Food, Booze, & Baggage

Food, Life, Travel

Coachella Valley-RV Adventure

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Our first “official” Airstream trip to test the Airstream out was to Emerald Desert RV Resort in Palm Desert.

I’m dubbing it our first “official” trip because the very first trip for the Airstream was to the Pala Casino RV Resort for 3 days as our first shake down trip.

The Pala Casino Resort was only 5 miles from the Airstream dealer in Temecula, we wanted to stay close in case of issues. Pala was really a very nice resort, but we only went to try out the Airstream. We did go to the buffet while we were there, but no other exploring.

So Palm Desert is really the second Airstream trip, but what I think of as the first actual trip.

We went the first round for 3 days in the beginning of December, had an issue with the Airstream batteries overheating, so we had to cut that trip short (it ended up being a bad battery). We then went back over the week of Christmas for our first “official, official” Airstream trip.

It was a great week, and the Emerald Desert RV Resort was a nice stay. It has a very nice pool, well maintained property, gym, and nice bathhouse. Also, if you have a dog they had an amazing, large run behind the storage area.

I didn’t capture too many picture of the resort. We lounged at the pool on Christmas Eve, but the rest of the week was pretty chilly weather-wise.

Eats + Drinks

Sandfish Sushi & Whiskey
Great food, good staff, small place. I would definitely recommend a reservation.

Mr. Lyons
We really enjoyed our Prime Rib. It’s a very old school vibe steakhouse. It was a pricey but nice dinner. Though fair warning their dirty martini was not very dirty.

Eureka! (Lunch)
The food was super impressive. I particularly liked the fried mac and cheese. Good beer selection too. Highly recommend for a nice sit down lunch. Maybe consider a reservation, it got busy quick.

Sherman’s Deli (Lunch)
A very popular Jewish deli, the sandwiches were spot quite good. I recommend calling in your order and just picking it up though (we ended up getting our’s to go to avoid the wait).

Cheeky’s
Yummy little brunch spot that has been on our list forever (but both our prior trips it has been closed). They have a bacon flight, good flavor but not wowed by it. Unique offerings we had a breakfast tamale and oxtail fried rice. Warning their “pickled” green beans, in the bloody mary is actually vodka soaked not pickled.

Lulu California Bistro
Super big space, and they take brunch reservations (yay). Good meal, good michelada even though it’s not listed on the menu (I spied it on another table).

Coachella Valley Brewing Company
Good beers, just check the abv they had some high ones.

Draughtsman
Super nice space, good beer list and cocktails. We did have the pimento cheese and that was good, but that was all we ate there, just drinks.

Hikes + The Great Outdoors

Joshua Tree!!

It’s amazing, such a different landscape. We did 3 different hikes in Joshua Tree (two the first round in early December and one December 26th).

Hi-View Nature Trail (1.3 Miles–Loop)


This was my least favorite of the three, I just didn’t feel like it had the same views as the other two, it’s on the edge of the park so you don’t have the weird rock formations that the other two hikes had. It’s listed as High view on the link, but in the joshua tree park hike list it’s listed as Hi-View.

Barker Dam (1.1 Miles–Loop/Flat)

Super easy hike, really it’s all very flat and wide trail, it’s more of a walk. You do in fact see the damn, lots of joshua trees and rocks to see. There are some other trails that you can take to make this longer but we stayed on the loop.

Ryan Mountain (3.3 miles total–Up and Down–1500ft elevation gain)

This one was intense because it was COLD and WINDY. Once we got to the top the wind was whipping making it crazy cold. The views were really nice, but this one was definitely a work out, but not too too challenging (and I’m out of shape).

Coachella Valley Preserve

McCallum Pond (2 Miles–Loop/Flat)

Super easy “hike” to see the palm oasis. Pretty cool to see the massive palm trees. Beware the water does smell and I’m sure in the summer months it’s much smellier. There are other more challenging trails in the same area as well.

I highly recommend a trip out towards Palm Springs/Palm Desert/Joshua Tree. We saw a TON of RVs on our trip in December, the particular park we stayed was filling up fast by the end of Christmas week so make a reservation.

We really liked staying more in the city and just driving up to Joshua Tree, rather than staying in the Joshua Tree area. This way we could take full advantage of eating and drinking (and taking a Lyft). It was about an hour drive to get into Joshua Tree from Emerald Desert.

Also near Emerald Desert was a Bristol Farms grocery store, which is really nice. Tons of prepared foods if you aren’t in the mood to cook but want to eat in. There are several other grocery store options near there as well (like Ralphs and Vons). Plenty of other stores to fit any needs too. On set-up/arrival day we went to Panera for an easy easy dinner on a long day (can’t beat broccoli and cheese soup). This might become a tradition.

You’re Going To Live In An RV!?!

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Yes, we are have decided to go totally outside the box of life (once again), give up a permanent residence and live in a RV for at least a year. How did this come about?

It’s really a short story for what feels like a big change in lifestyle and a huge shakeup of routine and everything we know.

In April of 2018, we went on a wonderful trip to Denver to see our friends. I could not have asked for a better trip, we dined, we brewered (wined is a word, maybe it should be we beered?) , we did all the things we love and it was great.

On the flight home I got to thinking about all the things we want to see or say, oh next time we should do this or that on a trip. P and I rarely get out of the city when we visit anywhere (because much of our favorite things are in cities) but we also enjoy hiking and seeing the views of unexplored (to us) places.

I believe life is what you make of it. While we enjoy a wonderful life, our normal daily routines could only allow us so many new experiences, so many new places to explore. There is only so much time and money to go to new places (or to go to old places to see old friends-#thestruggleisreal).

Driving cross-country definitely awakened a desire to see more of the American landscape. It was amazing to see all the changes in landscape as we drove from NC to CA. And since moving to CA we have tried to do more hiking and get out into nature.

P has always joked about living in an RV, and I was always like umm nope. I’ve never been a camping kind of girl. So while the idea may seemed left-field, it is something that had come up in short conversations.

The Saturday after our trip, after the idea struck me on the flight home. I mentioned to P, what if when our lease is up in 2019 we should figure out how to live on the road for a year. And that afternoon, we were out looking at RVs (no joke).

Now at least one year out of our lives will be constant adventure of new experiences.

For me, such a big change in routine is scary because I don’t know what to expect (and I’m a little bit of a control freak). BUT I’m also so driven by wanting to see and experience new things, and this is the ticket for that.

Of course a ton of research and negotiations happened between that first outing to look at RVs and when I’m writing this (and the research continues, this is a big learning experience for sure).

April idea announced, May we bought the truck, September the Airstream, and in March we hit the road.

Other factors in making this move is that we currently do not have any pets (having lost Eddie in January of 2018 and Sam the year before), our lease was ending and we had discussed maybe seeing if we could move to a new location (depending on P’s work), and the fact that P’s work agreed to him working remotely.

It just felt like the timing was right. I wanted to do it when I felt like we can really take advantage of the adventure; when we are physically able to explore and hike. If not now, when?

I’m not sure when (if) we reach retirement age that we will be able to explore so freely (plus none of us are guaranteed that anyway). We both have seen too many people say, “we will do that when we retire” and one or both don’t make it to retirement.

Are we incredibly lucky and privileged to be able to do this now? YES! But part of that is realizing that nothing changes unless you make the change, unless you ask if it’s doable and take the steps to make it happen.

Here are a few common questions about this whole adventure:

Are we getting rid of all our stuff? NO. It’s all going in storage, however we had already tagged quite a few big pieces to be replaced when we moved next so that cuts down on some of what we will store.

Are you working? YES. We are both still going to work full-time, and we aren’t traveling each week. Most places we will be staying a month to a few weeks so that we can enjoy the location and the travel won’t be disruptive to our work week. There was a lot of research that has went into how to make sure we stay connected on the road.

How can you afford it? Given what we pay in rent + car payment + utilities already, the budget for our monthly expenses living on the road is roughly the same (maybe a little less). Since we are not maintaining a house that big expense goes to the rv payment and rv park rentals. Plus see above, we are both working, it’s a new way of life not a vacation.

How will Philip brew beer? He won’t. He’s going to have to hang up his brewing hat for our life on the road. But if he’s lucky he gets to visit even more breweries than we have already. 馃槈

No matter what it will be an adventure. We might hate it and can’t wait for the year to be up (also by the way that’s a pretty arbitrary deadline set my me but I feel like we need to stick it out for a year). We might love it and make it two years (or more?!?) We might fall in love with a place we visit and never want to leave.

As I’ve said before and I’m sure I will continue saying, probably well into the trip I’m excited and nervous, and can’t wait to share the adventure! I guess I’ve really taken to heart “all the places you will go”.

A Brief History of 2016 to 2018

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It truly does not seem like the last time I posted here was in 2016. 馃槼 I totally know I could just jump right into the new stuff but I feel weird not giving a little of a life update first. So here goes a very brief history of M + P from 2016 to the end of 2018.

We said goodbye to Sam and Eddie

Our biggest change is that both Sam and Eddie have passed away. I miss them both so much every day, it’s so hard not to have them with us. They were such a big part of our lives.

Sam died at the end of June in 2017. He had cancer, and we had to have him put to sleep. However, we lived 3 months longer than expected and we got to spoil him and he actually acted normal and health (just got tired easy) until the end. He just loved life so much and was so happy.

Eddie died in January of 2018. Losing Eddie as so heart-breaking. I miss Sam of course, but Eddie was my constant companion since I was 21. He slept with me each night, he would sit on my desk or beside me as I worked, he laid on top of me when I was sick or had been away for any amount of time. He died unexpectedly (though we knew he was getting older) of kidney complications (we aren’t really sure what happened and the vet was horrible).

We really do miss them every single day, they have left such a big hole in our lives. We do want another pet (I’m thinking small dog) but we are going to wait until after our new adventure.

Where we lived

So we were still living in University Heights (north park) in San Diego when I abandoned the blog. In 2017 we moved to La Mesa, which is about 7 miles from North Park. It’s a smaller town in San Diego county, not part of the city. It has a little business district called The Village, which we live within walking distance of.

La Mesa Village has a few restaurants, bars, and coffeeshops so we still enjoy an area with walkable amenities but we miss the variety and convenience of North Park.

But THE HOUSE. P found this house for rent and we just fell in love (plus we had friends who lived in La Mesa). The house was built in 1910, it’s been restored, has so much light, a huge kitchen, big fenced backyard, 3 bathrooms, and a walk-in closet with a washer and dryer in it!! It was just too hard to pass up.

Here are a few (not great pictures of the house). I will try to update it with some better ones before we move. Backyard, my office w/ balcony, and the backdoor view into the house.

We love the house and happy we had the space in this past season of life (the animals loved it) and we stayed here for two full years, which for us is a record for us (LOL).

M + P

Things with us are pretty much the same, we still love to try new food, and new breweries. We love to travel but haven’t as much as we would like with the animals being sick and life being busy. Though we have managed quite a few trips, Palm Springs, LA, Cabo, Portland, Denver, Rapid City, NC, Ojai, San Francisco/Big Sur, and probably a few more that I can’t remember right now (see this is why I blog).

I’ve been working hard on building my business and after lots of tears, stress, tons of self-doubt, fear, and all the feelings and mindset stuff I finally feel like I’ve found my footing. I love having my own business, and working with amazing women doing amazing things.

We have met such a great group of people in San Diego and I’m so grateful to the friends we have made here. They are all so supportive, caring, and smart. We had so many fun times. BTW most of them are childfree and I met them because of this very blog.

We celebrated 5 years of marriage in 2018, and it does not seem nearly that long at all. They say time flies when you are having fun. 馃槉

So that’s what has been happening here 馃槀 What’s new with you?

Hello Again, New Adventures Ahead

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It’s so weird to know where to start, to come back to this space and summarize the past 3 years (I don’t even know how it could be three years!).

So let’s start with some of why I’m firing FBB back up and writing this today. The long and the short of it is we are starting a new adventure, and I want to document it.

I never intentionally decided to abandon this space for so long to begin with, I never really called it quits, I just didn’t have the time/energy.

I always wanted to come back to add back in our travels/our adventures/our lives. FBB very much acts as my scrapbooking, it’s a wonderful way for us to re-live our adventures and mark time. Plus I can never remember the names of things so it’s a great resource for me to just tell people to look it up on the blog. 馃槣

I’ll write another post and try to summarize some of what the last three years have held (don’t worry it’s not going to be a novel).

I almost feel like a different person writing this, starting my own business has been challenging, but also a journey of extreme personal growth, and self evaluation. It’s crazy how much I feel like I’ve changed mentally.

But back to the subject at hand, Philip and I are hitting the road to live full-time in an Airstream Globetrotter starting in March. 馃榿 We are both working full-time still and plan on staying mostly on the West coast.

We are committing to 1 year on the road, and then we will see what happens next. 馃し鈥嶁檧锔廇nd I’m going to be documenting it all right here! I’m excited and nervous.

How did this come about? Well, after a trip to Denver in April (which was a great trip), I decided we were never going to get to see ALL THE THINGS. That our time was limited and there was so much to see and do and experience that could never be done just by vacationing.

P use to joke/mention living in an RV years ago. So one Saturday morning, I said what if when our lease is up, we hit the road. And well, now we own a big ass truck and an Airstream.

I hope you will join us for our year on the road. I’ll be sharing some of the logistics of the rv life but mostly the adventure of places to see, foods to eat, and new beverages to try. All the baggage just now fits inside a space smaller than our current bedroom.

2019 the year we live in an Airstream…