Beauty in the Backyard: Old Rag

One sign that you're not in undergrad anymore: you mark "peak fall foliage weekend" on your calendar. And plan a weekend around it. A little bit removed from spending Sundays watching Netflix and nursing a hangover, but I have to say its infinitely more enjoyable.

Although not exactly a hidden gem or a secluded getaway, there aren't many better places to take in a 360 degree of the Shenendoah valley than Old Rag Mountain. I've been here in the heat of summer and in early winter after the leaves have fallen from the trees, but this was my first time visiting Old Rag during the fall. CJ and I went with two of our good friends and made a day of the trip. After stocking up on the requisite grocery store deli sandwiches and dried fruit, we made the two hour drive through rolling Virginia hills to the base of Old Rag Mountain.

Making the Most of Business Trips

Getting to fly halfway across the country and stay at an over-your-budget hotel and your company picks up the tab? Sounds like a great deal right? Well, add in the obligatory prep dinners, hundreds of emails coming in and a packed day of meetings, and the "trip" part quickly gets sucked out of "business trip". I have the opportunity to travel for work occasionally, and will be traveling about once a month for at least the next year. I don't have a ton of exciting pictures from my last few trips - this post is more of a commitment to making trips I have to take into trips I want to take.

My first few business trips, I flew in and out of each city as quickly as I could. After one or two quick trips, I decided to alter my flights to give myself a day to explore each city I was in. Although these short glimpses into each city were nothing to write home about, I was pleased that I was able to actually experience the chunk of the country I was in.

Puerto Rico

When you get the opportunity to spend a weekend in Puerto Rico just as the temperatures are starting to drop in DC, the only answer you should ever give is an enthusiastic yes. You can always work out the details later ;) CJ's family spends a week each year on the island, so I was super excited when they extended the invitation to me as well. A few thousand Southwest Rapid Rewards Points and two fake sick-days later, we were headed down to paradise.

Due to some weird timing issues, I had to fly to San Juan from a work engagement in Fort Wayne, Indiana. But, I made it down no worse for the wear and stepped off the plane to a hot, humid, sunny day (way different than the 40F temps in Fort Wayne). CJ, his mom, and his grandparents had been there the previous year so they had an itinerary of must-sees lined up for our long weekend. First up was lunch at a little kiosk in Luquillo - we took in the ocean view and while eating some delicous seafood. I also tried mofongo, a dish of mashed plaintains fried and served with chicken. And sipped a few margaritas to start off the trip.

The resort we stayed at in Rio Grande was beautiful (I might be using that word a lot in this post). We were wiped from the flight and spent the evening relaxing.

Assateague Island, MD.

CJ and I didn't really get a chance to celebrate our anniversary this year. We had great ideas, but they fell by the wayside while we tried to take on the tasks of moving and starting grad school in two seperate cities. To make up for our oversight, we planned a camping trip to the Eastern Shore of Maryland during one of the last weekends of September. After losing almost half of our blood volume to mosquitos, we now refer to our 7th anniversary trip as the "7 Year Itch". And let me tell you, the itching lasted for a solid week after we returned home. I'll spare you the pictures.

But back to the beginning...

CJ had heard about a sunflower field, called Clear Meadow Farm, about an hour outside of Baltimore. It looked like an awesome place to stop, so we took the long way to the Eastern shore for this detour. The field was beautiful, and perfect for photo ops. Too bad I'm not so photogenic, or these shots could have been money ;)

Georgia.

My younger brother joined the Army earlier this year, and shipped off to boot camp at the beginning of the summer. I am so excited for him that he is doing something he has wanted to do for years and so proud that he is dedicating part of his life to serve a cause greater than himself. And hopefully he gets to see a few pretty cool corners of the world while doing it.

 

Even though we're all happy for him, going 10 weeks without seeing or talking to your brother is tough (although not nearly as tough as the work he put in during that time). My whole family was excited to fly down to watch him graduate from Fort Benning, GA on September 11th. We had two days to spend with him, and then planned to take another day to travel back to the Atlanta airport before catching a flight home.

'Murica

From sea to shinging sea. The beaches, mountains, and cities are beautiful, but for me it is the little quirks of life in each town that make traveling through this country are great. From little resturants to roadside attractions, to county fairs, I love it all. Tourist traps too - the cheesier the better.

My family tells me I'm an hipster for calling these things "Americana", so we'll just call them little details of life.

Very Grand Tetons

If Yellowstone stood out for its unique landscape and natural features, Grand Teton National Park and nearby Jackson Hole, WY stood out for their beauty. The tall, jagged, snowcapped peaks of the Grand Tetons are visible no matter where you go. The clear blue glacial lakes at the mountains' base are calm and serene. And the town of Jackson Hole, although definitely tourist-centered, was quaint and packed with charm.

After driving into the park and taking our obligatory road side pictures, we stopped by a park visitor's center to get our bearings of the park and then head to our lodging for the remainder of the week. We stayed in a ski-lodge style house in a ranch theme resort with a view of the mountains. It was a great place to set up my new hammock and even made waking up early to complete classwork bearable :) We spent our first full day in the park hiking from Jenny Lake to the popular Inspiration Point overlook. We walked the 2mi around the lake instead of taking the park ferry, which was a great choice. We had the chance to rest and take in the view on some overhanging rocks without any company. We walked through fields of wildflowers, took a detour to a waterfall, and even got to watch some climbers beginning their trek to summit the Grand Teton. Inspiration Point itself was pretty crowded, but the view was well spectacular.

Animals.

The views in Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons are pretty great, but one of the most exciting parts of the trip was animal spotting!  We'd look out the windows with determination, and someone would scream as soon as they got a glimpse of an animal. Like some type of military drill, my dad would pull the car over immediately and we'd all sprint out, cameras at ready. We drove around for hours, and hiked for even longer to catch a glimpse of some of the animals native to the American West. Not surprisingly, most of our "big" animal sightings came when we least expect it. Here is our animal spotting checklist.

Buffalo.

Our first buffalo sighting was pretty spectacular. We were walking to the Morning Glory pool, about a mile from Old Faithful, when I spotted a buffalo in the river. Or, to be more specific, spotted tourists spotting a buffalo in the river :) He stepped out of the water and walked right through the crowd of spectators, completely un-phased. Chris might have gotten  little to close, but that's a different story. 

Yellowstone.

Wyoming is beautiful.

I've been up and down the East Coast, up and down the West Coast, and through some of the Southwest, but I haven't been anywhere like Wyoming. It's the type of beautiful has you still staring out the windows 3 hours into a 5 hour car ride. Just rolling hills, mountains, green, and tons of space. We flew into Billings, MT, and drove five hours to the East Entrance of Yellowstone National Park. Even though we were admiring the beauty three hours into the ride, by hour five we were very much ready to get out of the car.

I'd heard about Yellowstone, seen pictures of Yellowstone, but actually setting foot in Yellowstone is something else entirely. It's millions of acres of (mostly) untouched land - something you don't get to see every day in our country. On top of all of the natural beauty, many of the buildings were built in the mid-19th century, and are a sight in their own right. We stayed at the Yellowstone Inn on Yellowstone lake for two days - spending our mornings sitting in rocking chairs overlooking the lake, our days exploring the park and our evenings drinking red wine while working on jigsaw puzzles. Yes, jigsaw puzzles :)

Life.

Is short. Maybe there is a purpose beyond it all. Maybe there isn't. Either way, I'd like to spend mine making memories with people I love. And take a break from my metro-riding, staring-at-a-laptop, class-taking days to soak it in.

 

Insert cliché quote about living life to the fullest here. But really people, nothing is guaranteed. It's scary, but I think that's what makes it awesome. I'm learning this lesson in technicolor this week. 

Conquering the Mighty 5: Utah Road Trip Tips + Tricks

 

Eight hundred miles of driving, 5 whirlwind days of sightseeing and one red-eye flight later, our Mighty 5 road trip ended as quickly as it began. Although I loved (almost) every minute of the adventure, there were some things I would do again in a heartbeat and some lessons learned. I'm definitely no expert, but here are five tips for anyone else planning on conquering the Mighty 5. Heads up - none of these pictures are related to my tips, so just go with it ;)

 

 

Utah Day 5: Vegas, Baby

After four full days of taking in nature's beauty, the next stop on our trip gave us a chance to revel in some of people's greatest (or worst, depending on your take on it) creations - awesome buildings, unlimited alcohol, indulgent food, and plenty of gambling. And of course, to observe the wildlife in their natural habitat.

Utah Road Trip Day 4: Zion National Park

Oftentimes, after pouring through guidebooks and internet reviews, I go into a trip expecting a certain place or experience to be my favorite. More often than not, the highlights of a trip end up being something completely unexpected – a detour I didn’t plan on, or restaurant I never heard about. Zion ended up being both. It was the park I looked forward to visiting most and remains the highlight of the trip, but not for the reasons I anticipated.

After driving through Utah’s desert for three days, entering the canyons of Zion National Park is a very welcome site. It truly is an oasis – the Virgin River is never far away, the canyon’s steep walls are awe-inspiring, and the green trees are an appreciated contrast after endless red rocks. Since we entered the park pretty early in the day, and from the less crowded East entrance, we didn’t have to deal with the park traffic jams we’d been warned about.

Utah Road Trip Day 3: Bryce Canyon

The quickest route from Torrey, UT to Bryce Canyon was on Utah's scenic Route 12. Simply put, the drive was beautiful. We traveled through Dixie National Forest, on high (and incredibly steep) canyon ridges, and back down to the desert near Bryce. The road cuts through numerous cow farms, and we passed hundreds of cows grazing near or right on the road. We stopped for snacks in a small town called Escalante, and were surprised when two men walked in with cowboy hats and spurs on. This was a reminder of how huge our country is. One of my favorite parts of drive through this beautiful state was getting a glimpse into the people, places, and livelihoods between each tourist destination.

But I digress. Driving into Bryce Canyon was pretty unspectacular, until we pulled up to the actual canyon. The canyon is huge and (according to the guidebook) constantly expanding. The constant wind erodes the sandstone to form large red-rock formations nicknamed 'hoo-doos.'  My descriptions won't do it justice, so I'll let the pictures explain :)

Utah Road Trip Day 2: Canyonlands and Capitol Reef

Visiting two national parks in one day, 144 miles apart, while actually trying to see the best of both. Sounds like a pretty impossible task, doesn't it? Although I'm not sure I would do it again, we only had 5 days to visit the "Mighty 5" parks, so on Day 2 of our road trip that's just what we did. Both Canyonlands and Capitol Reef are extremely immense but we did our best to get a feel of each location.

Only 30 minutes from Moab, Canyonlands was up first. We drove to a popular overlook, parked the car, stretched our legs and walked about 30 minutes out to a rock ledge jutting out into the canyon. The walk was peaceful - lots of cactus flowers, lizards, and rock towers guiding the way. And after a day at the extremely popular Arches National Park, the solitude was definitely appreciated :) We hung out on the overlook for a while, and then headed to a trail I had picked out to an "Aztec Butte" (actually a Pueblo grain storage area). The word 'trail' is a little deceptive out in the desert - it just means a flat expanse of land with random rock piles for you to spot and follow. The butte was pretty cool, it's amazing to think how people lived in such an arid landscape.

Utah Road Trip Day 1: Arches National Park

So...I went to Utah! It may not be everyone's dream vacation destination, but during our five day whirlwind road trip this state proved itself well worthy of a trip accross the country. A few months back, my friend (or big sister ;)) Jessica mentioned that she and her roomate were planning a trip to visit the "Mighty 5" National Parks in Utah. I invited myself along that same day, and it didn't take much convincing to get CJ on board as well. After a whirlwind month of buying plane tickets, brainstorming itineraries, and getting excited, and a few flight delays, we landed in Salt Lake City, UT at about midnight and went to go pick up our rental car.

Spoiler alert: one of the highlights of the entire trip occured at a National rental counter. CJ and my sleep deprived eyes lit up when the sales person told us we had the choice between a Chevy Impala, a Dodge Caravan and..... a Mustang convertible. A drive through the American Southwest in an Impala is a nice trip, but driving through the American Southwest in a Mustang with the top down is a roadtrip.  Long story short, we drove off to our super swanky accomodations (a Super 8) in a pretty sweet ride.

Weekend in the Smokies

Ryan just head off to basic training and the beginning of a 3 year commitment to the US Army this past weekend. He'll be missing our family vacation in July and we were looking to spend some time as a family before he left, so we decided to go on a mini vacation before he ships out. Ryan was tasked with picking a location - the only requirement was it needed to be in driving distance. He found a resort in the Great Smoky Mountains in Western NC, complete with 'yurts' for lodging :)

Day 1:

Ryan and I started our trip down South after work on a Thursday (the rest of the family would be joining us a few days later). Since we left so late, the drive was pretty brutal, but we arrived at our hotel in Bristol, VA safely. The plan Day 1 was to visit a natural waterslide and then check out Asheville for a little bit before heading to our second hotel in Cherokee, NC. Well, we didn’t do too great of a job researching and the day involved a lot of wandering. But it wasn't so bad, because we had the amazing Smoky Mountains in the backdrop the whole time.

Quality Time in RVA

My younger brother and I went to visit our grandparents in Richmond, VA earlier this month. He is enlisted in the Army and is currently at basic training, so we made our rounds to visit family members before he leaves. Although I have plenty of family in and near Richmond, most of my visits to the area consist of holiday dinners, so we rarely venture downtown. We had a little more time to kill this weekend and were able to explore a tiny bit of the city.

 

Beauty in the Backyard: White Oak Canyon

I debated on titling this post 'When Day Hikes Strike Back'... the day started out innocently enough, with a plan to hike to see some waterfalls in West Virginia. Two hours after leaving the house, we arrived in Shenandoah National Park....Virginia. We should have known then that the stars weren't aligning in our favor :)

But, enough drama - this little chunk of the Shenandoah Valley, White Oak Canyon, is beyond beautiful. We went after a few big rainstorms, so I'm not sure if our experience is the norm, but the area was so green. And the waterfalls exceeded our expectations - they were HUGE. We arrived at the base of the first set of falls after an hour of hiking and two creek (river) crossings. We climbed down some rocks and over some tree trunks to get as close to the falls as possible.

NOLA: Jazz Fest !

Marie, my college roomate, and I spent our last two spring breaks causing trouble up and down the East Coast - from Baltimore, MD to Charleston, SC to Savannah, GA. This year we decided to take it all the way South to New Orleans, LA and Jazz Fest seemed like the perfect weekend to make the trip. CJ and our friend Cliff headed down with us as well.

 

Looking back, there are a few things that made the trip amazing: the laid back vibe of the city, the music, the people of New Orleans, and the people I went with. Here are some highlights:

 

 

Backpacking: An Overnight in the Blue Ridge Mountains

CJ and I have both been tooling around with the idea of backpacking lately.  Spending a night under the stars may sound simple, but if you listen to the employees at a certain outdoor store, it isn't possible without the lightest, newest, warmest, most high-tech gear available. So - after buying the essentials (sleeping back, backpack, two person tent) a little at a time, we were ready to give backpacking a try.

 

Lazy Sunday in Annapolis

This past Sunday was my mom's 50th birthday, and my dad, brother, sister, and I pulled out all the stops in celebrating. She requested dinner at The Melting Pot - and we delivered. Instead of making reservations at the location down the road, though, my dad booked a waterfront suite and dinner in Annapolis, MD. We decorated the room, set up her gifts, and surprised her with they night away. Going to be tough to top next year.

After a night of milestone birthday shenanigans, we were left with a lazy Sunday morning to explore downtown Annapolis. Although I've lived in Maryland for 22 years, this was only my second time visiting our state capital, and it definitely made me want to return!

The lure of Annapolis, for me at least, was the quaintness of it all. The city is small, but there is still more than enough to do. There are plenty of historical buildings to gawk at, and even a short visit gives you a great feel for the Chesapeake Bay culture. Not to mention, the view of the water is beautiful in the morning : )