Lake MacDonald | Glacier National Park

After endless gas station stops, 22 hours in the car, stopping to help a rolled over Subaru, countless lane changes, and two McD’s meals, we had arrived Glacier National Park in Montana. We were so excited to see everything the park had to offer, the lakes, the mountains, the trees, the smell of fresh air, and the wildlife. 

We secured our campsite for the evening at Avalanche campground set up the tent and precede to smoke Ryan out with the fire! {j/k – but that picture does crack me up…i guess he learned a thing or two from ANTM and has been trained to hold his pose despite the heavy dose of smoke pluming his way}

We decided to explore Lake MacDonald via boat. Originally we planned to rent a canoe and enjoy a lunch picnic on the lake. Knowing that I would poop out after 15 minutes of rowing and exclaim that rowing is the dumbest thing ever thus subsequently relying on Ryan to row the remainder of the lake, I was secretly wishing for a canoe with a trolling motor.  I thought, gosh, they really need to invent such a thing as it would be the best of both worlds, we could enjoy the lake and I would not have to kill my arms for the next 120 minutes. Turns out they sort of make it in the form of a “Huck-Fin boat” as I call it.  My Dad has instructed me that it is called an outboard motor boat, or something like that, but I prefer “Huck-Fin boat”. Our Huck Fin boat had three things: a metal frame, a place to sit, and a motor. Hearing it had a motor was music to my ears and I was about to be one happy girl!

Yep, told you I was one happy girl! Now this is how you enjoy the lake!! Forget that sweaty rowing business! We left the dock and headed straight for the middle of the lake and set up our picnic while enjoying the completely glassy water.

One thing Ry and I like to do when on trips is keep a journal. This way we can document the little things such as grub & grog, campsite names, but also include the way we felt when first seeing such beautiful things such as Lake MacDonald or how it feels to listen to my version of Alabama’s “Roll On 18 Wheeler” fifteen times or my favorite new-to-me-song, DJ Khaled “All I Do Is Win”.

While Ryan spends the hours before dinner skipping rocks,

 I prefer to see the world upside down in the form of a handstand. After all, this is how my body was most comfortable for over half of my childhood!

Road Trippin’

Hat: H&M, Shirt: Alternative Apparel, Shorts: H&M; Shoes: Sebago; Sunglasses: Marc by Marc Jacobs

After spending hours upon hours traveling in a car I developed a few clothing musts: sunglasses, scarf, and hat, oh yeah, slip on shoes too! They help facilitate a quick exit during those quick must stop now bathroom breaks that seemed to happen just about every hour!

Travel | Salt Lake City

After a mere 12 hours in the car covering over 700 miles we arrived at Salt Lake City with two sore butts in need of a bed and some food. You would think after this long trek we would just crash at the hotel but not the case when you roll with me, Mrs. I-want-to-do-and-see-it-all! I told Ryan that I reallllly wanted to see the Temple and couldn’t leave SLC without seeing it. Of course, Ry couldn’t begin to understand why I wanted to see it so bad but I have a deep love for beautiful churches simply because they just don’t make them like they used to. Despite Ryan constantly referred to it as a Cathedral, I think he finally understood its significance when I tried to explain to him that this is the mecca of the Morman church, kind of like the Vatican in Rome.

I was dying to see the inside of this magnificent building, but obviously we were not permitted so we opted to see the replica in the Visitors Center. I was shocked to see that the inside is filled with over a dozen individual rooms rather than one large aisle with pews like a traditional Catholic church.

We ran into an older gentleman serving as a tour guide who explain that the Morman Tabernacle Choir was rehearsing later that evening and that it was the “hottest show in town”. Ryan was about to send a message out to his tweeps letting them know where the party was at but instead we opted for the Beehive Bar.  

After enjoying our dinner at the Beehive, we headed to bed as we had a 3am wake-up call scheduled because we would be traveling to Glacier National Park in Montana! Unfortunately, our party at the Morman Tabernacle Choir would have to wait until next time.

xoxo

Friday | Picture of the Week | Week 36

Good morning from Utah! Like I said, I have been in love, amazed, and in awe of the majestic clouds. In Los Angeles we rarely, as in like never, get clouds like this! The last time I saw these type of clouds was over a year ago while visiting my parents! I am not sure if these are old news to most, but I have to say I wish clouds like these filled the skies of my pictures every day! Just one of the many things I will treasure about this trip {besides my hubby, co-pilot companion}!

xoxo

Getaway.

It feels so great to get out of the normal daily grind and enjoy a few days out in the desert on a girls trip! The heat, lush flowers, summer dresses, and warm pools all make for a wonderful, girlie rejuvenation. The desert clouds were so beautiful over the ever present mountains and made for a beautiful sky and a little bit of shade cover – after all it was 110 degrees with 48% humidity! Good thing there were a lot of pools to spend our time in. And now back to work left with only the fun memories of a great relaxing trip! Happy Monday!

xoxo

Celebrating with Family

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Ryan’s family in Manhattan Beach on Thursday and then drove to Placerville on Friday  morning to celebrate with my family.

Here is a picture I snapped out of the car window somewhere on I-5 between Los Banos and Coalinga.

Each year I look forward to setting the table with my Mom’s china and her crystal. I am in amazement that she picked out her china pattern when she was just 19 years old and yet somehow, 30 years later her china is almost a perfect painting of their new home in the gold foothills filled with fences, horses, and rolling hills. My Mom made another fantastic Thanksgiving feast filled with some family favorites: twice-baked potatoes, pumpkin pie, cheesecake, stuffing, and cornbread!

In high school, I worked at the local coffee shop Bella Bru. As a former two time, Bella Bru employee-of-the-month (no joke!), we always try to make a stop in just for old time sake.

Here is another picture, out of the car window, taken on I-5 somewhere near Kettleman City on the drive home. The clouds were looming in the distance all day and they made for spectacular lighting!

Ryan took this picture right before we got on the Grapevine. We heard reports of snow on the Grapevine, so we were happy that the clouds held off until we got through.

It was a short trip and there is never enough time to fill the empty spot in my heart that yearns for family and old friends, but even just the short time there helps keep me held over until Christmas!

1st Anniversary Road Trip – Day 1 – Havasupai Point, Grand Canyon AZ

To celebrate our first anniversary Shan and I decided to visit the Grand Canyon and Utah over Labor day weekend.  From Los Angeles we planned to go straight to Havasupai Point, as rather shockingly, neither of us had ever been to the Grand Canyon.   The long drive went by quickly because we were blown away by the areas beauty.

Off highway 180 before entering the Grand Canyon national park, we left the highway at FS road 328.  It was smooth sailing till we got to the closed gate  marking Havasupai reservation land.  The guard shack was pretty creepy, burned out mattresses, empty bottles, cattle skulls, lots of trash and an atv on blocks with no wheels.  Fortunately nobody was there to take our $25 so we continued on, the road entered a  beautiful meadow and we saw cattle and even a wild horse.  We made a right on Prairie wash road the landscape changed to forest and the road narrowed a bit.

At this point we hadn’t gotten a glimpse of the Grand Canyon and we were getting antsy.  I didn’t plan for the dirt roads to last 2 hours.  Our  patience paid off big time, we reached Havasupai Point and the view of the Grand Canyon was spectacular! Wow, what a place! To my surprise we had the whole place to ourselves, in fact we didn’t see anybody else the whole road in, the whole time we were there or the road out!

We snapped some pictures of the sunset and Shan whipped up some tasty jambalaya.  This place seemed incredibly quiet, I remember how loud the airplanes were thousands of feet above, before the crickets started it was the only audible sound.  Dusk, quickly became a black night lit by countless stars which were equally impressive when compared to the views from the cliff.  Neither one of us were used to the remote and isolated feeling of this place so it was a bit creepy.  We awoke just before 6am for the sunrise, snapped some pics, packed up with the intent of stopping by the Grand Canyon NP and heading to Toroweap.  Although, night 1 was a bit more adventure than we bargained for it was a great start to the trip!