Mount Whitney!

Located in the Sierra Nevada in California, Mount Whitney is the highest peak in the contiguous United States at 14,505 feet above sea level. It’s been a dream of mine the past few years to summit it and we finally got to make it happen! After losing out on lottery permits the past few years, I was so lucky to score one when the “unclaimed permits” were released on May 1st. After a few moments of “OMG, are you serious?!”, I quickly booked flights, an open campsite at the Whitney Portal Campground, a hotel, and a rental car, and we we were basically all set for our late July trip to summit the highest mountain in the lower 48 states. Let the training begin, right?! Haha, yeah, about that. It is highly recommended that you do some sort of physical training before attempting this hike, and while we had good intentions for some physical preparation, the summertime/life/laziness got the best of us and before we knew it, it was the end of July.

We landed at LAX around noon on Thursday, July 28 with the plan of picking up the rental car and driving the four hours to Whitney Portal Campground where we would have a few hours of daylight left to set up camp. Well, Derek and I arrived at LAX, but Derek’s bag went to Dallas (*facepalm*). Thankfully, Southwest was able to put it on the next flight to LA, which would have the bag arriving around 3PM that afternoon. It certainly wasn’t the end of the world, but it was going to have us getting to our campsite way later than anticipated. I guess the timing worked out okay though because it took us over 2 hours to pick up the rental car from Avis so by the time we got the car and headed back to the airport his bag had arrived. We battled horrendous LA traffic, stopped at Whole Foods to grab dinner to go, and made the beautiful sunset drive to Lone Pine where we arrived at the Whitney Portal Campground around 9:30PM. I would have loved to have spent more time at this campground because it was absolutely beautiful and peaceful, but we had to pack up and hit the trail in the morning. Since it was a short trip, we opted to go stove-less and cold soak our food instead. We moved our rental car to the overnight parking and enjoyed our cold oatmeal in the parking lot before headed towards the infamous wooden portal that signifies the beginning of the Mount Whitney Trail. After taking our WAG bags from the WAG bag dispensary we were ready to go! You are required to pack out all human waste once you enter the Whitney Zone (Please remember to Leave No Trace!).

The trailhead starts at an elevation of about 8,600 feet and we would be hiking up to Trail Camp at 12,000 feet where we would sleep for the night and then summit the next morning. I kid you not, less than two miles into our ascent I got dizzy. I immediately got discouraged because I figured it was the altitude so I thought there would be no way I’d make it to above 14,000ft if i’m struggling at 9,000ft. I think I just needed to eat something though because after some Swedish Fish and Nuun (true hiking staples) I was good to go. The rest of the way felt challenging yet manageable as we marveled at the scenery. We stopped for lunch just after a meadow and filtered water from the cold, flowing creek. It was a warm day but i’ll take the dry heat over the Tennessee humidity any day!

As we got close to Trail Camp the weather looked a little threatening. The clouds rolled in and the wind really picked up. It started to sprinkle when we were a few hundred yards away so we booked it and found a spot to set up camp just as it really started to come down. As we were setting up the tent it started to hail so we tried to move even faster. Everything was pretty much soaked as we got into the tent and listened to the storm blow through. It was only a little after 3PM but we were ready for our cold-soaked couscous with crispy onions and sun-dried tomatoes. I think the final push to set up camp at high elevation really wiped Derek out so he pretty much fell asleep around 5PM. The sun had come back out and the temperature felt great. I was actually feeling pretty good from an altitude standpoint (or so I thought)…

Let’s just say it: I had the “bubble-guts” (IYKYK). I used the WAG bag more than once, and it was a sleepless night to say the least. We hadn’t even set an alarm and just said we would just get started to the summit whenever we woke up, but after hearing multiple groups leave at various times between midnight at 2AM, as soon as the clock struck 3AM I woke Derek up, told him about my stomach problems, and told him we might as well get going because it was going to be a rough climb. Since the trail goes up and comes back down the same way, we were able to leave our tent set up, leave a bunch of our gear at Trail Camp, and just take a light pack up to the summit, which ended up being a lifesaver. We set out in the pitch dark with just our headlamps and the stars guiding us as we headed for the 99 switchbacks.

I think doing the majority of the 99 switchbacks before the sun started to come up was the way to go from a psychological standpoint. 99 switchbacks are quite daunting, and not being able to see how far we had gone or how far we had left was super helpful, especially since I was still dealing with excruciating stomach pain that had me stopping at nearly every switchback. It was a slog up to Trail Crest and thank God for my husband who carried the pack the whole way up since carrying it was irritating my stomach even more. Also, shoutout to Spring Energy gels because they were literally the only thing I could stomach. Once we hit Trail Crest our spirits were lifted as we got the respite from a short downhill section. We passed the intersection for the JMT and saw all of the thru-hikers’ packs lining the trail as they leave them while they make a quick side trip to the summit. We continued on, not realizing that we still had quite a ways to go. The views were incredible though, with Guitar Lake right below and the true backcountry of the high Sierras in the distance.

The final section is pretty short but steep and I was really needing to use the WAG bag again but everything is so exposed and there is basically no privacy. Just as I was starting to get discouraged a hiker on his way down passed us and said, “You guys are right there! There’s the hut! There’s the margaritas and mai tai’s.” While obviously there were no margaritas or mai tai’s, that was the positive boost I needed, and low and behold, the hut came into view and we were at the SUMMIT OF MOUNT WHITNEY!!!!!

We did it! We climbed the highest point in the contiguous United States. The feeling of accomplishment (and the views) were absolutely INCREDIBLE. We felt like we were on the top of the world (I mean, we literally were on top of the lower 48 states). The sun shinned down on us as we soaked in the 360 degree views from 14,505 feet. We even got to FaceTime my dad, which was so cool! A truly amazing summit moment.

After signing the registry, checking out the hut, and spending some time at the summit, it was time to make our way all the way back down to the car at Whitney Portal. It was so crazy to see people almost at the summit that had started at the Portal that morning instead of camping overnight like we had. Mad props to those people because that is HARD. My stomach instantly felt better on the way down. I don’t know if it was the altitude, or anxiety about the altitude, or both, but I still have no idea how I made it to the summit that morning on just 200 calories and determination. Descending the 99 switchbacks felt like a breeze compared to the ascent, and before long we were back at Trail Camp to pack up our tent and the rest of our things. I still didn’t have much of an appetite and my crusty lips told me I was rather dehydrated, so I had a plain tortilla and some water and we carried on, knowing we still had six miles back to the car. It was a long and hot descent, the sun baking us the entire way down. We just tried to make it back to the car as quickly as possible because we knew we had a long ride ahead of us. I didn’t really take any pictures on the way down. The clouds rolled in and thunder started in the distance when we were about two miles from the end. The sky opened up on us when we had under a mile to go and we came through the wooden portal in a full on downpour. But we had officially hiked Mount Whitney!

First order of business was to dispose of our WAG bags in the proper human waste receptacle just past the trailhead. Then we checked out the gift shop and changed out of our wet clothes. We headed straight for McDonald’s in Lone Pine where we got celebratory burgers, fries, and chocolate shakes before starting the 4 hour drive to Las Vegas, by way of Death Valley where we had to out-drive a flash flood warning during sunset. We arrived later than anticipated at our airport hotel, well after 10PM, and after re-organizing and packing our bags and getting a few hours of shut eye, we were headed to the airport at 3AM for the first flight back to Nashville: truly a whirlwind of a weekend.

As we were driving out from Whitney Portal, we were noticing all of the tall mountains in the distance and we were just like “hey, we climbed higher than that one, oh and that one, oh and every mountain in the lower 48 states.” It was a pretty cool feeling knowing what we had accomplished. We obviously had the goal of making it to the summit, but we were keeping it super realistic since we live at only 600ft above sea level, and hadn’t really trained for Whitney, so knowing what we pushed through to accomplish our goal was incredible. I’d say this experience was the textbook definition of Type II Fun, which REI describes as “miserable while it’s happening, but fun in retrospect.” Miserable might be a stretch, but it was for sure the hardest thing we have ever done and my stomach issues sure didn’t help. I would do it again in a heartbeat and would hope I’d be feeling better the second time around to be able to appreciate it more. I’d probably even try to get a permit to camp twice (the night before the summit and then the night after the summit), just to really be able to soak it all in. On the other end of the spectrum I think it would be cool to do the whole thing in one day just for the heck of it, but I personally think I need the extra time to enjoy it. Regardless of what your dream is, I hope you chase it, and if you ever get the opportunity to hike Mount Whitney, I hope you take it!

Until the next adventure…

-x0 Lia

The Timberline Trail- Mt. Hood

This post is long overdue, but I literally still think about last summer’s perfect backpacking trip every day. My husband and I hiked the Timberline Trail, a 41 mile trail that gains approximately 10,000 ft of elevation as it circumnavigates Mt. Hood, Oregon’s highest peak. We were blessed with 3 nights and 4 days of perfect weather for our journey. We opted to fly into Seattle instead of Portland because it was way cheaper. We landed in Seattle on a Monday afternoon and after a quick stop at REI for some fuel and Chick-Fil-A for some grub we drove the 2 hours and 45 minutes to the Rodeway Inn Jantzen Beach, a cheap hotel just outside of Portland. 10/10 would NOT recommend. Okay maybe that’s dramatic, but it was kind of sketchy so we didn’t even feel like leaving the hotel for a proper dinner and just called it an early night. We woke up before the sun for our 90 minute drive to the start of the Timberline Trail. We stopped at Mama Bear’s Espresso, a roadside coffee stand for some lavender lattes and found the best breakfast burritos at Ant Farm Cafe in Sandy. We drove right through the clouds as we gained elevation on the road up to the Timberline Lodge where we would begin and end our hike. After finding the overnight parking, taking our last bathroom break in an actual bathroom, making a few last minute adjustments to our packs, and signing our Wilderness Permit, we were on our way on the Timberline Trail!

We were immediately amazed by the beauty of the trail and practically had it to ourselves since it was early on a Tuesday. It was a constant mix of uphill and downhill and a few easy stream crossings here and there. We stopped about two hours in to finish our breakfast burritos for lunch in a peaceful clearing surrounded by wildflowers. We passed a trail runner headed the opposite direction and were passed by a PCT thru-hiker, since the Timberline Trail actually runs on the PCT for a good portion.

There were a few more people at Ramona Falls, a popular day hike destination, but we didn’t see many people as we passed the falls after filtering some water and continued on to the Muddy Fork River. We found a great campsite just beyond the river that was hidden by the privacy of some trees and bushes. We set up camp and cooked our dinner- Beef Stew for Derek and Chana Masala for me. We enjoyed a Lenny and Larry’s protein cookie for dessert and played a game of cribbage in the tent before falling asleep to the peaceful sound of the river after a 12 mile day.

It was a chilly morning but we warmed up quickly with coffee and oatmeal as we packed up our site and began what would be several hours of uphill hiking. A portion of the trail is closed from a windstorm a few years ago so there is a detour but we were quickly greeted with several downed trees all over the trail. It became pretty exhausting having to go over and under the obstacles, and was pretty comical at times given the size of our large packs weighing us down. It was a workout for sure but it was all worth it when we came out to a clearing and saw Mt. Hood towering in front of us. It was a perfect spot to take a lunch break and ironically the group that had the same idea was also from Nashville!

We fueled up with tuna salad on a tortilla (a backpacking staple) and dried mangoes and continued on in the afternoon heat. As we made our way around the north side of the mountain the landscape really began to change. There were beautiful meadows with wildflowers and white pasqueflower that looked straight out of a Dr. Seuss story.

We passed Elk Cove with hopes of making it to Cloud Cap for the night since it was still early in the afternoon. Swedish Fish and Haribo Cola gummies fueled us as we pressed on and crossed the raging Coe River. We had been warned about the Elliot River which was still a few miles away, but we found the Coe to be the most sketchy. We got smacked in the face with overgrown brush as we made our way down the slippery rocks to the actual river crossing. There was a rope that we held on to get across safely, but while the water was only about shin-deep, it was fast. Of course it was uphill on the other side with a few more downed trees to straddle; morale was low and the winds were picking up. We plopped down at the first spot we found that resembled a campsite in the middle of an old burned area. It was super exposed and we knew it would be really windy at night so I decided to jog up the trail a little bit to see if anything looked more promising a little further up. Sure enough, we found a perfect spot nestled in the safety of the trees, much more protected from the wind. We quickly set up camp and got the water boiling for dinner. Derek enjoyed Pad Thai while I wolfed down Kathmandu Curry- so warm and tasty after those 11 uphill miles. We split another protein cookie and took a swig of whiskey before getting a good night’s sleep. We didn’t see a single other person that night and it was so peaceful.

We woke up to another brisk but beautiful morning and enjoyed coffee and oatmeal while we marveled at how lucky we had gotten by finding this campsite. We were just short of our mileage goal the previous day so we knew we had a big day ahead of us. We filtered some water from a stream then began the downhill trudge to the Elliot River crossing, the most anticipated river crossing of the trip according to the recent trail reports. I personally didn’t think this knee deep crossing was as intimidating as the Coe, but we were crossing in the morning which is usually the best time to cross before the afternoon sun causes more snow melt. The scariest part was all of the loose rock and gravel on the way down to the river and then the sharp climb out on the other side.

After we made the ascent up past Cloud Cap the terrain really changed again and part of the trail was like walking on a sandy beach, which really took a toll on Derek’s Achilles tendon. We doctored him up with an old makeup sponge, duct tape and a compression sock and we made our way up to the high point of the trail at about 7,300 feet where we stopped for lunch. We enjoyed more tuna on tortillas and had to break out our puffy jackets as the clouds rolled in and the temperature dropped.

It was a pretty long but easy descent from the high point with jaw-dropping views on the way. The sun came back out for the last few miles of our day which took us across another easy stream crossing then into the wildflower fields of Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Area. It was so neat to walk under the chair lifts and in and out of dense patches of forest where the sunlight radiated through the pine trees while birds chirped and the butterflies examined the wildflowers. It was magical and a perfect end to our 14 mile day.

We found another nice campsite and in high spirits we set up camp and prepared our last trail dinner- Classic Spaghetti with Meat Sauce and a nice Cab Sauv which we had proudly carried for the past 37 miles so that we could enjoy on our final evening on trail. We had a Snickers bar for dessert before our last sleep, which ended up being the chilliest night with temperatures in the 30s.

We had a 5AM wake up call so that we could knock out the final four miles of the trail and be back at the Timberline Lodge for our 9AM brunch reservation. We packed up quickly and snacked on Honey Stinger waffles while we walked. The sunrise was unreal as we walked through the meadows and headed downhill towards our final river crossing. The White River was violent and cold but was an easy crossing after we found the trail. We lost some time and had to make it up on the final grueling ascent up towards the lodge. We met a middle-aged German couple who was hiking the PCT and pushing for the Washington border that afternoon (bucket list, yes please).

Just as we got view of the Timberline Lodge with under one mile left, we saw a giant rainbow that was practically at our ending point congratulating us. Not going to lie, I got emotional. It was so beautiful and it felt like such an accomplishment and a blessing that we got four perfect days on the Timberline Trail (and finished in time for our brunch reservation!).

Whatever you do, make sure you plan your hike around the all-you-can-eat brunch buffet at the Timberline Lodge on the weekends. I literally still think about that brunch. We had celebratory Bloody Marys and talked about what an incredible experience the Timberline Trail was. I am so proud of us and I really hope we have the opportunity to visit this beautiful trail again some day soon. We headed to our Airbnb in Portland for a much needed shower and take out Ramen and enjoyed the rest of our vacation.

Until the next adventure…

-x0 Lia

Yosemite, Ho! A Seester Trip

One day back in January I was browsing flights on Southwest as I usually do, when I stumbled across some inexpensive flights to California. After checking the driving time from the airport to Yosemite National Park I texted my sister so see if she would be up for a trip in July. After an obvious yes, we booked our flights and excitedly started to plan our next sister adventure. Knowing that there’s a mad rush of people trying to book campsites at the same time when the reservation system opens up online, and not really wanting to lug all of our camping gear across the country, we started looking at other lodging options in and around the park. Everything is pretty expensive in the area, but we decided that the canvas tents at Half Dome Village (formerly Curry Village) inside the park would give us the most bang for our buck without breaking the bank.

Our flight schedule was a little crazy, but that’s what you get when you book the cheap flights. Monica left DC, had to run thru the Nashville airport to make a connection that then went on to Phoenix and finally San Jose, while I left Nashville, had a quick stop in Denver then on to San Jose. We snapped a quick picture in the Nashville airport then met up again at baggage claim in San Jose. I’ve been told that rental cars have been very difficult to find and are more expensive because of COVID, but we booked the cheapest option, and even though it was a little more pricey than usual, we were very happy with our Nissan Versa and had no trouble renting with Alamo. It was a perfect sunny and 75 degree evening with zero humidity when we arrived in San Jose. We were in awe of how nice the temperature felt. We made a Target run for a few last minute essentials then had an obligatory dinner stop at In-N-Out for some burgers before checking in to the DoubleTree by Hilton in Modesto, CA. Modesto is about two hours from San Jose and two hours to Yosemite. It was a good way to break up the drive and an affordable option without having to spend another night inside of the park. Before going to bed we checked the Weather App and discovered that there would be an “Excessive Heat Warning” with temperatures well into the 100s the whole time we’d be in Yosemite. We decided we’d just try to stay hydrated and be smart and make the best of it!

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We woke up at 5AM to get an early start on our drive into Yosemite so we could beat the heat. We stopped for some coconut cold brews at Dutch Bros on our way out of Modesto. It was Monica’s first time having Dutch Bros and she agrees that it’s worth the hype! As always, we played an epic soundtrack as we drove into the park with music from Jurassic Park, The Gladiator, Thor, and more. (Hit up Monica for all of your curated playlist needs). Because of Covid, Yosemite is operating on a reservation system to enter the park. We were lucky because the reservation for our overnight accommodations at Curry Village and our Half Dome Permit served as our reservation for the park entrance, so we didn’t need to worry about trying to get a reservation to get into the park (but remember you still have to pay the park entrance fee or have an America The Beautiful Annual Pass). I’ve always called Yosemite the Disneyland of the National Parks, just because of how crowded it usually is, but due to the reservation system I was amazed from the second we pulled up to the pay station and there were not any other cars in sight. It was such a unique experience having this beautiful, magical park basically all to ourselves. It’s taken me an hour to drive a quarter of a mile in the park before but we didn’t have any traffic and you could find parking anywhere you wanted, which is typically unheard of. As much as I want everyone to get to experience the park I almost do hope they continue to limit the number of people allowed in at a time because it better protects the trails and the wildlife. We saw three bears in the Valley, which I had not experienced on previous visits.

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We started our hike to Upper Yosemite Falls around 9AM. This trail is approximately 8 miles roundtrip and has an elevation gain of 3,218ft. It’s a good one to test out the hiking legs and lungs as it gains a decent amount of elevation in a relatively short period. We were feeling really good but started to slow down on the final stretch of switchbacks, which were completely exposed and the temperature was rising. There was a nice cool breeze at the top, and plenty of pools to dip your feet in. We enjoyed lunch at the top before heading back down. We were able to help a fellow hiker who was struggling in the heat and asked if we had any electrolytes. Luckily, we both were carrying multiple tubes of Nuun and were able to help the guy out. What we were not carrying, however, was my water filter, which I had half-purposely/half-forgettingly left in the car at the trailhead. I underestimated how much water we would go thru in the heat advisory and Monica ran out on the way down. We remembered seeing a small trickle on the side of the trail heading up and knew we were almost to that point on the trail so we decided it would probably be safe to fill up there. Thankfully a hiker we had been playing leapfrog with on the way up was coming down the trail and I saw he had a filter. He graciously filtered some water for us, even though I joked that giardia doesn’t affect you for a few days, to which a hiker passing by responded “true!” We all had a good laugh.

We headed to Base Camp Eatery near Yosemite Lodge to grab an early dinner and while we were sitting there waiting for our food there was an earthquake (casual, right?). While not uncommon for the area, it was the first one I’ve experienced in Yosemite (my only other one was in Maryland several years ago), and the lady working in the food court said it was the most powerful one she had ever felt. It was a 5.9 magnitude earthquake less than two hundred miles away. We carried on with our cheeseburgers, fries and Diet Cokes (and yes, if you’re following along we did in fact have burgers for dinner two nights in a row…), then headed to Half Dome Village/Curry Village to check in to our canvas tent where we would be staying for the next three nights. Half Dome Village is tucked away in the back of the valley and there are a few traditional campsites, over 400 canvas tent cabins, multiple restroom/bathhouses, the Pizza Deck and other food options, a gear shop, gift shop and small market. The canvas tents are certainly nothing luxurious, but they are a convenient option and we were actually surprised with how clean they were. While there is no heat/AC or electrical outlets, they do have a light and they come with bedding, and there is a bear box outside of each cabin to store all food and scented items. It can get a little noisy at night and since the tents are right next to each other you can definitely hear your neighbors snoring, but it’s so worth it to be able to be right in the Valley, especially if you are wanting to get an early start for your hikes. We had our alarms set for 4:00AM on Friday, July 9th for Half Dome!

Friday, July 9th was definitely the main highlight of our trip. It was the day we climbed Half Dome. The official trail is slightly over 16 miles and has over 5,000ft of elevation gain. The most thrilling part of the hike is the last 400 feet where you use cables to pull yourself up to a final elevation of 8,800ft at the summit. A permit is required to climb the Sub Dome and the cables section, and we were fortunate enough to win a permit during the pre-season lottery. While I had every intention of improving my upper body strength and overall cardiorespiratory fitness before this hike, the trip was here before I knew it and we decided that we would run off of electrolytes, adrenaline, and a prayer. We woke up at 4AM (I was up earlier because I was too excited) and were headed to the trailhead by 4:30 to try to beat the heat as much as we could by gaining as much elevation before the sun came up. We set out into the darkness with our headlamps and our Lenny & Larry’s breakfast cookies. We clapped and sang and danced down the pitch black trail to “Cotton-Eyed Joe” to try to keep the bears away and we didn’t even see anyone else for the first two miles.

The morning light began to illuminate the trail and we put our headlamps back in our packs. We had Vernal Fall completely to ourselves. There was not as much water in the falls because it was later in the season, but it was still just as beautiful, and the trail was less slippery than my previous visit. We hiked up the 600 granite stairs to the top of Vernal Fall and then continued thru the forest section to Nevada Fall. We caught up to a few other hikers who had started before us. The temperatures were still fairly cool and we were feeling amazing, making great timing. We refilled our Camelbaks with cold mountain water the top of Nevada Fall (I remembered my filter this time), then made our way around Liberty Cap towards Little Yosemite Valley, catching views of Half Dome towering in the distance.

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The sun was really starting to shine through the pines and the temperature was starting to heat up. There were a nice flat section through Little Yosemite Valley before the steady climb started again in the wooded area. We were staying well hydrated with plenty of electrolytes. We had filled our packs at Nevada Fall and I even carried two of my Sawyer bags with me up to the Sub Dome for an additional 64oz so we could top off before the cables. All together, we were carrying nearly 6 liters of water between the two of us.

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The first glimpse of the cables had us feeling slightly intimidated, but we were excited to get there so we pushed on. You must get your permits checked by a ranger at the base of the Sub Dome, so after we did that we were on our way. I actually thought the Sub Dome felt much easier than I was expecting but it was a steep climb up the granite stairs that are carved into the little dome attached to Half Dome. It’s completely exposed from the Sub Dome up to the summit, where there is zero shade, so we were really going through our water at this point. Once you get to the top of the Sub Dome you see this giant granite monster, Half Dome staring you right in the face, as if it’s some big opponent you must face. You notice a lighter shade of granite along the trail of cables, indicating the balding of the rock from the thousands of people that have climbed up and down half down that same route before you. You question your sanity. Monica was freaking out. I had a moment of “well this looks worse than I thought it would be.” I just figured that all of the YouTube Go Pro videos that I had watched leading up to this had a distorted concave view that made it look more steep than it actually is, but I can assure you that it is actually that steep or more.

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We put our gloves on and began the climb with Monica leading the way. The same cable route is used for hikers to go up and down, but luckily since we got an early start there was no one trying to come down while we were ascending. Once I got a few steps into it I found my groove and didn’t think it was scary. I think Monica will tell you differently. I knew what a huge physical, mental, and emotional accomplishment this hike would mean to both of us so I tried to encourage her as best as I could, while also reminding her that no one is making her do this and we could turn around at any point. Well she dug deep and she climbed Half Dome! We both did! After a brief release of emotion at the top, we enjoyed 360 degree views of the Valley and the High Sierras. It was an amazing accomplishment. Now all we had to do was make it down…

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I believe that coming down the cables was easier than going up. Monica disagrees. In fact, she hated coming down the cables so much that she said she probably wouldn’t do it again (okay, she strongly said that she will never do it again, but never say never, right?). By the time we were coming down after spending an hour up at the summit, there were a lot of people coming up the cables which made for some traffic jams and increased anxiety. Monica was slightly freaking out, and despite a lot of people telling us that it was easier to come down facing backwards, we both thought that going down forwards felt easier. There were wooden planks about every 10 feet so you could rest and take a breather or let other hikers pass, but some of the planks were missing and there were some steep slippery stretches in between. With lots of coaching we made it down the cables in about an hour, which is slower than average, but who cares. My biggest advice along the way was “trust your shoes, trust your gloves, trust your body; it brought you up here, it will bring you down.” And it worked.

Once we got to the base of the Sub Dome we knew it was still about 8 miles down but we figured this would be the easy part. We quickly realized that we were wrong. The temperature was well over 100 degrees and the afternoon sun was strong. We took lots of breaks and were looking forward to Hawaiian pizza from the Pizza Deck when we finished. As the hours went on though, we started to struggle. We were low on water again but knew we could fill up at Nevada Fall just a little further. Monica was starting to get blisters and I was having GI upset (surely it wasn’t the cheeseburgers I consumed the two consecutive nights prior). After filling up at Nevada Fall we took the John Muir Trail down instead of the Mist Trail that we had come up. The JMT adds a slight amount of distance but it saves your knees from having to go down the 600 slippery stairs on the Mist Trail.

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly about our Half Dome experience:

The Good- We did it. We freakin’ did it, ya’ll. And overall, we had a freakin’ blast doing it! We can do hard things. We were lucky enough to get permits. The effort was well worth it and the views were amazing. We felt amazing hiking up. We were fortunate to have a sunny day with zero threat of thunderstorms. I remembered my water filter and for the most part I feel like we carried more water than most other people and we were well prepared with electrolytes and snacks (Swedish Fish were really good!).

The Bad- Okay nothing was really bad but maybe we could have done without the slight mental freak outs that happened on the cables (haha kidding, seester). The heat was pretty bad. Also, the fact that we had zero appetite for celebratory pizza or beer was bad.

The Ugly- The amount of time it took us is kind of ugly. Like it’s a hard hike and we knew it would take a while, but we did not think it would take nearly 16 hours. Monica’s blisters were pretty gnarly. My feet are ugly at baseline so there’s that. My gastrointestinal upset was kind of ugly. AND MY PEELING SUNBURN ON MY NECK WAS THE WORST. (Please remember to wear your sunscreen, people.) But for real, even though I was super hydrated and overall felt great on this hike, I really didn’t feel great the next day and I really think it was heat exhaustion.

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As we were finishing our Half Dome hike we had pretty much decided that we would not be doing our planned 14 mile hike to Cloud’s Rest the next morning. We headed straight to the Pizza Deck but were too worn out to eat and I really didn’t have an appetite (which is so unusual for me). We took a much needed shower and crashed hard. We really were not as sore as expected waking up, but boy were we hungry. Since I really didn’t have much of an appetite for Half Dome and was probably at a severe calorie deficit, I was ravenous. We got the BEST cinnamon rolls and breakfast burritos from the Meadow Grill and enjoyed iced coffee while the sun rose in the valley. We could tell the temperature was already so much warmer than the day before and we knew that this would be the hottest day of our trip. We decided to head to the Merced River by El Capitan for a dip and to find some shade.

I continued to be pretty hungry so I snacked at the riverside until we decided on a plan for the afternoon. We would drive up to Glacier Point and do some shorter hikes in the area. We headed back to Half Dome Village to grab some lunch (a tuna sandwich, carrots, ranch, and blue Powerade is what I was craving) and it was so unbearably hot that we didn’t even want to be bothered going back to the hot canvas cabin to change clothes so we decided to just scrap the hiking, get in the air conditioned car and drive out to Glacier Point and sit in the shade until sunset. So that’s what we did. No regrets. It was absolutely stunning. I had hiked to Glacier Point before but to be up there knowing that you started at the Valley floor, hiked past both waterfalls, and climbed Half Dome the day before is exhilarating. We video-called our dad and showed him the view and where we had been and he was so proud of us. There were a lot of tourists up there pointing at Half Dome saying things like “Oh I see people up there, those people are crazy,” and Monica and I were like “we did that yesterday!” It was amazing and the sunset was beautiful.

While we were up at Glacier Point we were talking about our plans for the next day and were thinking that if we got up early enough, the 14 mile roundtrip to Cloud’s Rest would be doable before our 4 hour drive back to San Jose. Well as we were talking about this we realized that we weren’t going to make it back down to the Village before the restaurants/food options closed. Well we were STILL hungry from our big hike the day prior, so we pretty much got all of our snacks out for dinner and watched the sunset. Realizing that we really didn’t have any food left, we figured that it probably wouldn’t be wise to attempt the 14 mile hike and if we waited until the grocery market opened then we wouldn’t be starting the hike until at least 10AM and then it would be way too hot. So it was kind of a bummer that we realized Cloud’s Rest wasn’t going to happen this trip but we were super thankful to be staring at Half Dome, knowing that we accomplished the main hike that we were planning for this trip, and it was a good one.

With us not doing the Cloud’s Rest hike on Sunday we took our time getting packed up and out of the cabin. We grabbed breakfast burritos and coffee and stopped at a pull-off by a meadow on the way out of the park and reflected on how great our trip had been, even if the weather had been draining us. We had a four hour drive back to San Jose and stopped at a restaurant to watch the Euro Soccer Finals, which was fun!

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Our flights out on Monday morning were originally scheduled to leave at 6AM but when they got pushed back until the afternoon we decided to splurge on a little nicer hotel than a typical airport hotel. We stayed at the Hayes Mansion San Jose and it was gorgeous. The weather was amazing when we arrived and we sat out by the pool for a bit before discovering that there was a Din Tai Fung close by, a sister trip staple and an obvious dinner choice. We picked that up for takeout along with a pint of ice cream from Salt and Straw and had ourselves a relaxing night before we both slept soundly in our own king size beds. We spent some time in the hot tub the next morning before a delicious pre-flight brunch at Toast, where we shared a savory spinach and mushroom toast and Hawaiian pancakes with a mimosa flight. Yum!

This truly was an amazing, much needed sister trip. Even though Yosemite is typically one of the busiest National Parks, I will continue to go every chance I get because it is truly magical and there is nothing like it. I was so excited for my sister to be able to experience the park for her first time is such a unique way due to the reservation system. And we are obviously beyond thrilled that we had the possibly once-in-a-lifetime chance to climb Half Dome! Of course the high temperatures this week were 75 degrees, but we had the best time and made the best of the heat in the safest way possible. Now we can’t wait to go back to do Cloud’s Rest! Until the next adventure…

-x0 Lia

Wedding Week in Mt. Rainier National Park

So I realized I never gave a proper recap of our epic wedding weekend in Mt. Rainier National Park last August. I’m just going to start by saying that it was absolutely perfect and the ONLY thing I wish would have been different is that my parents could have been there. I know that they were so happy for us though and they loved every picture we sent and all of the calls and video chats we had. I was so thankful that my sister, who was the best maid of honor, could be there with us along with Derek’s family and a few friends. We all flew in on Friday, August 7th for our big day on the 8th (which I have a blog post about). Everyone was then able to stay a few extra days so that we could all explore the park together. We woke up early on Sunday, the day after our wedding, to head to the AirBnB where everyone else was staying to pick up our maid of honor (Monica) and best man (John) for a morning hike with our new friends/anniversary buddies, Josh and Ashley. Back when we were researching things for our big day, I stumbled across Ashley’s Instagram page where I had seen that her and her husband had gotten married on Mt. Rainier a few years ago on 8-8-18 (and we got married on 8-8-20). We instantly struck up a conversation and knew we had to plan to meet up since they were going to be in the park at the same time as us for their anniversary. The six of us did a short but stunning hike to Comet Falls and we loved getting to know our new friends! This was such a unique memory that I’ll never forget.

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After Comet Falls, Derek, Monica, John, and I headed up towards Paradise to meet up with the rest of the family for a picnic lunch before more hiking. It was a beautiful sunny, blue-sky day and our photographer Amanda had even graciously offered to take more pictures of us in our wedding clothes while the mountain was out, but we had decided that our foggy day was so perfect and unique to us. The Paradise area is so amazing because there are multiple trails to choose from so there is really an option for everyone. The wildflowers were in full bloom and the contrast of the lush green forests with the bluebird sky and the glaciers on Mt. Rainier was breathtaking and pictures don’t really do it justice. We hiked part of the Skyline Trail to Myrtle Falls and then explored the Deadhorse Creek Trail, which was initially going to be our ceremony spot before the weather had other plans.

Deadhorse Creek Trail

Funny story: So we had initially planned on getting married on the Deadhorse Creek Trail as pictured above. I know the name isn’t great, but the views were stunning. Well, Mother Nature had different plans as our wedding morning at nearly 6,000 ft of elevation was a total white out. We were literally in a cloud and we could tell the cloud wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. From the time we had chosen Mt. Rainier as our wedding venue, all I had said was that I wanted Mt. Rainier to be in the background wherever we got married. Well, due to the fog that seemed like it was going to be nearly impossible. With that, we decided that it was unnecessary to hike the more difficult Deadhorse Creek Trail and that we would get married on the Nisqually Vista Trail instead. Well, due to the dense fog, we really had no idea where the mountain even was and we thought that we were just in the middle of lush forest and decided to get married anyway. We decided to go check out the trail on Sunday in the sunny weather and were literally awestruck when we came around the corner to see Mt. Rainier towering in front of us in the exact spot that we had said “I Do” just 24 hours earlier. The mountain did indeed witness our marriage through the fog the day before, just as we wanted her to. We snapped a few pictures of us re-creating our day to share with our photographer who got a kick out of it as much as we did. It honestly makes for THE BEST story and I will still never get over how perfect it was. And I am so excited to be able to go back to this same spot for years to come!

Photo Credit: Amanda Vaelynn Photography

We enjoyed hamburgers on the grill, local beer, and leftover wedding treats back at the Tahoma Canyon Home, the AirBnB where everyone was staying and we even played an evening game of croquet before calling it an early night. The next morning we drove nearly two hours to the eastern side of the park. We had another absolute STUNNER of a day, with perfect temps, blue skies, and wildflowers bursting with color. We did the beautiful Naches Peak Loop, a 3.2 mile moderate hike with a few rolling hills. It starts at Tipsoo Lake and provides majestic meadow views of Mt. Rainier and even hits a PCT junction.

We then continued on to the Sunrise entrance of the park, which is actually the highest point in the park that can be reached by vehicle, at 6,400 feet. It was neat to be able to appreciate the mountain from so many different angles and to notice the differences in landscapes between Paradise and Sunrise. Paradise reminds me more of a fairytale and Sunrise gave me the vibe of being on a different planet. Both are entirely epic and unique in their own ways and I honestly don’t think one is “better” than the other. We purchased grab & go meals and beers in the giftshop and fueled up in the parking lot before a short hike up Sourdough Ridge. We didn’t have as much time to explore Sunrise but it’s definitely something I look forward to whenever we go back! It was a long drive back to Ashford but I definitely recommend stopping at Copper Creek Inn for their homemade blackberry pies. We enjoyed a well-deserved spaghetti dinner and blackberry pie back at the AirBnB and everyone laughed at my dorky forehead sunburn from wearing my hat backwards all day.

The next morning we woke up before the crack of dawn and hit the road at 3:30AM to drive to the High Rock Lookout Trailhead. It’s a slow drive, as you have to dodge potholes down a long dirt road in the pitch dark to get to the trailhead. It was so worth it though as the ten of us set out in complete darkness at 4AM with the trail being lit by just our headlamps and the stars. We were all feeling the energy and excitement as we raced up the trail, gaining 1,300 feet of elevation in just over a mile. We made it up the final rock scramble to the fire lookout with plenty of time to get cozy and crack open a 5:45AM summit Rainier beer as the sun started to peek through the cloud inversion, illuminating the sky with shades of pink and orange. I will never forget being able to share this experience with my sister and my mom who we were able to Facetime with a surprising amount of cell service at the lookout. This was such a memorable hike and it felt so special to be able to view our wedding venue from this overlook at sunrise.

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We headed back to the AirBnB and had coffee and leftover blackberry pie (and wedding cake) by the fireplace to warm up from our chilly early morning hike. We said goodbye to Derek’s family, who was setting off on their own vacation, and Derek, Monica, John and I headed back into the park for one more day of exploring. We stopped for some much needed specialty coffee drinks at the Gateway Inn Motel right outside of the entrance to the park. We felt revived after our 3:30AM wake up call. We did an easy two miler to Snow Lake where we dipped our toes in the turquoise glacial waters. We then headed to the Grove of the Patriarchs for a leisurely stroll amongst the giant red cedars. We got the best take out from Wildberry Himalayan in Ashford and enjoyed a some hearty authentic Thali on the deck of the AirBnB. We enjoyed reminiscing on how perfect the past few days had been and were so thankful that Monica and John could be there with us. It was special to be able to spend this time with our maid of honor and best man.

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The next morning we grabbed some roadside lavender lattes on our way to the airport where we would say goodbye to Monica. We had a hotel by the airport since John’s flight didn’t leave until the next morning. We picked up some famous Din Tai Fung to bring back to the hotel for dinner and crashed early. Derek and I would set out bright and early the next morning for the official start of our honeymoon on the Olympic Peninsula. We are so lucky that we had five perfect and beautiful days and were able to show some of our friends and family around one of our favorite places on earth, Mt. Rainier National Park.

Until the honeymoon,

–x0 Lia

2021: Resilience Through Adversity

I know it’s a little late for a New Year’s intention post and you’ve probably come to this blog to read about one of my trips or adventures, but while travelling has been put on hold for some time now and continues to be, I figured I’d take this time and space to share what’s been on my mind (and probably on a lot of others’ minds) lately: resilience through adversity or resilience through trying times. 

My science-orientated brain has always thought of resilience in the physical sense such as an object having the ability to recoil or go back to its original state like an elastic rubber band. If you Google “resilience,” though, you can see that there is much more of a psychological meaning as well. Merriam Webster’s Dictionary goes on to explain that “the recovery that occurs in this phenomenon [resilience] can be viewed as analogous to a person’s ability to bounce back after a jarring setback.” The American Psychological Association adds that “as much as resilience involves “bouncing back” from these difficult experiences, it can also involve profound personal growth.” The past several months have been filled with setbacks and with growth.

Let’s rewind back to the beginning of 2020.  I was living my best life in Nashville, working my dream job as a NICU RN and had just gotten engaged in February 2020.  Fast forward a month and Covid-19 puts a damper on everything, as all Covid brides are aware, I’m sure.  Well, this seemed to hit differently for me.  It wasn’t that I was upset that I wouldn’t get the huge wedding I had dreamed of (because let’s be real, no part of me EVER wanted a big wedding); I was upset that due to my mom’s declining health, I knew it would be impossible for her to travel to Mt. Rainier National Park, which was our dream location for our intimate wedding.  I struggled for weeks with what to do, because obviously I wanted my mom at my wedding.  Other people made it pretty apparent too by saying things like, “Your mom isn’t going?” “Gosh, I couldn’t imagine not having my mom at my wedding,” which obviously only made things more difficult for me.  My mom was adamant that we get married in Mt. Rainier because she knew it was our dream, and though her resilience and my sister’s amazing “wedding planning” skills, we had the most beautiful unity ceremony in my parent’s backyard before we flew out to Mt. Rainier, and it was one thousand percent one of the most perfect days our family has ever had together.

Natalie Deems Photography

People say that the year you get married will be the best year of your life, and while we easily had some of the best months, we were also quickly greeted with some of the worst months of our lives.  About a month after we got married my mom’s health started to further decline and as newlyweds, we started discussing the possibility of moving closer to home to be with family.  We tearfully left our jobs, our friends, and our apartment in Nashville, and anxiously drove to Maryland.  My mom passed away peacefully less than 36 hours after we made it home.  Our family dog passed away three weeks later.  In the blink of an eye, everything was suddenly so different. We had obviously thought that we would have more time with my mom and because of this our new jobs wouldn’t start for another month.  This was the hardest month of my life.  While my dad and sister had started working remotely again, Derek and I were out of work, we didn’t have a place of our own, and the anxiety of having to start a new job in a new city (without being able to call my mom after a bad day) was at an all-time high.  I was not in a good place mentally and honestly I had a really bad attitude about everything and how nothing was fair.  And even though it wasn’t fair that my mom was taken at the age of 60, there were still things to be thankful for. I could not be more thankful for my husband who never hesitated to pick up and move home so that we could be closer to family.  I could not be more thankful for our families and friends for giving us a place to stay and for being there every step of the way as we navigated curveball after curveball.  I could not be more thankful for our jobs as registered nurses, that even in the midst of a global pandemic, we both were fortunate enough to have the job security to be able to pick up and make a move like we did.  Finally, I could not be more thankful for my mom’s resilience and for her instilling that principle in me and that, “when the going gets though, the tough get going.”

During my month’s hiatus from work back in November I had started running more.  I kind of joked around like, “I have no job, I have no money, I have nothing to do and nowhere to be, I have no control over anything, so I’m just going to run because it’s free and I can control it.”  Honestly, it was a great tactic for me.  It was a healthy way for me to process everything that had happened and to ponder the things that were going to happen.  I would run though my little hometown to the cemetery and even let my mom in on some of my thoughts and frustrations.  I’ve kept up my running since moving to DC in December when we finally started our jobs.  Ironically, it was on a run today around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC where my parents got engaged several years ago, that I decided it was time to spill my feelings out in a blog post.  No part of me had wanted to move back home from Nashville, no part of me wanted to leave my job, no part of me wanted to move to a new city and start a new job, and no part of me wanted it to be under the circumstances that it was but it happened, and I did it, and I’m better for it.  I confidently started a new job at a new hospital and have met some really great people along the way.  I’ve taken public transportation and have gotten some extra exercise walking to and from work in the city because it’s too expensive to have both of our vehicles here.  I’ve even bucked up and have gone on runs by myself through the city.  These are all things that the people who are close to me know that I would have never done before.  I’m honestly proud of myself, and I know my momma would be damn proud too.     

So my intention for this season is resilience and to keep growing through all of the changes and adversity that life throws at us. This post is certainly not meant to be a pity party for the things my family and I have gone through in the past year because I know for a fact that everyone has struggled in some way this past year or is still struggling today.  I’ve reflected on this past year however, and have chosen to write this blog post as more of a celebration of my resilience through the adversity that I have faced, and I hope that you all can recognize your resilience and can be proud of how far you have come too!  

                                                                                                                                                                Much Love,

-x0 Lia

Mt. Rainier Elopement: Our Greatest Adventure yet!

I am so excited to recap our greatest adventure yet! On Saturday, August 8, 2020 I married my best friend in Mt. Rainier National Park in Washington State. It was a TOTAL DREAM and I can’t wait to share all of the details with you! When we got engaged back in February we decided that we wanted to get married this calendar year. With neither of us liking big productions or being the center of attention I half-jokingly, half-seriously said, “Let’s just elope to Mt. Rainier.” We kind of chuckled at first but a few days later Derek asked, “Were you serious about Mt. Rainier?” And the rest is history! We quickly began looking into how to make this dream a reality and stumbled across Amanda Vaelynn, who was THE BEST photographer we could have imagined. All of the photo credit in this post is to Amanda Vaelynn. Derek and I love the outdoors and the national parks and have visited several either on our own or together, but Mt. Rainier National Park is the first one that we got to visit together that neither of us had ever visited before, so it is a very special place for us. I cried the first time that I saw it. And the second…

After a perfect unity ceremony in Maryland we took the 6:00AM flight from Washington, D.C. to Seattle and landed around noon. We made some stops along the way to pick up flowers, cake, etc. and then checked into our Airbnbs at the base of Mt. Rainier, just outside of the park in Ashford. It was a busy afternoon and evening but there was so much excitement for the morning! Derek and I said goodnight to each other and I hand-wrote my vows to him before trying to get some rest. I slept for 2.5 hours. My alarm was set for 2:00AM but I was so excited that I woke up at 1:30. My sister, Monica, who was the BEST maid of honor, and I snuck out of the Tahoma Canyon Home where everyone was staying, and headed to The Little Blu, an A-Frame cabin that Derek and I stayed at for the rest of the week. The amazing Jessica Rockwell of Anne Timms Hair and Make-Up showed up at 3:00AM to glam me up! We sipped tea on a cool, dark morning in the cozy cabin and shared many laughs as I got ready for our big day.

While my sister and I were getting ready at the A-Frame, Derek was getting ready for our big day back at the Tahoma Canyon Home about 5 minutes away. Our plan was to meet at Reflection Lake in Mt. Rainier National Park for our first look. Derek, his best man, John, and Derek’s sister, Rachel, who was our amazing officiant were going to arrive about 15 minutes before Monica and I so that he wouldn’t see us pull up. We hit the road for the 45 minute drive right at 5:00AM so that we would be just in time for a sunrise first look. Well, it was pretty foggy. Like, really foggy. Mt. Rainier is notoriously known for usually hiding behind a cloud even on a clear day, so I was maybe disappointed for a split second that it was a little foggy. Monica and I pulled over at one point and she snapped a quick iPhone photo of me in the fog and I instantly became so stoked for how moody everything looked. Derek always talks about how much he loves the classic PNW weather and the alpine trees so I was so excited to get to our first look and see him and his reaction to everything!

Our first look at Reflection Lake

We met our photographer Amanda, and our amazing videographer Caleb in the parking area. They got Derek set up by the lake and then I walked down for our first look. It was a chilly morning and there was so much fog on the lake but we were the only people out there so it was so magical. After our first look we said bye to our entourage (Monica, John and Rachel) who enjoyed coffee and breakfast sandwiches in the warm car, and Derek and I headed up the Pinnacle Peak trail with Amanda and Caleb. Also, ladies- find yourself a man who ties your boot and gives you his jacket without asking 🙂

Pinnacle Peak is about a 3 mile round trip-hike with 1,000 feet of elevation gain. It was SO MUCH FUN to hike in our wedding clothes. We started out in down jackets but warmed up pretty quickly on the ascent. It was peak wildflower bloom and their colors really popped in the fog. Once again, magical. We exchanged personal, hand-written vows on the ridgeline in the fog. It was so special to have this private moment together. We found rustic leather vow books on Etsy that we will cherish forever. We genuinely had so much fun on this hike. Even though our whole day was personal and intimate, it was so much fun to have this time, just the two of us, doing something that we absolutely love: hiking.

Pinnacle Peak Trail

I had actually reached out to someone on Instagram who I saw got married at Mt. Rainier and they happened to be in the park the same time as us celebrating their anniversary. We made plans to hike together on the 9th but we ran into them as we were finishing up the trail. It was so cool! We were running a little behind schedule (which really doesn’t even matter when you’re eloping) so we headed to the Paradise Visitor Center parking area to get ready for our actual ceremony. The fog became more dense as we climbed in elevation on the short drive to the parking area. It was a total white out. We met up with Monica, Rachel, and John to discuss our plan. We originally had planned to have our ceremony on a longer trail, with Mt. Rainier as the backdrop, but with the insane fog coverage, it was clear that the mountain would not be out. Amanda was great and helped us weigh our options to try a different location, wait it out, come back in a few hours, etc., but Derek said “I just wanna get married!” and we all excitedly decided to go for it. After a quick parking lot hair and make-up touch up and a Face-Time to my parents, we were on our way to get married!

We chose the Nisqually Vista Trail in Paradise, which is an easy paved loop, making it one of the most popular trails in the park. We ended up picking a spot at a clearing in the forest, right where the loop starts. We knew that there would be a possibility of people walking past during our ceremony but we didn’t see a single person on the trail the entire time. It was unreal. And it was so special. The dense fog cover provided such a close, intimate feel. It truly felt like a fairy tale. One of my biggest wishes was that Mt. Rainier would be behind us as we were officially pronounced husband and wife, and little did we know, that behind all of that fog, Mt. Rainier was front and center in all of her majesty!

It really doesn’t get better than marrying your best friend in Paradise! After our ceremony, Monica, Rachel, and John headed back to the Tahoma Canyon Home, while Derek and I headed to the A-Frame for our first dance and MOST EPIC champagne toast. We danced to “Prayed for You” by Matt Stell as our first dance. We talked about how much fun we were having on our wedding day, and how happy we were that we chose an adventure elopement that was truly unique to us.

The Little Blu A-Frame

After our first dance and champagne toast we headed to the Tahoma Canyon Home to meet everyone for our reception. The sun was shining and there was a light breeze. In typical Derek and Lia fashion, we had a laid back reception with family and enjoyed pizza and beer. Monica and John gave the best Maid of Honor and Best Man speeches. We are so lucky to have them and are so thankful that they could be there. We ended our reception with our delicious carrot cake and cupcakes from a local bakery. Derek got me good…

Honestly everything about our day was perfect, and magical, and SO US. I think there’s a lot of pressure to plan a big wedding to please other people, and there’s definitely nothing wrong with big weddings, but every single thing about our day really highlighted our relationship and who we are as a couple and I just love that. We thank our friends and family for supporting us so much throughout this exciting time in our lives and we can’t wait to spend forever as husband and wife! Until the next adventure…

-x0 Lia & Derek

We can’t thank our vendors enough for everything that they did to make our day so perfect!

Photographer: Amanda Vaelynn

Videographer: Caleb/Prime Wedding Films

Venue: Mt. Rainier National Park

Cabins: Little Blu A-Frame & Tahoma Canyon Home

Hair & Make Up: Jessica Rockwell/Anne Timms Hair & Make Up

Pizza: Rainier Basecamp Bar & Grill

Beer: Rainier Growlers & Rachel’s Ginger Beer

Cake: Wanna Cupcake

Flowers: South Hill Buds & Blooms

Seattle & The Olympic Peninsula: Mountains, Rainforests and Beaches, Oh My!

When my sister told me she had a conference in Seattle and asked if I had any time available I knew this was an opportunity for another epic seester adventure.  I arrived around 10 PM Tuesday evening, right after my sister’s conference finished, and met her in our downtown hotel to crash for the night.  The different time zone had us both awake at the crack of dawn the next morning so we enjoyed mimosas from our 22nd floor hotel room as we watched the sun come up over the city and made our game-plan for the day.  We took a stroll to the well-known Biscuit Bitch, a grungy storefront with a trailer park atmosphere that serves banging biscuits.  I ordered the Canadian Bitch and Monica went for the Bitchwitch; both were “bitchin'”.  We took a quick Uber ride to Kerry Park for absolutely stunning views of the Space Needle and Mount Rainier on a totally clear and crisp October day.

We then headed to Chihuly Garden and Glass, an amazing glass sculpture garden and exhibit by Dale Chihuly that was well worth the $32.  While pictures are allowed, they don’t really do the vibrant colors and exquisite detail justice, as it is something that should be appreciated in person.  We arrived right when they opened at 10 AM and practically had the place to ourselves.  They had some informative videos and even a live glass blowing demonstration which involved a 2,000 degree Fahrenheit furnace.

 

After Chihuly, we strolled through Pike Place Market and grabbed some dried fruit and trail mix from one of the vendors, enjoyed a refreshing beverage at Rachel’s Ginger Beer and purchased a growler to go.  We opted to wait to pick up our rental car until Wednesday, rather than Tuesday night to save money on parking, so we headed to the Avis rental car place, which was walking distance from our hotel.  It was a surprisingly painless process and we were on our way to the Bainbridge Island Ferry.

A small fee gets you a 35 minute ferry ride across the Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island, with stellar views of the skyline and Mount Rainier along the way.  We checked into the Quality Inn and Suites on Bainbridge Island then hit the town for a few wine tastings.  We first ventured to the Fletcher Bay Tasting Room where we shared a wine flight before agreeing on our favorite and purchasing a bottle of the Barking Dog Red, which came with a great story about the dogs and raccoon on the logo.  We headed down the street to the Amelia Wynn Tasting Room where we enjoyed a red flight, white flight, and cheese board with smoked salmon.  I will honestly remember this experience forever.  The flavors were amazing, the atmosphere was cozy, and we were served by the most cheerful woman with a British accent.  I highly recommend!  We poked around a few shops on Bainbridge Island before calling it an early night back to our hotel to catch Game 7 of the World Series.

We were up before the sun and fueled up on a hearty hotel breakfast (honestly, one of my favorite things about travelling), before heading towards the mountains.  We made a recommended stop at Sluys Poulsbo Bakery for some maple bars and donuts that we saved for a post-hike treat.  We made the sketchy mountain road drive to the Mount Townsend trail head where there was only one other car in the parking lot.  We began the steep 4 mile climb and were rewarded with breathtaking views at every switchback.  This was an insanely fun hike with 360 degree views from the summit of The Olympic Mountains, Canada, Seattle, Mount Baker, and Mount Rainier.

After enjoying some candy corn at the top (hey, it was Halloween), we made a quick descent back to the parking lot for a total of 8 miles.  We FEASTED on Sluys’ maple bars, pumpkin and blueberry donuts, Theo’s chocolate, and Rachel’s Ginger Beer in the parking lot.  It was a truly epic post-hike parking lot party with all of the local treats.

 

It was a 2 hour drive from the trail head to Port Angeles, the largest city on the Olympic Peninsula and the gateway to Olympic National Park.  We checked into our Air BnB which had spectacular views of the mountains, freshened up, then headed to Downriggers for a waterfront sunset dinner.  We indulged a bit here, with hot crab dip for starters paired with a flight of local Port Angeles brews.  For my entree I had the Dungeness Crab and Shrimp Melt and Monica had the Battered Salmon.  We finished with the decadent Homemade Blackberry Cobbler.  Oh my goodness, all of it was YUM.  We were exhausted from our hike (and from dinner), so we called it an early night.

 

We were up with the sun again and started our Friday at Bada NW, a rustic coffee shop in downtown Port Angeles.  We enjoyed some specialty coffee drinks and breakfast sandwiches before driving the 30 minutes to the Storm King Ranger Station for our highly anticipated hike up Mount Storm King.  As the name implies, this hike was simply epic, and we had an absolutely beautiful and clear day to enjoy it.  It’s a relentless, unforgiving 2.2 mile climb up to the final ropes section, where you’re holding on for dear life for the last quarter of a mile (okay, it’s not that bad but make sure you have appropriate footwear).  Once you climb up onto the ridge you are greeted with overwhelming views of Lake Crescent below.  We enjoyed the summit to ourselves for a few minutes before descending and heading to our next destination.

It was an hour and a half drive to the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center where we did the short and easy, yet stunning, Hall of Mosses and Spruce Nature Trail.  Since it was the off-season, there were only a few people seen on our hike through the rainforest in the  afternoon light.  The Hoh Rainforest receives up to 14 feet of rain per year, which is evident by the humidity, lush mosses and ferns, and enormous trees.

As we were getting back to the car we realized that we could make it to the coast in time for sunset, so we high-tailed it to First Beach in Forks, WA in time to watch the sun set and the crescent moon rise over the Pacific Ocean.  After we checked into our Air BnB we headed straight to Pacific Pizza in the tiny, underwhelming town of Forks.  The pizza, however, was delectable.  Hawaiian Pizza and Diet Coke after a full day of adventures made for two very happy girls.  Needless to say, we slept like babies.

Like true Italians, we had leftover pizza for breakfast in the morning before heading to Rialto Beach for a sunrise hike.  It was just our fresh boot tracks and some raccoon tracks through the sand as we headed to Hole in the Wall, a natural arch in one of the many sea stacks.  The sea stacks and giant driftwood are beautiful, and we had yet another perfect blue sky day to soak it all in.  We grabbed Peppermint Mochas at Northwest Coffee Bros, one of the many stand-alone coffee joints in Forks en route to our next stop.  As we made our way down the coast we did a short hike through the woods to get to Second Beach, a much wider and sandier beach then Rialto, and we continued down to Ruby Beach for more dramatic views of the Pacific coastline.  Since it was on the way, we made a final stop at Lake Quinault and enjoyed one last hike on the short but spectacular Quinault Rain Forest Trail.  We couldn’t turn down another coffee, so we grabbed frozen blackberry mochas from Go Dog Go espresso stand in Hoquiam, fueled up, and completed our counter-clockwise loop around the Olympic Peninsula, as we headed towards Sea-Tac for our last night.

 

Monica had been hoping to try Din Tai Fung, a well-known Taiwanese dumpling place while we were in downtown Seattle but we never got a chance.  Fate would have it though, that there was a location out by the airport near where we were staying.  The wait was long (it was Saturday night) and the “hanger” was starting to set in, but oh my goodness was it worth it.  We shared crispy green beans, XiaoLongBao (soup dumplings), vegetable dumplings, and wontons, and reminisced on our perfect trip over dinner and a pot of tea.  We finished our bottle of wine from Bainbridge Island in the hotel room and slept comfortably at the Holiday Inn Express by the airport.

 

It was a long day of travel the next day as I made my way back to Nashville and Monica headed back to D.C., but it gave me a lot of time to reflect upon our trip.  We were so fortunate to have our schedules line up to be able to plan another much-needed sister trip.  We had fully planned on and were prepared to do our adventuring in the notorious PNW rain, but we were literally blessed with the most gorgeous 5 days we could have imagined.  The Olympic Peninsula is insanely beautiful and to be able to explore mountains, rainforest, and coastline all in the same National Park in one trip in perfect conditions is simply unreal.  I think Olympic National Park is very underrated and I hope to be able to return and explore even more of it’s natural beauty sometime soon.  For now though, I’m going to explore and see if there are any dumpling places in Nashville.  Until the next adventure…

-x0 Lia

California Camping Trip June 2019

Derek and I knew that we wanted to plan trips for our birthdays this year.  He was more interested in seeing some cities (see Seatte/Portland blog), but I chose more camping for our June trip.  As always, with our crazy nursing schedules, we had to book this trip kind of last minute (I’m talking, literally got a campsite at Yosemite the day before we left), but everything fell into place and worked out perfectly.  We had a Wednesday afternoon flight out of Nashville with a quick layover in San Diego that had us in Reno, Nevada shortly after midnight.  There was apparently some large convention happening in the Reno that week so unfortunately the rental car that I had booked was no longer available (kind of frustrating), so they offered us a minivan or a Toyota Tacoma instead.  We opted for the truck.

We set out in the darkness for an hour and a half drive towards South Lake Tahoe to Fallen Leaf Campground, one I had stayed at before and felt pretty comfortable finding my way in the middle of the night, or so I thought.  Our assigned campsite was #22.  We drove past campsite #19, 20, 21, then immediately saw #23.  Puzzled, we got out of the car, looked around, and concluded that we must share a driveway with campsite #21 and that the marker must have just been knocked out of the ground somewhere.  We quickly and quietly set up our tent for the “night” and woke up to our alarm clock 3 hours later for our hike.  We were staying at the same campground the next night but since we booked so late we had to move to a different campsite so we packed up and funnily enough as we were driving out for our hike, we found campsite #22 about 20 feet up the road.  (Sorry to the people in campsite #21 who must of thought we were free-loading off their site!)

 It was an absolutely beautiful morning for our 10 mile hike up Mt. Tallac.  We ate a few Honey Stinger waffles in the parking lot, laced up our shoes, grabbed our free day permit, and hit the trail.  I had done this hike before but did a longer but easier climb up the back of the mountain.  This time we would ascend the shorter, but more challenging front side.  I had read several reviews that said the top of the hike is still covered with snow this time of year and that it might be impassable without the right gear.  We figured we’d just go as far as felt safe.  Sure enough, just after Cathedral Lake, we lost the trail to the snow.  We took a snack break on a rock with some marmots while I attempted to pull up the trail on my AllTrails app.  An older gentleman, an obviously experienced hiker, passed us and told us we probably wouldn’t make it any farther without gear.  He wished us good luck as he continued into the snow with his crampons and hiking poles.

   There were a few other groups of people who had made it up to this point by now.  A few chose to turn around but another group decided to keep going so we followed in their snowy footsteps.  It was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.  The trail was impossible to find.  The snow was slippery and if your feet fell though the soft spots you’d find yourself knee-deep at some points.  I can’t tell you how many times I ended up on my rear end.  Derek thought it was pretty funny.  Slowly but surely we made it though the short wooded and snow-packed section and to the impressive rock scramble, pictured above.  This part was not easy, but actually felt less difficult than navigating through the snow.  Once we reached the top of the scramble we still had about another hour long trek though the snow to reach the summit.  The views were absolutely worth every lung-busting effort of that climb.  It was a much easier descent (minus several wipeouts on the snowy part), and we made it back to our campsite mid-afternoon, where we were even greeted by a decent-sized black bear on the way to the showers.  We grabbed juices and veggie bowls at Sprouts Cafe in town and called it an early night.  We got an early start, packed up camp, a grabbed coffee and breakfast burritos (literally the size of my head) at Aplina Cafe, cued up Mumford and Sons, and began our 5 hour drive to Yosemite National Park.

The traffic getting through the pay station at Yosemite wasn’t bad but once we got to the Valley, it was rough.  With it being a Friday afternoon, the first day of summer, and one of the busiest national parks in the country, it’s to be expected and you just have to be prepared with a little bit of patience.  We lucked out with an area of parking spots that had been somewhat flooded and were inaccessible to the smaller vehicles, but thanks to our surprise rental truck we parked with no problems, lathered on some sunscreen and began the 8 mile round trip hike to Upper Yosemite Falls.  It was a tough climb with dozens of steep switchbacks.  Starting the hike at the hottest part of the day on full breakfast burrito bellies definitely slowed us down a bit on the ascent but the views from the top of the falls were incredible.

  We made up a lot of time on the descent and headed to Half Dome Village to use the public showers and to grab some of the famous pizza (and a cold Diet Coke) from the Pizza Deck just in time for sunset.  It was a dark 60 minute drive to Wawona Campground which is located about 25 minutes from the Valley.  I was so lucky to snag this campsite when I called to see about any cancellations the day before we left for our trip.  We set up our tent and fell asleep to the sounds of the Merced River as it flowed just a few feet from our campsite.  It was beautiful.

We took our time getting started the next day.  We drove back into the Valley and grabbed a quick breakfast and some sandwiches and snacks from the camp store to pack for our hike.  We started at the Mist Trail and after some strenuous climbing we were rewarded and cooled of with the mist from Vernal and Nevada Falls.  Since the snowfall was higher than average this year, the waterfalls were flowing with full force.  We made our way along the underrated, uncrowded Panorama Trail soaking in views of Half Dome, Illilouette Falls, and the two waterfalls we had started at before making our way up to Glacier Point for dramatic views of the entire Valley floor.  We made our descent via the Four Mile Trail for a total of 14 miles for the hike.  We were exhausted, having hiked 32 miles in the past few days, and we eagerly made our way to our Air BnB 90 miles away in Clovis, CA.  We enjoyed some Taco Bell on the way and got a good night’s sleep.

We started our day with breakfast sandwiches and iced coffee at On the Edge coffee shop in Old Town Clovis.  It was nice to sit outside in this quaint little town and reminisce on the past few days.  We drove the easy two and a half hours to Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Park.  I knew these parks were close but never really realized that they are actually consolidated into one identity.

We stopped by the famous General Grant Tree before making the long and winding drive into the canyon and to Sentinel Campground.  It was pretty nice to just relax in our hammocks for a bit, as we were still exhausted from the previous days’ activities, but we still wanted to hike part of the Paradise Valley Trail.  We made it a few miles in before deciding to turn around because the trail was too muddy and the mosquitoes were too relentless.  We grabbed a delicious meal from the restaurant in the King’s Canyon Lodge close by and enjoyed it back at our campsite as the South Fork Kings River flowed in the distance.  The smoked trout sandwich, tofu veggie bowl, and wild huckleberry chocolate bar paired with the locally brewed General Sherman IPA was probably the most memorable meal of the trip for me.  It was a perfect night.  In my opinion, King’s Canyon is an absolute hidden gem and is completely underrated as a National Park, since Yosemite is so close by.  I wish we could have spent a few more days to have been able to hike and explore more.  The Copper Creek Trail and more of the Sierra back country is definitely on my list and we will certainly be back!

 The next morning we headed south towards Sequoia, making a stop at the Lodgepole Visitor Center for showers.  We then strolled an easy 3 miles on the Congress Loop and Big Trees Trail where we saw the iconic General Sherman Tree, the world’s largest tree, and other notable landmarks such as The President tree, Chief Sequoyah, and The House, a cluster of fire-scarred sequoias.  The history behind the park and the science behind the effect of wildfires on the trees is fascinating.

We took a shuttle up to the Moro Rock trail head where a short, but steep set of stairs built into the rock led us to a ridge with beautiful 360 degree views of the high Sierras.  Like I said before, I really wish we had been able to spend more time in Kings Canyon/Sequoia because this vista point showed that there was so much more to explore.  We got to see Tunnel Log and the Parker Group from the shuttle as we headed back down to the Visitor Center.  We stayed at the Buckeye Flat Campground which was accessed by a very narrow road carved into the side of a cliff.  We arrived with plenty of daylight and played some camp games and trivia as we enjoyed some freeze-dried spaghetti (it’s much better than it sounds!).

 We woke up on my birthday and headed straight for lavender lattes at Sequoia Coffee Company, a cute locally owned coffee shop just outside of the national park.  It was a four hour drive to the coast and we were looking forward to soaking up some sun all afternoon on the beach but as we got closer and closer the fog set in and didn’t let up.  It was “June Gloom,” a common weather pattern in Southern California characterized by gray, misty weather during the month of June.  We couldn’t be anything but happy though because we had been blessed with perfect weather all trip.  We had margaritas and fish tacos at a delicious hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant before relaxing at Thornhill Broome State Beach Campground, our home for the night.  We walked on the beach and watched dolphins and sea lions swim by.  We grabbed some food from Vintage Grocer and enjoyed clam chowder, sourdough bread, and cannolis on the beach, before falling asleep to the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean- a perfect birthday if you ask me!

We got to meet up with Derek’s sister and her husband in Pasadena for lunch (and to use their shower), before braving the LA traffic to head to the airport.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it forever: the west truly has a piece of my heart and I will re-visit those places again and again.  Derek and I are lucky to have the flexibility in our schedules to visit these places together.  Do you have a favorite spot out west?

 -x0 Lia 

Seattle/Portland May 2019

I’m a big fan of birthday trips so for Derek’s birthday in May we found super affordable flight to Seattle.  He was interested in doing more city stuff instead of camping this time, so we opted to explore Seattle and Portland.  I ended up having to fly in without him due to work schedules/flight schedules so I arrived in Seattle around noon and wouldn’t be able to check into the Air BnB until 3pm.  Keep in mind, I am neither a city person nor a solo-travel type of person so I was certainly out of my element stepping off the plane and heading to the rental car facility by myself.  My naivety definitely showed when I got talked into a more expensive rental car because “it was a good deal.”  You live and you learn, right?  I knew that I didn’t want to experience driving in downtown Seattle by myself until I absolutely had to so I made my way to a park near Alki Beach on the peninsula across the bay from downtown Seattle.  I sat on a beach and enjoyed the sea breeze and salty air and the beauty of the city from afar while I waited for the text with my 3PM check-in instructions.  Well, that text never came.  On top of that, my phone started glitching, I had spotty reception, and I couldn’t access the contact information for the Air BnB host so I just contacted Air BnB directly.  They told me that there had been “a problem with my account” and that “they had to cancel my reservation.”  Um, what?  When were they going to tell me?  Meanwhile, as I’m freaking out, Derek is literally boarding the plane in Nashville and was going to lose service, so essentially was no help at this point (kidding, babe).  Longer story short, I finally got in contact with the host who told me the property wasn’t available but she had another place in a nicer area of town.  Skeptical, I braved the city traffic and headed towards our new South Lake Union rental.  This whole fiasco was actually a blessing in disguise because we ended up with a great story, and an even greater accommodation for the night!

View from Air BnB rooftop

View of Lake Union

I grabbed some sandwiches from the Metropolitan Cafe and Deli for us to have when Derek’s flight arrived later that evening, then I went back to the Air BnB and relaxed, as i was worn out from the day’s excitement.  Derek didn’t get in until 11PM so we were pretty much ready to crash.  For breakfast the next morning we had donuts from General Porpoise Doughnuts.  Their donuts aren’t your traditional super greasy,  hole-in-the-middle donuts; they are more like light and airy deep-fried balls of goodness covered in sugar and filled with custard or jelly- absolutely divine.  We then headed to the famous Pike Place Market in the heart of downtown Seattle.  We enjoyed looking at all of the vendors, trying all of the samples, and seeing the freshly-caught seafood on display.

 

We snapped a picture of the original Starbucks Coffee shop before grabbing a Russian pastry from Piroshky Piroshky and some clam chowder from Pike Place Chowder, and enjoyed a little picnic on the waterfront as watched the ferryboats go by.  We enjoyed a flight of beer at Old Stove, a taproom with waterfront views, before meeting up with some friends in Fremont.  We said hello to the creepy Fremont Troll and sampled some ciders at the Schilling Cider House before making the approximately 3 hour drive to Portland.  It was late when we arrived but believe it or not we were still hungry so we had Thai food delivered to our adorable Air BnB.

 We started our day at the appropriately named, Rain or Shine Coffee House (although we got lucky and didn’t see a drop of rain on our trip).  We then headed out for a day excursion around Mt. Hood, Oregon’s highest peak.  We did a short, easy hike nearby, where we got to experience the lush, dense, rain forest landscape of the PNW.  We then took a drive up a winding mountain road to the Timberline Lodge, where there were people all geared up getting ready to partake in a summit trip.  We drove around the east side of Mt. Hood and up to the town of Hood River where we made a late lunch stop at Double Mountain Brewery.  We both got the tuna melt with fresh-caught albacore (um, yum), and shared a flight of local brews.  We topped it off with dessert from Gorge Ice Cream with dairy free lemon-lavender ice cream.  This is definitely a must-try place if you’re ever near Hood River.  We were so full from our meal when we got back to Portland that we just called in an early night in our Air BnB.

For Derek’s birthday breakfast the next morning we went to Trinket, a tiny American cafe with European flair in the east side of Portland.  I had Huevos Al Pastor and Derek had Duck Eggs Benedict.  We both had “The Cure,” a Bloody Mary with beet-carrot-ginger juice.  It was all SO good.  We ventured into downtown Portland and spent some time in Powell’s City of Books, a famous multi-level bookstore, while sipping on some coffee from the bookstore coffee shop.  We poked in and out of several other shops and did a lot of people watching.  Keep Portland weird, right?  We had lunch and brews at Deschutes Brewery, where they had a Star Wars theme beer menu for May the 4th.  We spent the afternoon at Mt. Tabor Park close to our Air BnB soaking up the sun and reading our newly purchased novels.  We were still so full from breakfast and lunch that we decided to move our dinner reservation to the next night and just went out to grab a drink instead.  We headed to Deadshot, a hip, rustic lounge known for their cocktails.  I’m typically not a cocktail kind of gal, but our waiter asked what kind of flavors I like and brought me the perfect drink called a Root Down, made with carrot and ginger juice (apparently that’s a big thing in Portland and I’m a big fan).

 For breakfast we went to The Toffee Club, an authentic British soccer pub to watch the Arsenal-Brighton game.  We had breakfast pies and Irish coffee.  The rest of the day was pretty relaxing; we walked around and took in some more of the Portland sights.  We had a dinner reservation at Tusk, a Middle Eastern restaurant with lots of small plates and fresh vegetarian options.  We splurged and split a variety of tasty tapas and paired them with another fancy cocktail.  Their menu changes frequently, as they use a lot of seasonal ingredients, but I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for something unique!

We started the next day off with VooDoo Doughnut, a Portland staple.  We got a 1/2 dozen variety but my personal favorite was the Fruit Loop donut.  Flights were cheaper in and out of Seattle so we kind of put Portland in the middle of the trip.  We were headed back to Seattle that morning, but not without making a stop at Mt. Rainier.  Since this was more of a city- focused trip we didn’t really plan on doing any big hikes, plus it was a little early in the season, but figured we should at least see the park since we were so close  (Side note: I fully intend on planning a camping trip to Mt. Rainier when the time is right).  We entered the park at the Nisqually Entrance, as that is the best option from Portland and all of the other entrances were still closed for the season.  We did the moderate 4.8 mile Rampart Ridge Trail at Longmire, for up close and personal views of Mt. Rainier.  It is simply breathtaking.  After taking a little longer than expected at Mt. Rainier, for obvious reasons, we headed back to Seattle, checked into our Capitol Hill Air BnB and got take out sushi from Momiji.

For breakfast we grabbed bagels from Eltana and coffee from a nearby coffee shop and headed to Cal Anderson Park for a breakfast picnic in the sun.  We got a few different spreads to try with the delicious wood-fire bagels.  My favorite was the Fig, Apricot, and Cherry Compote.  We spent some time in the Elliot Bay Book Company and checked out Fleet Feet Seattle.  I had heard a lot of good things about Rachel’s Ginger Beer so we headed to 12th Ave for some handcrafted ginger beer cocktails.  I had a Moscow Mule with pink guava ginger beer- I highly recommend!  We walked up the street to Outer Planet, a small brewery with a bunch of board games.  We spent a few hours sharing flights and playing “The Worst Case Scenario,” a survival board game that looked like it was straight out of the ’70’s.  It was a good time!  We worked up an appetite and decided we wanted some chowder one more time before we left so we high-tailed it downtown and made it just in time to place a to-go order.  We brought our bread bowl seafood chowder back to the park that we had gone to in the morning, as it was conveniently located down the street from our Air BnB, and we watched the sunset and an adult beer league softball game.  I had talked about getting ice cream from Frankie and Jo’s literally all week but I was too full from the day’s indulgences so that’s definitely on my list of places to try the next time I’m in Seattle!

We had one more breakfast with our Nashville friends at a diner before heading to the airport.  Seattle and Portland absolutely blew my mind.  Like I said earlier, I’m not a huge city person and I didn’t really have any big expectations, but I knew as I was flying in to Seattle and saw all of the blue water and mountains in the distance, that Seattle really does have a lot to offer (especially food).  With Portland being so close and Mt. Rainier and Mt. Hood being visible from their respective cities, there really is a lot to do both in and just outside the cities.  We were blessed with the most beautiful weather the entire time we were there, which certainly helped the experience.  It was my first time to the Pacific Northwest and it definitely won’t be my last.

-x0 Lia 

Westward, Ho! (A Seester Trip: June/July 2018)

My sister and I were never super close growing up, as we both have always had pretty different interests.  One thing that we have developed in common over the past several years though is our passion for travel.  While we had never really planned any big trips together once she told me she was going to be in Nashville for a few days for a conference, then had a few days of leave afterwards, we knew that this was our opportunity.  With no particular destination in mind I began searching for the most reasonably priced flights on Southwest.com.  I found some decent flights in to Phoenix and out of Las Vegas, so alas, I started planning our six day trip: Westward, Ho!

We departed Nashville at 5:05 AM and thanks to the time difference landed in sunny and hot Phoenix at 6:45 AM with plenty of time for a full day of adventuring.  After picking up our Hyundai Elantra, we headed about two hours north to Sedona where we would begin a series of short yet strenuous hikes for the day.  We hiked Bell Rock and Cathedral Rock before breaking for lunch at the highly anticipated Javelina Cantina in the heart of Sedona.  Authentic Mexican food and prickly pear margaritas after a great morning of hiking, need I say more?  (Actually, I will say more…)

So the food was obviously phenomenal, however queso and tequila before a 2PM 4-mile trek through the desert might not have been our best decision.  After several stops, a little complaining, and an excessive consumption of Nuun hydration, we made it to Devil’s Bridge (Monica had another name for it), and were the only fools up there in the 110 degree heat.  After about 10 miles of hiking for the day, and waking up at 2:30 AM Nashville time, we had an easy two hour drive to Williams, Arizona, our destination for the night.  We headed straight to Station 66, an Italian Bistro, on the famous Route 66 in Williams, AZ.  I literally was emotional (probably because of heat exhaustion from the day’s activities), but more so because Rachel, Michael, Danielle and I went to this same rooftop restaurant on our cross country road trip a few years ago.  Monica and I enjoyed the same delicious bruschetta I had remembered from my previous visit, and sipped on local wine while we marveled at the sunset (and the lack of humidity), and how much we had accomplished on our first day.

We arrived at Kaibab Lake Campground after sunset and quickly set up our tent for the night.  Aside from me promising my sister there would be showers only to realize there were no showers, it was a perfect night.  We got an early start and watched the sunrise in the hammock by the lake before hitting the road for the day’s excursion.  We made a breakfast/coffee stop at Brewed Awakenings.  I sipped on a “Traveling Gypsy,” a delicious blend of chai and espresso while blasting Mumford and Sons as we made our way towards the Grand Canyon.  We started The Bright Angel Trail around 10:00 AM and decided we would try to make it to the 3 Mile Resthouse, which is a great place to fill up water, and honestly to turn around.  The Grand Canyon is such a humbling athletic experience as it really tests your fitness level (and perhaps your mental sanity) if you’re attempting to ascend at high noon.  Once again, after a little complaining, a few cuss words, and a whole lot of Nuun, we prevailed and were rewarded with ice cream once we made it back to the top.

We set up camp at Mather Campground in the late afternoon, enjoyed a much needed shower, and relaxed at the campground for a bit before heading to the Maswik Food Court and Pizza Pub for some pizza, diet Coke and sunset views of the Grand Canyon.  We laid on the picnic table at our campsite and star-gazed for a bit before going to sleep in lower than expected temperatures.  We survived.

The next morning was another early start, as we had a long 5 hour drive around the Grand Canyon and into Utah.  We stopped at Desert View and had the most gorgeous morning views from the east side of the Grand Canyon before finding our way to the historic Cameron Trading Post, an American/Mexican spot with Navajo flair.  Here we indulged in famous Navajo fry bread, huevos rancheros, and prickly pear french toast.  Total gluttony but no regrets (at least not until we were hiking in the desert two hours later).  We drove onto Horseshoe Bend where our impeccable (or poorly planned) timing had us hiking the short-yet-difficult-in-100+degree-heat 1.5 miles to the crowded overlook.

After nearly suffering from heat exhaustion and a mild seester disagreement, we stopped at the gas station for large cups of ice and diet coke and blasted the air conditioner as we cued up the magical Peter Pan soundtrack for our epic drive into Zion National Park.  Tears were shed over the sheer beauty (and sheer cliffs) as we drove into this highly anticipated place that we would explore over the next two days.  (Also currently writing this post as I have the Peter Pan soundtrack playing in the background and feeling extremely nostalgic for this gorgeous place).  Although I had been to Zion before it was still just as breath-taking and I loved sharing the experience with my sister, who might have been geeking out even more than I was :).  We immediately made our way to The Narrows, and after several days of hiking in the desert, we spent a few hours splashing around as we hiked through the canyon in waist-deep turquoise blue water.  To say it was refreshing is an understatement.   Unfortunately we didn’t secure a camping spot but we had a room booked about 30 minutes away at the Best Western in La Verkin (I think we both honestly welcomed a hotel bed at this point in our trip).  We showered and relaxed before heading to, I kid you not, a hole-in-the-wall, all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.  Best decision ever, followed by the best night’s sleep.

We had yet another pre-sunrise wake up call so that we could get back into Zion and get on the first shuttle to Angel’s Landing, our epic hike for the day.  Since the park runs strictly on a shuttle system you have to factor that into your plans, but it is well worth it.  I wanted to allow plenty of time for the ascent up Angel’s Landing, especially because although we have both done a lot of hiking, I don’t think my sister had ever done anything quite as heart-stopping as this.  I was amazed though, at how quickly we made it up the first several switchbacks, through Refrigerator Canyon, up Walter’s Wiggles and onto Scout’s Overlook.  My sister literally thrived on this hike and I could not be more excited!

We made the last half-mile trek with elevated heart rates across the Saddle up the Hogsback, clinging to the chains, with a thousand foot drop below us.  I’m not going to lie, I kind of thought that Monica would have a chicken moment but she just had this huge smile on her face and kept saying “this is so cool.”  It really was.  We relaxed at the top with the most incredible 360-degree views and epic Jurassic Park vibes.  We made our descent before heading into town for a late lunch with beer, pulled pork, and bumbleberry pie, oh my!

A three hour drive put us in Las Vegas in the early evening and if you know me you know that I only appreciate Vegas for its affordable accommodations and nothing more.  We checked into the Stratosphere Hotel where we called it an early night (party animals, I know.)  Our final day excursion started with an early trip to Toast Society Cafe where we had a toast flight and smoothies to fuel us for our trip to Death Valley.  We enjoyed the 118-degree day soaking in all the views at Zabriskie Point, Artist’s Palette, Devil’s Golf Course, and Badwater Basin, the lowest, driest, and hottest point in North America.

We made it back to Las Vegas in time to go to the top of The Stratosphere and take an evening stroll to The Bellagio, Caesar’ Palace and some of the other Vegas staples before making an uncharacteristic but surprisingly good decision to try dinner at the famous In-N-Out Burger.  I hadn’t had a burger in years but it was calling my name, and, when in Sin City, right…?

We had a 5:45 AM flight back to Nashville and my sister then went back on home to DC.  This trip was truly something special because it was our first big sister trip together.  I have always loved the southwest and I was so excited to be able to take my sister on her first trip out there.  We shared so many laughs, took so many pictures, ate so much good food, and made so many memories.  Even though our schedules are difficult to coordinate we are hopeful for another epic sister trip soon.  I encourage you to plan a sibling trip and am curious what destinations you would choose!

-x0 Lia