Two girls car camping in a Tesla from SoCal to Canada; Here's how it went.

This summer I was afforded an incredible opportunity to take an 8-week sabbatical from my job. I feel spoiled even just typing it out. My work is so meaningful, and it's also very all consuming, and I don't often get the chance to just simply take off and do something spontaneous. So this summer, with all the talk of selling off public lands, I decided to get in every last opportunity to see the world, and spend a little time with my eldest daughter. We took a road trip all the way from the So-Cal coast up to Whistler, Canada. It was one of the best decisions I could've made.

Here's how we mapped it.

First, we started off with a few values in mind. The most important one was to take it slow and see more. The goal wasn't just to get to Canada (although it was the longest part of our stay); it was to see the beauty around us. With that in mind, we decided that we'd drive a maximum of six hours a day. That of course made the trip a lot longer, but it gave us the opportunity to really stop and see the things we wanted to see.

A few other things on our wish list: gorgeous coastlines, cute towns, waterfalls, mountain views, giant "wood trolls," some Gravity Falls Show fan-stops (for my daughter), and fun overnight stays. While we've gone along on some hardcore overloading experiences in the past, that wasn't our goal this time. We chose campgrounds that had more amenities (like toilets), and RV spaces with charging abilities. The stops:

OC > Malibu, CA > Solvang, CA > Santa Cruz, CA > Folsom, CA > Mt. Shasta, CA > Sheridan, OR > Issaquah, WA >Whistler, BC > Oregon coast > Redwoods > Home.

Since I took this trip with my daughter, and neither of us are "hardcore campers" there's a few logistics I wanted to share for anyone who might want take a trip like this!

The Vehicle:

Originally, I planned to take my own SUV, but my husband talked me into taking his tricked out his Tesla Y, and the savings on gas was just not even a fair comparison. It's massively more affordable to charge than to gas up.

So yeah... we CAMPED in a Tesla Y! We got a lot of looks, but it worked out awesome. Before you come at me about E.M.,we bought the car to save on gas last fall (and because it's freaking cool). And, we got it before the founder...well, you all know. I digress. I do not regret it.

Tesla Y has a super cool feature called "camp mode" which keeps the car temperature controlled and keeps the airflow moving. There's also a lot of custom features that Tesla and other companies make to make a cool experience. Like, black out window shades, a fitted blow up mattress, off-roading wheels, a fridge to fit under the back storage area, a platform for sleeping, etc. One of the other game changing things he did right off the bat was to get a "Fruble." It's a custom build drawer system that allowed us to have a streamline camp setup under our bed. I'll get to that in a second.

A note on charging: One thing I will say about car camping in the Tesla is that since we normally do overnight charging for daily driving, I was not prepared for how much time we would need to set aside for charging. While the Tesla Nav app does an excellent job of helping you map out your trip based on the locations of the superchargers, it takes a lot more time out of the trip than I was prepared for. Also, don't make your evening stop your final destination. Instead, make your final destination the NEXT stop, and make sure you build in plenty of cushion charge you'll need for camping. Each night we used about 15% charge to camp.

I got myself into a bit of a pickle driving through the Redwood Forest where chargers are SLIM, and just BARELY made it to a trickle charger (there are no superchargers in a VERY long span there). I ended up having to sit there for hours to get a very small charge.

Our Setup:

All packed in, it's a bit of a mess but it all fit great.

How it looked at night once we got the bed all set up. You can see the Fruble drawer underneath the platform and mattress.

Now that I've shared all the nitty gritty of preparing our car, here's what our trip was like... it was TRULY epic. I will take this one to the grave!

The TRIP!

Without further ado, here's it ended up going;

Day 1: OC to Malibu, landing in Solvang - 2.5-3.5 hrs

• Have lunch in Malibu
• Stop at Point Dume or Leo Carillo Sea Caves
• Have dinner in Santa Barbara
• Sleep at the cottage in Solvang

Day 2:  Solvang to Sunset Beach Campsite (Watsonville, CA)- 3.25 hrs

• Hang in Solvang
• Go to a Danish Bakery… Get BB a kringle!
• Nojoqui falls on the way out of town 
• Head towards Carmel by 4:30/5ish to get to the campsite before/at dark
• Drive along Big Sur- see if you can stop at McWay Falls in Julia Pfeiffer state Burns park (we didn't quite make it in time... and the road was still washed out, sadly).
• Camp site at Sunset Beach

Day 3: Sunset Beach, to Carmel by the Sea to Folsom- 3.5 hrs

• Breakfast at the beach
• Walk around Carmel by the Sea
• Head to Folsom after lunch
• Hanging w/ Besties in Folsom for the night

Day 4: Folsom to Shasta (Weed, CA) - 4.5 hrs

• Check out Shasta
• Check in to Roca Ranch camp by dinner
• This campsite was SO cute we decided to just hang out here! There was a darling little garden, a hammock and picnic area. Plus, our views were gorgeous.

Day 5: Weed, Ca to Sheridan, OR - 5ish hrs

• Stop off at the Oregon vortex 
• Check in to HipCamp shack
  • This drive ended up taking quite some time. We got into our site late, and decided to crash and head out early.

Day 6: Sheridan, OR to Issaquah, WA - 4.5 hrs

• Paul Bunyon statue 
• See the Jakob two trees troll

Day 7: Issaquah, WA to Whistler - 5 hrs

• See Snoqualmie falls
• Get across the border, and check in to our hotel

Day 8-11: Whistler

• Blackcomb gondolas
• Brandywine falls

Day 12: Whistler to Eugene 8.5 hrs

• DRIVE, SLEEP. This day was simply just about getting as far as we could down into Oregon so we could take our time the next day. Plus, you never know how backed up the border will be, so we didn't make any big plans. We arrived pretty late at night, so that turned out to be a good call.

Day 13: Eugene to Redway, CA 6.5 hrs

• Up early, and out we go! This trip was intentionally out of the way because we had a lot to see! I had no idea the Oregon coast was so breathtaking. HIGHLY recommend!
• Seal caves
• Thor's Well
• See the Big Redwoods
• Drive

Day 14: Redway, CA to San Miguel - 6hrs

• Sleep in, eat & see the final Gravity Falls stop...Confusion Hill.
• McWay Falls was on the list, but... sadly we were tired and decided to just drive home. We were exhausted. Another time!