hope I get to experience it again :) I also have thoughts to share about preparing for a trip this complex and some tips we picked up along the way, so I think I’ll share those first as we sort through our many photos.

In the meantime, June goals!

To recap, my May goals:
Install a rain barrel (still part of the plan, but haven’t purchased one yet!)
Take photos of our house and post a tour on the anniversary of our closing (the anniversary of our closing has come and gone, but I’ve taken about half the photos, so I’m calling that a success!!)
Set an appointment with an allergist Appointment is on Friday, and I am nervous!
Address shower invitations with newish nib skills Sent! Need to take a few photos so I can share.
Hang art in the kitchen Done! Will share soon, as well.

June goals:
— Install a rain barrel
— Finish taking house photos and post tour
— Finally buy Cuyana bag
— Hang new mirror in our powder room
— Finish preparing for and co-host a baby shower and a few other very fun events
— Pay off our second car loan and celebrate becoming debt free aside from our mortgage!
— Set a date for our Blacksburg adventure

If you’ve posted your monthly goals, I’d love to take a peek!

As we’ve discussed before, our friends are busy. We are busy. Yet, we still like to get together and do things. We often use Doodle to coordinate multiple schedules for things like dinner parties, but sometimes it would be nice to just be able to get together, simply, casually, without all the crazy organizing and calendar consulting. (Not complaining – any amount of wrangling ends up being worth it in the end with these folks!)

Tacos and cheerwine – always a good excuse to get together with friends

I have an idea I’m going to try out this summer, and I wanted to pass it along! Mind you, I haven’t actually implemented it yet, so it could be a total flop, but hopefully it’s not. Basically, I’m going to consult my and John’s calendar at the beginning of each month, then send out an email to our ten or so couple (and single) friends, giving them a heads up on casual events we’re planning to attend. I’ll let them know there’s no need to RSVP, but that if they decide to go (even the day of!) they should text us so we can look for each other. I’ll keep it to group activities with little to no advance planning required – things like outdoor movies and free concerts and local peach festivals, or maybe even blueberry picking or a hike, if we’ve got plans on the books. Summer abounds with options for casual get-togethers!

I hope this will be a win-win-win situation: they don’t have to feel bad if they can’t attend, we’ll still have fun even if we’re the only ones that end up going, and some of our friends who were previously unknown to each other might end up meeting! I’ll let you know how it goes.

P.S. Can’t find things to do? Try this post.

Remember in this post when I mentioned I wanted to start making my own buckwheat waffles/pancakes for breakfast? Well, I found a recipe that’s been working wonderfully, and I wanted to share it! It’s from Goop, though I made a few modifications.

Ingredients:
— 2 1/4 cups whole milk
— 2 tablespoons lemon juice
— 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
— 2 tablespoons maple syrup
— 1 cup buckwheat flour
— 2 teaspoons baking soda
— 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
— 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
— 1 teaspoon salt
— 3 seriously ripe bananas (I recommend they be pretty much black – mine sat on the counter for about a week and a half)

Preparation:
1. Mix all the wet ingredients together in a small bowl (including bananas – just mash them roughly with a fork).
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a slightly bigger bowl.
3. Add the wet to the dry and stir just enough to combine – be careful not to over-mix (that’s how you get tough pancakes).
4. Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium-high heat (we use our Griddler, which we love – no need to use any oil or butter, and you can make 4-6 at a time!). Ladle as many pancakes as possible onto your griddle.
5. Cook for about a minute and a half on the first side, until the edges begin to firm up and the surface is spotted with small bubbles. Flip and cook for about a minute on the second side.

My version is doubled, because I like to make a big batch then freeze them for a quick breakfast before work. If you’d like to freeze them, too, I recommend lining a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper, then arranging the pancakes in a single layer. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for about two hours, until they’re firm, then peel them off the paper and store in a gallon freezer bag. I cook two for about a minute in the microwave and eat with maple syrup or apple sauce!

Seriously, y’all, if you like bananas, these are AMAZING! So light and fluffy, moist, and just absolutely delicious. They puff up beautifully on the griddle and freeze really well. I actually find myself getting out of bed earlier in the morning because I’m looking forward to eating them :)

What do you eat for breakfast? Do you like banana things? I feel like bananas can be very polarizing – people either love them or hate them.

P.S. The photo above is not of these pancakes – it’s an instagram my friend Samantha took of her Sunday morning breakfast, and I appropriated it because I thought it was so lovely :)