This One is for Mom - Portland

I think everyone has heard of Portland before, at least in passing. The hipster capital of the world where coffee meets donuts and food trucks are abundant.
This place has captured the hearts of many and I would say it has captured mine too. I wish I could say I've traveled here a lot, since I live in Seattle, but within the last 10 years or so, I've only been downtown a couple times.

Being able to successfully plan and travel down to Portland with both my mother and sister, was a good highlight of this year. My mom was entirely excited to go down and see old friends and the sights, taking pictures at every turn.
Just throughout the planning process she couldn't contain her excitement.

We were able to do a couple things I didn't get a chance to do at my last go-around there, but there's still so much left to see.
Here are the things we did as well as some other sights that would be worth seeing if you ever venture there:

We stayed right downtown, near the Pearl District of Portland, which was the perfect location to get around. The hotel I chose was Hotel Lucia, which had a classic feel with modern touches. The hotel itself was nestled right in the heart of this part of the city, with attached restaurants and all. The room was awesome and suited our taste for the weekend just perfect.



The amenities they offered, while we didn't end up using any, were pretty great. Fully stocked mini bar and snack array, in case we needed it. Pillow service, ice cream service from Salt & Straw (I wish they had had my favorite flavor, snickerdoodle), basically anything you needed you could ring them for.
They also had a gym, meeting rooms, dining options, and more.

Our stay was great in the fact that we were in walking distance to the max, the Portland light rail system, that can basically take you wherever you want to go in the city.
We started off our Saturday morning right, with the glorious Voodoo Doughnuts (just blocks away from where we stayed). Who says donuts aren't a staple for breakfast?

We then journeyed our way, via max line, to the Oregon Zoo! It ended up being awesome and very easy to see all of the animals out in their enclosures. The lions were probably the most enticing, since the cubs were in their teenage years and very feisty. So funny to watch them jump on each other and even pounce and hit the window right in front of us! Crazy, but very cool!



I wish that we had gone to the Japanese or Chinese gardens during our trip, but my mom and sister had been to both so we opted out, sadly for me. If you do get a chance though, definitely go, because I've heard they're very beautiful and interesting to walk through.

The Saturday market is also very eclectic and very Portland, so we had to stop and visit as much as we could there. We actually walked around the whole place, checking out every stand and seeing what goods were available. I always talk myself out of buying things, but it was still cool to walk around. We grabbed some awesome food from there as well, lamb gyro for me!

Our night was spent with more exploring and grabbing dinner at a small quaint but fancy little restaurant northwest of us, North 45 Pub. Delicious selection of mussels and add-ons to their mac & cheese. All in all, delicious.
We were going to get drinks up at the roof-top lounge at Departure, but it was very busy. Apparently a sports team was staying at the hotel it was a part of.



Sunday morning, Mother's day, I had made reservations at the hotel restaurant, Imperial, for brunch. Let's just say, that was a great choice on my part. The food was delicious and it started off with a lovely homemade poptart. Perfect!

Portland, while being the hipster city you might know it to be, has so much character and so much to offer. The myriad of dining options and things to do is amazing. The transportation system is incredibly easy to use and makes everything that much simpler to do. Oregon, while not sounding entirely exciting, should be on your next trip list of places to go.

Cheers and safe travels everyone!

My Essentials for Flights - The Basics

Flying is an essential part to travel, for the most part of course. Flying is the best way to traverse long distances in shorter periods of time, so you don't waste time soaking up the sun or playing in the snow, whatever you choose.

Due to the fact that flying seems to be a necessity to travel, it seems only fitting to have a short list of important items to carry along with you on these journeys. In my experience, which is not a lot, I've learned that there are things that can definitely be left at home. All in all though, there are some things, especially on long flights, that you cannot go without.

Here are some of my essentials for longer distanced travel, because being in the air for even just a few hours can be grueling.

1. Snacks. Snacks on a a low budget flight are scarce, so bringing your own can be the difference between going crazy and having something to munch on to take that not-being-able-to-sleep edge off.
(I am not a good plane sleeper)
My go to snacks come down to easily attainable, nothing messy, and small enough packages. Usually almonds, maybe trail mix, granola bars, or packages of applesauce. I love chocolate and it would probably keep me more sane than anything, but it melts too easily and I don't want my backpack to be smeared for my trip with something that might not look like chocolate...

2. Gum. Now, I'm not a gum chewing by any means, I never have any in my purse or in my car, but when I travel, it's one thing I have stowed in my backpack for those plane flights, mostly because my ears tend to pop like crazy and I can only yawn so much at a given moment. Gum is the next best thing, plus you look nice if you offer a piece to the people sitting next to you who have to suffer the popping as well.

3. Neck pillow. Now I don't currently own one, but one of my friends would swear by this. She has a nice plush pillow that also deflates and easily stows away in your bag (Similar here). She slept soundly on all of our plane/bus rides to and through Europe. Literally, she always had this thing with her and she was always getting rest, easily. My dad also always took them on trips with him and he was always glad he did, maybe if I had one of my own, I could actually sleep on flights. Sleep is essential in long travels, because it's the make or break between being slightly on the sluggish exhausted side when you get to your destination.

4. Book. Generally I like to bring at least one book with me, sometimes a reading book and a puzzle book to challenge me a little if I get bored. I love sudoku and tend to bring a small booklet in my backpack. Books I generally bring are something I'm currently reading or something small that seemed interesting and I found at the bookstore, nothing too big in size, have to prioritize that space. One book I took with me on my first trip to Europe was Wild Roses by Deb Caletti. It ended up being a good read through Italy.

5. Water. I know that usually airlines, even the cheap ones, offer you some kind of complimentary beverage, but I like to fill up my water bottle before I get on the plane. Plus, having a reusable bottle can be super efficient when you get to where you're going. Just don't forget to dump it out before going through security, because they may make you throw out the whole bottle, or chug all the water in it...
I don't have a specific bottle I use, usually I just grab a vitamin water at the store before I go and refill a few times before I end up getting a new one somewhere else. Again, I probably need to buy a more durable, travel friendly one, but hey, I tend to slack on getting some of the essentials I need. At least there are other options!

I'm sure there are some other things that people have for things that are entirely important to bring with them during long trips, but for me, I stick to the basics. Yes, I might bring some extra shoes, my tech stuff, and some makeup in my backpack as well, but thats' usually because I don't want to overfill my regular carryon bag. These five things, I think are the most essential.

Do you have something else that helps you during long flights?

Cheers and safe travels!

Seattle - The Emerald City

Seattle is not my hometown, nor is it somewhere I know a whole heck of a lot about, but I do love it.
This city has so much to offer in the ways of food, music, people, and scenery.

I grew up not too far from Seattle, but far enough to not very there very often. It was a place that seemed far away when I was young, but now that I'm in my 20's, I live about 20 minutes away and still don't go very often.

Seattle has it's perks, but let's start with its downfalls. Traffic and parking are top on my list for dysfunction in this picturesque city. Not only does it take awhile to get somewhere (during peak times) but if you CAN find a parking spot, it's going to cost you at least $5 (some places) unless you can find that lot that's free at off times.

             

This city is fascinating to me, not only because of the multitude of things to do, but because of the diversity of people who live and wander there.
There is always something going on to peak interest in someone.
I myself, love to enjoy good music in town, whether it's to see Hozier at the Paramount or Muse at the Key.

I also must confess while I love the city, I haven't tried too much of the food there. You really shouldn't judge though because there is entirely way too much to try! Every district has it's own billion (exaggeration) or so restaurants, cafes, pubs, etc.
I love Belltown for drinks, but Capitol Hill for the quirky places to try.



Pike Place also captures the essence of the city. Full of fish throwers, flowers and shops to entice even the most unenthusiastic of people (probably).
I love to buy pasta and tea and check out the comic book store, just for fun.

I also like to stay down there whenever possible. I like to stay at The Moore Hotel because the price is usually right and the rooms are perfect. I've stayed in their European style, two bed shared bathroom setups, which worked out fine and in one of their suites with a large bed and old fashioned tub.
It has the best coffee shop open in the morning, attached to it, Moore Coffee, which has cute foam pictures on almost every drink. Their hot chocolate tastes like toasted marshmallows.. it's the best!

Anyways, Seattle, the Pacific Northwest, will always have my heart in a way no other place in the U.S. can. It's my home and I think that I will always come back to it.

Any questions?

Cheers everyone and safe travels!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Dare I disagree with this ever present statement about Disney? No, of course not, although it being crowded as hell is definitely -1 point, it's still definitely an amazingly happy place to be.

My trip to Florida over New Years was well worth the travel time, the planning, and leaving home. The sun definitely made up for the constant rain and cold during the winter back in Seattle.
When first arriving to DisneyWorld, the archway welcoming you to the parking area is enough to make you excited! I remember looking over to the car next to us to see a little boy rocking out and ready for all the fun. We only decided to go to the Magic Kingdom, because of costs, even though I would have loved to venture over to Animal Kingdom as well.

Although, the morning for us was a little cold and rainy, we didn't let it completely dampen our spirits because everything looked so magical. It was still decorated with festive Christmas wreaths and garlands, lights hanging everywhere and all of the workers, at least out in the shops and the streets, were very friendly and helpful (some people at the rides seemed very less enthused).

We started off the day at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a nice start to the day in FrontierLand and a great way to get us even more excited for the rest of the day.

*As a side note, I think we waited until after the ride to go look at our fast passes and we should have done that when we first walked through the gates...That was a major bummer to have to wait all day to use some of them (and some were all taken) even though it did work out well for us in the end.

We strode through AdventureLand next and went to meet Aladdin, which was my friends "need-to" item of the day.
Meeting the characters was a great extra I hadn't even really thought about before getting there, but it was definitely a great feeling to even be standing next to a character from your childhood.
Later in the day, we also met Ariel, Gaston, Beast, Anna and Elsa.

Mind you, we are the park from when it opened and we stayed till just before it closed, so we were there for a good 16 hours walking our butts off trying to see and do as much as we could.
More rides, circling through the whole park at least a couple times, before hitting the time of the day where the dominos were falling into place.
Being able to use one fast pass for The Haunted Mansion, running to see the fireworks and then trying to get out of the swarms of people to get to our dinner reservation.

The New Years fireworks display (although it was Jan 2nd) was amazing and for sure a highlight. The music from countless Disney movies playing, the flashes and sparks dancing and glowing along. There were two shows and we stayed for both.

We then, like I said, had to book it to our dinner reservation at Be Our Guest (Beast's castle) because we were already late. They were very nice there though and we got seated pretty quickly.
We only decided to get dessert there because the actual food was very pricey, so we got a couple lovely cupcakes and, of course, had to try some of the grey stuff! Which is delicious, by the way.
After we got to meet Beast, which was lovely.

Traipsing around the park again after the sugar, our favorite ride through the day was probably the Little Mermaid ride, sitting in a clamshell and singing the songs. We rode on this for the second time at this point.
We went to TomorrowLand to finish it out and wait for our last fast pass for Space Mountain. The Orbiter and Buzz Lightyear took up our time and then we headed over.
We decided to just wait in line because we were too early, but by the time we got through and on, we were able to scurry back and use our fast pass to get back on in 5 minutes, score!

That was the end to our magical day. Filled with much happiness and thankful hearts.
We would have stayed longer, but we did have to go to Universal in the morning, so sleep was a necessity.

Worth it? Oh yes. Recommend it? Highly.
They don't call it the happiest place on Earth for no reason.
More to come soon!

Cheers and safe travels everyone!

Weekend Trip to MSP

First thoughts when getting out of the airport were, "Wow, it is hot and incredibly humind."
Words I would be sure to say throughout the trip to numerous people and then thereafter to coworkers, family and friends.

From all of the things I've always heard about Minnesota is that it's cold. I never really expected the hot, sticky weather that I got when I arrived in September. By all means, it was nice to have a last hot weekend of summer before heading back to rainy Seattle for the fall, it just caught me by surprise.

This being my first trip out there, to visit a friend I had met when traveling to Europe in June, it was a needed trip. Getting a long weekend, away from work, full of fun and getting to know a friend a little better.

My experience there was short and only set in a couple places, but I still had a great time.
From the multiple sushi stops, to the fair, to the shopping till we dropped (almost literally).

First day was spent by myself, taking the precious Lady dog out for walks and trying not to die in the humidity, at least for the morning.

Once my friend got home however, we got ready to set out for the Minnesota State Fair!
Now, we do have our own state fair in Washington, but I know that we do not have multiple booths of food with something on a stick offered at it.
We ate so much incredibly terrible but delicious food while we were there. From pronto pups, to fries, cookies, and cheese curds, it was more and more difficult to walk with each bite.

We also went to the "Miracle of Birth" center to see the baby animals that were born. Lots of piglets, lambs and cows were there to see. Also checking out the Agriculture center to see the Seed Art that people had done, while stopping to get a frozen apple cider pop (YUM).

We ended our time trying to find the puppies, but we were too late. Which lead us to finding the best part of all, the Butterfly House! It was too cool to see all the butterflies flying around, landing on the walls and people. Being able to have them chill on your shirt and hold them on your fingers. Now, they are kind of creepy and it took me a few minutes to be ok with this winged crawly bugs on my hands and legs, but it was a blast!

The fair ended up being a really fun day. We were exhausted by the end, but it was for sure worth it.

The following day, we decided it would be a good idea to go to the Mall of America, which in all reality, turned into a major shopping spree that left us just as exhausted as the day before.
I didn't take many pictures here, but we had a fun time strolling around and shopping for a bit, stopping for a sushi lunch of course.

We ended the day by checking out the SeaLife Aquarium at the bottom of the MOA. We had a good time with that as well, petting stingrays, the tunnel of sharks and tons of jellyfish. Lots of fun was had at the mall.

On our way back (which we were there till it closed) we stopped to see a movie at the $3 theater and saw Spy with Melissa McCarthy. That movie is hilarious if you haven't seen it yet, you should.

All in all, the trip was great because I had a good friend to spend it with and while I didn't expect much from Minnesota in the beginning, it definitely surprised me with the awesome time.

To many more long weekends and travel days.
Cheers and safe travels!

Switzerland and Mt. Pilatus

Switzerland has to be one of my favorite places I've been so far. It's so gorgeous, green and full of fresh mountain air.
Sometimes I can't believe I've even been there!
On my most recent trip to Europe with EF College Break, I had the opportunity to travel to Lucerne (which was one of our major stops). We actually stayed in Engelberg (here), which is about a 40 minute drive from the city of Lucerne.

Engelberg itself was a sight! Beautifully stationed in a mountain valley, we were able to hike around to view points to see the whole town, which was lovely! It being the spring season, it was a bit rainy and not very many people were in town during this time, which actually made it more pleasant in my book.

We got to meet Swiss cows and we eventually got to have dinner, which we chose a nice place where we could apparently only order pizza (since we arrived so late). Of course, I still got wine and my pizza was very good.

The next day, we started off by driving to Kreins where we hopped on gondolas to hoist us up the mountain side, to where the end would be the top of Mt. Pilatus.
The gondolas, a bit different from what you may be thinking of from Venice, are a bit sketchy, especially trekking up the side of a foggy mountain.

At the halfway point up the mountain, we were able to hop off and enjoy a ropes course they had there, fit with obstacles and multiple zip lines! This was probably my favorite thing we did on the trip, because it was so awesome to be able to say I've gone zip lining on a mountain in Switzerland!
We took about an hour or so to do this and while it did cost almost 30 extra euros to do, it was so worth it!

Onwards and upwards! We finally made it to the top and after much anxiety over timing, we got to eat a lovely cafeteria style lunch and take pictures from a great viewpoint there. It did not fall short of amazing and being on top of a Swiss mountain is probably one of the best feelings I've come across.

From the top, we took a cog wheel train to the bottom.

A bit steep, but we made it down in one piece, getting a glimpse of a little mountain goat on our way down as well!
At the bottom, we made our way to the boat we would take next (yes quite a journey on this day) which would take us around the lake and to Lucerne.

Once we made it to the city, everyone was ready to go and explore. There were places to get swiss army knives, clocks and watches, we fancied venturing to a nearby Swiss chocolate shop, which was delicious!
We also got a short tour and wandered to see the sights on our own for a bit.

If you didn't know this about Lucerne or maybe Switzerland in general (not entirely sure), they seem to have a lot of swans there! Swimming and lazing around by the edges where people are.
(Pictured above) The kettle bridge was a nice place to go across and we got to see old architecture mixed in with the new.

More walking led us to our bus that took our tired group back to our hostel. We had wanted to try some famous traditional fondue, but apparently that is only a thing they do in the winter sadly, so we missed out. We did however eat at a really amazing restaurant (I got their special lamb and orzo pasta, yum! Here.) We also tried to head out to a bar that night where we thought they were having a festival celebration for summer solstice, but it wasn't entirely busy and we ended up leaving, although it was a good time while it lasted!

I wouldn't have traded this trip for the world. It was entirely different than what I expected, in so many ways, but it was also exactly what I needed.
I made new friends, made a lot of memories, and got to travel to some pretty cool places.
I'm always ready for my next adventure and I already have a few in mind!

More posts to come, just have to venture out to make more!
Cheer and safe travels everyone!