California Here We Come!

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Portland, Folsom, Napa and more!

Disclaimer: It's late and I am stream of conscious writing this/not gonna edit it....

Last I blogged we had done Seattle for the day. That night we slept at Sarah and Carson's again and then got up early and headed to Portland, Oregon. It was really close so we got into Portland by 10 or so and did Portland for the day. We walked along the river and ran into the Portland City Market which happens every Saturday and it was incredible. It was this massive, streets on streets on streets open air market: food, clothes, street performers, artisan crafts, and more!! It was a blast just strolling around and seeing all the goods and all the people. Then we went to Voodoo Doughnuts which is a pretty famous stop in Portland; it has been on the Food Network and other TV shows. The line took about 35 minutes but so worth it! They have all these crazy flavors of doughnuts and they aren't to expensive. That was on my list so we made sure to go. After that we headed to the Kerns district of Portland, on the other side of the river and explored a more "local" area of town. Adorable neighborhoods, great restaurants, neat stores to stop in, lots of bookstores. We eventually got hungry again so we went to Pok Pok, a restaurant that Steinke's friend had recommended. It was Thai and it was amazing. Yum!!! We then made the trek back to our car and then were hungry again.... so we went to a very popular ice-cream place called Salty or Sweet which has these absurd ice cream flavors and home-made cones. They had flavors like honey and lavender or pear and blue cheese or kimchi and rice or coffee and bourbon. After we got our sweet fix, we hit the road. We drove about one and half hours down to Corvallis, OR where Sara's aunt and uncle live. It was so nice staying with them. They were so sweet and fun to hang out with, her aunt Betsy made us a lovely dinner. Plus WE ALL GOT OUR OWN BEDS WHICH WAS MAGIC!!!!!!!!! I wish we'd had more time with them, they were very interesting people:) But we had to wake up that next morning and make another long trek. Okay, so from Corvallis to Crater Lake which was gorgeous of course! Volcano to Lake, nature's pretty neat y'all. Then we did the coastal drive to Arcata, a random coastal town on the Lost Coast of California. Oh yea, we made it to California which was such an amazing moment. We are truly delusion at all points of the day at this point in the trip and so we were super stoked and kinda crazy as we approached the simple blue "Welcome to California" road sign. Anyways, we did the coastal drive which included seeing some of the Red Woods and then we made it to the coast and saw the Pacific. So we for sure whipped the car into a parking lot and straight ran to the beach! What an incredible feeling. Less than three weeks ago I was swimming in the Atlantic Ocean and then after two weeks of driving we made it to the beautiful (and very cold) Pacific Ocean. Wow. That was an epic moment. After that, feet sandy and hearts warm, we headed to the Lost Coast Brewery for dinner and a beer. We slept in a hotel in Arcata, woke up and drove to Folsom, CA. This is when we did the Avenue of the Giants drive through the Red Wood Forest WHICH WAS LITERALLY BREATH-TAKING!! I mean I just couldn't' even handle how much I liked that place. The trees were massive! And there were sooooo many, and then the other plant life was so rich and abundant and reading about all the mini ecosystems- you can guarantee I was nerding out so hard. We did the drive and stopped at many of the trails on the way. Eventually we dragged ourselves out of that beautiful wonderland of trees and drove to Folsom to see Richard. Richard is our friend from Virginia Tech, he lives in Folsom now so we had to make a stop to see him. He took us to dinner and then we hung at his apartment. We actually slept at his friends Matt and Amanda's place because there was more room. Today we did the Napa Valley... aka wine country... aka my happy place. There was horrible traffic because of some construction and such but other than that the day was delightful. We went to the Beringer Winery and the Black Stallion Winery- yum:) After our long day of wine tours and tastings we headed to Gotts Roadside for dinner which was, get this, DELICIOUS! Gosh the sites and food on road-trips are just da best. We had a great day but it was time to say good-bye and head to San Francisco. We made it:) We are staying with one fo my best friend, Katelyn, sister's house. It's Joanna and Tim and their two precious children. We got in around 8:30pm and just hung out, planned our day in the city for tomorrow, and are about to hit the hay.

#epicroadtrip Day 9 & 10

Day 9: 10 hour drive to Seattle, Washington

Not much to report here, just driving away. We hit some traffic so we didn't make it till about 8pm. We actually drove straight into Port Orchard, WA where my good friend Cailey's brother and wife live which is where we were staying for two nights. Anyways, so we arrive there and Sarah (Carson's wife) fixed chicken fajitas which were incredible. Like what. And we just drank beer and hung out till everyone was beat and headed to bed. CARSON AND SARAH WERE THE BOMB!!

Day 10: Seattle

We had to take the Bremerton ferry into the city which was a really cool experience. We wanted to stand on the edge which was great but sooooo coldie. Seattle was amazing! We did the space nettle, Pike Place, the original Starbucks, Japonesa (the sushi restaurant downtown that Carson and Sarah suggested we go to), the Edgewater hotel, and then to the Art Museum to see the outside sculptures. Seattle was quite literally the most wonderful city we've been to so far. Just beautiful: huge green trees, mountains, water everywhere, neat markets, cool restaurants, etc. We walked around all day and explored and ate and just enjoyed the city. Around 5:30pm we caught the ferry back to Bremerton and had dinner at a quirky brewery called Slaughter County Brewing Company; it was pirate themed. There were two biker gangs there... that's all I'll say. Then back to the Cramer house to watch a movie and hit the hay.

#epicroadtrip Day 8

Day 8: Salmon, ID

Michael and Jo get up at 6am to do morning farm chores: moving the cows back up to the barn, cleaning the utter of the ones they are milking, and finally milking those pretty girls. After that they come inside to enjoy coffee and make a healthy, hearty breakfast. We had potatoes, squash, bacon, and eggs. The Idaho meals made me want a farm even more than I already do haha. Michael left for work after breakfast, he is building a beautiful cabin for someone in Salmon, and the girls rounded up to do more farm chores. We had to move the fence so the cows will graze new land when brought back down. Next we moved the chicken coupe for the same reason essentially. Then we went to get the pigs more water. Lastly, we brought the cows back down to the grazing land and then played with the baby goats. One of the baby goats they are selling is named Wilson and I fell in love with him. He was so adorable and so friendly, I held him like a baby. I wanted to take him so bad; too bad we aren't carrying a trailer behind Sara's car. After we did all the animal stuff, we checked out the garden. We weeded for a little bit. By the time we had finished it was almost lunch time so we packed up and headed into town to get sandwiches and head to Jo's parent's ranch in Northern Salmon. It was about a 45 minute drive total across the river and up the mountain. Her parents place was incredible. They manage all this land in the valley between two mountains. They have horses, cows, chickens, dogs, a huge garden, and a beautiful home. We ate lunch and then drove the four wheelers down to the river. It was pretty cold but I couldn't resist so I was the only one who went all the way in. It felt amazing though, I love swimming. We hung out at the river for a while and then drove back up to the house. Time for dinner prep. We had ribs, corn with a chili lime coating, sweet potatoes, and chocolate carrot cake. For sure the best meal so far, I mean just so good. Plus delicious red wine. Wow. What a day. We all just sat around and talked for a while. It was actually a bunch of people. Michael, Jo, Ettie, Me, Sara, Steinke, Sara (Jo's sister-in-law), Sara's two children: Leeda and Elkin, Jo's parents, and Maddie (a girl from New Zealand working on the ranch for three months). And it was actually Maddie's birthday!! So we celebrated that which was so fun. After all the festivities, everyone was wiped from the long day so we drove back to Michael and Jo's and hit the hay. I had not seen Michael in years and it was just so amazing to see him and meet his family and have the chance to see his new life in Salmon. It had me all tender being with family; plus I fell in love with their daughter Ettie and all the farm animals so it was hard to leave this morning to say the least.

#epicroadtrip Day 7

Day 7: Yellowstone National Park

We got up bright and early and headed to Yellowstone. Yellowstone was such a neat place, I felt like I was on a different planet. We saw the Middle Thumb, the Mud Volcano, the waterfall, and Old Faithful. The geology had me nerding out so hard! Nature is literally the coolest!! Oh and we saw a bear, a bunch of Buffalo, and some elk. After Old Faithful it was time to make the drive to Salmon, Idaho where my mom's cousin Michael (whose actually closer in age to me) lives on a farm with his wife Jo and their beautiful baby Ettie. They don't have quite enough space in their house for all three of us so they set up a big tent for us girls. We got in pretty late, so we literally walked from car to tent and crashed. I love camping but I will say that I got pretty dang cold which was a bummer but I still managed to sleep a little.

#epicroadtrip Day 6

Day 6: Real long drive from Pine, CO to Star Valley Ranch, WY

On our way out of Colorado we stopped in Bolder to visit Steinke's cousin Adam and his awesome wife Denise and their precious baby Owen. We had donuts and coffee at their place and just chatted, it was so nice. Then off to Fort Collins to hit up this brewery we had wanted to go to. Steinke and I both got a flight, soooo nomzzzz. Then on the road again! This drive was quite long, we were kind of loosing our minds. We also saw like a million billboards for "Little America." It seemed like a gas station or rest stop or something and we needed gas/ needed to stop and walk around so we thought, what the heck why not. It was the weirdest rest stop/town/place I've ever been to. Welcome to Wyoming, I guess. Anyways, we people watched, got 75 cent ice cream, took a pic with a huge plastic dinosaur, and headed on our way. We made it to Star Valley Wyoming by about 8ish. Here we stayed with Mary Vandel Young, my teacher from this past year as a fellow, her parents. THEY WERE SO AMAZING!!!! Judy and Jim are for real the bomb! We had kinda snacked/skipped dinner and so Judy fed us and her and Jim helped us plan our two days in the National Parks. Gosh, we had the best time with them. Plus they had ice cream bars for us. What. It's like they knew our greatest love and they had never even met us. Anyways, so we got there that night and the next morning we were up early and headed to the Grand Tetons National Park to hike and explore. We decided to hike Amphitheater Lake which ended up being the most absurd hike I have ever done. It was a total of 10 miles and crazy crazy quick elevation climb. Oh and the last half mile was for real snow capped mountains. As in there were zero trails because it was covered in 6-8 feet of snow, so all you could see was random foot print tracks up the mountain. We considered turning around, but we had made it so dang far. So we hiked, crawled, whined, laughed, wanted to cry, and trudged along. After what felt like hours, we finally made it to the first lake: Surprise Lake which was breath-taking. Honestly, such a neat thing to be able to see, but man was it freezing up there at the top of the freakin Grand Teton mountain. Yep, that's right. We later figured out we hiked up a trail of the "Grand Teton." Like there is South Teton and Middle Teton and somehow we managed to choose this absurd hike up to Surprise Lake. Anyways, we stayed there for a bit and then made the trek back down. We were cut up, frozen, wet, hungry, sweaty, half delusional, but alive!! After the death hike we drove to Jenny Lake which was just beautiful and dipping our feet in that cold lake was just what I needed to feel refreshed. We then ventured up to Coltar Bay and Leets Marina. We stopped at this little pizza place at Leets Marina and went ham on some pizza. Gosh, there isn't much better than good food after a long hike. Next on the list was Jackson Hole for a stop at a brewery and to walk around. It was getting pretty late and we had an hour or so drive back to the ranch so we headed on.