Yellowstone: Day 2 - Welcome to Old Faithful

September 07, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz in Cross Country Road Trip, Yellowstone

If you’re reading this then obviously you know we’re at Yellowstone, well at least I hope you do. If you don’t then you might want to stop reading and backtrack to my last post. I’m serious, go read Yellowstone: Day 1! I’ll wait…
See that wasn’t so hard, and now you won’t be confused, well at least not more than usual due to my excessive rambling and random tangents haha. But anyways back to Yellowstone! The first time I was here Eric and I just did the typical touristy things like watching Old Faithful from the wooden benches surrounding the geyser, but with Eric living and working there now, we had the inside scoop of where to see the geysers from above without all the people around. Old Faithful goes off anywhere from every 35 to 120 minutes. There are a lot of misconceptions about OF and the regularity in which it erupts. Truthfully I didn’t even know these facts until Eric informed me, but one thing that is true is there absolutely is an “Old Faithful Indicator” (well at least in the busy season). You can always tell when its getting close because the crowd will be abundant! As soon as OF is finished the crowd disperses like their life depends on it, in fact the morning after camping Haley and I went to grab a snack from one of the many food options in the Old Faithful Village and as we were ordering one of the guys behind the counter yelled back to the kitchen “here they come!”. We turned around to see what he was talking about and I swear it looked like a stampede of people were approaching, the guy explained that if we had come in 5 minutes later we’d be in a 30-40 minute line to get a sandwich; on that note we quickly grabbed our food and left before the masses arrived! But back to those facts I mentioned, OF erupts for about 1.5 to 5 minutes at a time and it’s maximum height is between 90 and 184 feet. It’s not the biggest geyser and to my surprise it’s not even the most regular geyser in Yellowstone but it’s the most famous and well known that's for sure! Another fun fact I learned is it can only be predicted one eruption in advance and the previous length of the eruption is what the next wait time is based upon. Meaning if the current eruption is 2 minutes then the wait time till the next eruption would be about 55 minutes whereas a 4.5 minute eruption would cause about a 90 minute wait time. The times of the next eruption are posted many places throughout the park and according to the posted time we had about 15 minutes until it went off. Eric suggested that we go around back and watch it go off from below and then hike to the overlook to watch it again from above the crowd. I thought that was kind of strange because he had gotten incredibly sunburned the day before and made it a point that he didn't want to stand in the direct sun, but I also was too preoccupied with taking a million pictures of the scenery to put much thought into the change of plans. I did notice that nobody else was standing around back like we were, which I also thought was kind of strange since we had a perfect view. But again, I just didn’t really think much of it. One thing Old Faithful is really good at is teasing you for a good 10 to 20 minutes before it goes off, so every minute or so leading up you're like “Oh…is this it?! No not that one” “Now?? Not yet” but eventually it went off. And within about 10 seconds, we started feeling a little mist... and then before we knew it we were completely drenched and smelling of sulfur. And as the wall of water came at us, Eric yelled over the thunderous roar, "Welcome to Old Faithful!" I look over and he's just cracking up, Haley's attempting to cover the lens of her camera with a big grin on her face, and a couple of Asian tourists were running for their lives; personally, I loved it. After a long day of hiking I embraced the cool water with open arms, sulfur smell aside it was quite refreshing! Eric felt bad seeing Haley having to cover her camera, but she couldn't even be mad because it was such a great prank. We took a couple selfies full of laughter and wet hair, and as our new buddy Old Faithful died down, we set out on the steep hike up to the observation point to catch the show all over again from above.

From the base of Old Faithful to the observation point, it's just shy of two miles depending on the path you take. There's actually quite a little network of trails that branch out to a few other geysers as well. Not five minutes into our hike, we could no longer hear the rumble of the geysers or the incessant chatter of people. The shade from the trees allowed us to escape the hustle and bustle of the hundreds of people below and mentally transported us away from any and everything that was on our mind. Winding our way through fallen trees and moss covered rocks we made our way up the side of the mountain. Every once in awhile there would be a break in the trees or a gust of wind would blow through allowing the sun to shine down, instantly blanketing everything in a warm golden hue. We were the first to reach the top so we had our pick of where to sit and take in the beautiful scenery. There was a rickety wooden fence feebly attempting to keep tourists away from the very edge. I almost felt sorry for the old fence as it clearly had been ignored and passed over time and time again. As we were about to do the same and disregard the old fence we saw the cutest chipmunk! He was such a little ham, I swear he was posing for the camera. He hung with us for about five minutes before the next group of hikers arrived. A few other people found their way up to our spot and the little guy eventually ran off but it was fun while it lasted. We finally made our way over the poor fence and sat on some rocks and waited for the show to begin. Out of nowhere, a geyser erupted in the opposite direction - thanks to Eric's vast knowledge of the geyser basin we learned it was Beehive, and to be perfectly honest it was far more impressive than Old Faithful. He went off for about 8 minutes and had some height on him! Apparently it only goes off roughly twice a day but has about an 8 to 24 hour window so it was really cool to have the opportunity to see it!

As we each sat on our respective rocks with our feet hanging over the edge, waiting for Old Faithful to entertain us once again, we quietly took in the view below. It was really cool seeing everything from an aerial view. It really put everything in perspective. We could see where Eric's dorm was compared with the Old Faithful Inn where he worked, as well as the area in which we hiked the day before. It really was quite spread out. To me it was just kind of crazy that all this was built in the middle of a National Park. With the way they had the times posted for Old Faithful and the rush of people flooding the restaurants after the “show” was over I just couldn't get the feeling of it being like a theme park out of my head. It kept reminding me of being at Disney World when I was younger and lining up to see the parade and then rushing to one of the many restaurants as soon as it was over for a quick dinner in the park. Of course am I really surprised that man managed to turn nature into a theme park and profit off it? Unfortunately I am not.

Eventually OF went off and we watched as a few other unsuspecting victims were "blessed by Old Faithful". We laughed as they ran in all different directions attempting, with little success, to stay dry. We watched as the crowds dispersed probably heading off to get some food or perhaps to take a nap in their cozy little hotel rooms. I gave one last sigh as I climbed down from my rock and shook my head in an attempt to shake off the weird feelings that had engulfed me while we sat silent for the past 30 minutes observing the scene below. We made our way back down the mountain, taking a little detour to check out Solitary Geyser, and Eric found another trail down that he hadn't known about before so we set off to explore and found ourselves coming out in the middle of the boardwalks, which was cool because it allowed us to check out Beehive up close. We applauded him on a job well done. I find it so interesting how roughly an hour ago this little guy had shot thousands of gallons of water out and now it just sits silent and still like nothing happened. By this point we were pretty exhausted and definitely hungry so we headed to the Bear Pitt for bison burgers and huckleberry margaritas. Yes I felt like a hypocrite after quietly judging the entire concept however I had to put my dislike of man aside for turning nature into a business because that was the best damn bison burger I've ever had, and that huckleberry margarita?! To die for!

Yellowstone: Day 1

September 01, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz in Cross Country Road Trip, Yellowstone

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock I’m sure you’ve heard that last Thursday was the 100th birthday of the National Park Service. It’s fitting that this weeks post takes us to one of my favorite national parks: Yellowstone. I’ve only been here once before but that's all it took for me to fall in love with this place. My best friend, Eric, and I had visited Yellowstone back in October when he and I did my first cross country road trip. As we stood there all bundled up in the cold waiting for Old Faithful to go off we had NO idea how much things were going to change over the next 6 months. We also didn’t know that October is the end of the season for most of the big national parks in the Midwest. None of the attractions or amenities had been open and there were hardly any people there in comparison to now. Eric also fell in love with Yellowstone on that trip, so much so that he decided to work here for the summer! Since cell service is pretty much unheard of in about 99% of the park Eric and I set a time and place to meet in case our phones didn't work and I'm so glad we did because the second I entered those gates I didn't send another text, tweet, or Facebook update for about 4 days...and I LOVED it! I just put that thing on airplane mode and didn't give it another thought!
We had agreed to meet Eric in front of the Ranger Station at the Old Faithful Village around 9am. Haley and I decided to get an even earlier start however because we’ve heard countless stories of the campgrounds filling up really early. I’m so glad we decided to heed those warnings because as we pulled up to the Madison Campground at about 8:10am there were cars and people everywhere. I jumped out of Penny and ran to get in line, nervously waiting to see if we were too late! When I got up to the window the ranger told me there was one group site left at the very back of the campground…we took it! We didn’t even bother to go look at it we just signed what needed to be signed and headed off to meet Eric. Thankfully he was right where he said he’d be because without phones we were at a loss trying to get in touch with anyone. Eric suggested that we go ahead and move our car to his dorm parking lot however Penny was packed pretty full so there wasn’t exactly a third seat available. I ended up letting Eric drive and I, not so gracefully, tried to climb in back. The only way we could get the door closed was if we put the window down and I stuck my legs out! Thankfully it was a very short ride to the employee area because I seriously felt like I was in the back of a clown car! We pulled up to his dorm and it looked like your typical college dorm mixed with your old cabin from summer camp. Eric informed us that his dorm was named Bitterroot, apparently they were all named after flowers (a lot like my cabins from summer camp which were named after trees haha). He pointed to the building to the left which was apparently the employee pub, he said he got us passes if we felt up to going out any of the nights we were here. It was crazy seeing this whole hidden side of Yellowstone, I mean it was huge and we hadn’t even scratched the surface! We grabbed our backpacks with all our hiking gear, aka sunblock, water, and a change of clothes, and headed up to see Eric's room and meet his friends. It was cool but also a little weird being back in a dorm setting. As we walked into Eric's room his roommate, Jamie, was still in bed. I forgot it was still only 9am because Haley and I had been up since about 6. As we were catching up and talking about what we wanted to do Eric’s suitemates came in, Michael and Angel. Granted it was early and Jamie had just woken up but when we met him he was nice and quiet, when we met Michael and Angel it was very different. If they weren't already I'm pretty sure the whole dorm was now awake! Angel is a very tall and very loud Puerto Rican with a huge but fun personality. He and Michael might be two of the most entertaining people I've ever met. It was great meeting everyone but Haley and I were ready to hike and explore all that Yellowstone has to offer! With the help of all the “locals” we decided to save the touristy hikes until tomorrow, Grand Prismatic and Old Faithful, and today they were going to take us on a hike on Xantera property. Turns out there's a part of Yellowstone that Xantera, the company that runs the hotels and restaurants in the park (and other parks such as Grand Canyon etc.), owns and everyday people don’t have access to. Since we were with employees though we were getting to hike around that land! Like I said earlier, it was just crazy seeing this whole other side to Yellowstone.

Haley, Angel, Eric, and I set off on our hike to an area known as Fern Cascades. However as we hiked we began to realize there were no ferns or cascades haha. It was still a really nice hike, there were a lot of fallen trees as well as a lot of burned trees. Apparently a fire had come through here at some point, I couldn’t tell if it was a controlled fire or not and it was obviously way before the boys had started working here. Eric had mentioned there would be a big pond when we got to the top so when we passed a small little pond on our left I was wondering if that's what he meant. Nobody stopped however though so obviously that wasn’t it. We kept going up and up, passed more and more fallen trees until finally we came to what clearly had to be the big pond. It definitely wasn’t a pond you could swim in but it was still really pretty to look at. I wish I had brought my hammock because there were a million places we could have hung it, oh well there were plenty of logs to sit on. Eric brought his guitar so we all just sat around admiring the scenery, drinking some beers, and listening to him play. I’d say it was a pretty perfect first afternoon in Yellowstone and I’m pretty jealous that Eric gets to do this all summer long! After awhile we were pretty hungry so we decided to head back down to civilization and get some food, plus we wanted to get back to the campsite while it was still light out so we weren’t setting our tents up in the dark!

We went to the “Lower Store” which looked like a cute old diner within a gift shop where we had a very interesting man serve us some burgers. The man made it very clear that his shift was ending in about 15 minutes and he wasn’t going to wait around for us to finish so we scarfed down our food and headed back to the dorm. Word got around that we had a group campsite at Madison so we ended up with a few more people than we planned to go camping with. It ended up being 7 of us in total; Eric, Haley, and me of course, his suitemates, Angel and Michael, and then two others, Andrew this really chill guy who honestly is exactly the type of guy I would expect to be working at Yellowstone, and then this girl Chelsea who might have the thickest southern accent I’ve ever heard…and I lived in Georgia for a couple summers.
Eric, Haley and I crammed into Penny the same way we did earlier, with my feet hanging out the window, and everyone else followed along in Chelsea’s car. As we pulled up to our campsite it appeared to be a great spot with quite a few trees that would be perfect for hanging our hammocks! First things first we unloaded and got to work setting up our tents. One good thing about camping while moving cross country is having just about everything I own in my car so we had plenty of blankets and pillows, my tent was as cozy as it gets! After we got everything set up and organized we set out to find firewood so we could get a fire going before it got dark. Eric’s always been great at making fires so we let him take charge and before long we had a roaring fire! He then played us some music on his guitar and we sat around the fire wishing we had thought to bring marshmallows! We had a fun night filled with music, laughter, and campfire smoke, and after the wonderful day we had hiking through Yellowstone I went to sleep with a smile on my face. Day one in Yellowstone was a success and I couldn’t wait to see what day two would bring!

Seattle!

August 23, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz in Cross Country Road Trip

Seattle was a bit of a family stop for me. My aunt, uncle, and cousins have lived in Seattle since before I was born. When I was little we would try and visit as much as possible but over the years it's been tough getting from Miami all the way up to Seattle. Therefore, unfortunately, it had been about 15 years since I had seen one of my cousins, Michael. Thankfully one of the great things about family is once you're reunited it's like no time has passed at all! Michael welcomed us with open arms and was gracious enough to let us crash with him in his swanky downtown Seattle apartment. This place had a rooftop that was to die for and a killer view of the whole city! I mean you could see for miles in every direction! It was unfortunate that we were so exhausted because I know New York is the city that never sleeps but as we were standing on that rooftop, looking out for miles and miles it looked like Seattle could give New York a run for it's money. One thing that will always win over sleep however is food. So we let Michael and his girlfriend, Cari, take us out to a really cool Mexican place called Cactus. It was in Alki Beach which was a really cute little area right on the water! Plus I'm not a big Mexican fan but I LOVED the food!! We were hoping the food might give us a little bit of energy but instead it just put us in a food coma. So we headed back to Michael's and crashed for the night!

The next morning we said goodbye to Michael and headed for a quick brunch with an old friend of ours from college! Meggie was our sorority sister and long time friend so it was great to be able to catch up with her! We met her at this place called Portage Bay and I had these vegan banana pancakes that were to die for! This was clearly the spot to be for brunch and we had definitely gotten there at the exact right time because as we were enjoying our delicious meal people were lining up around the block! It's always fun catching up with old friends and even better when it's done over a spectacular brunch! Eventually we downed the last of our mimosas and relinquished our table for the next group of brunchers. Sadly we didn't manage to get a picture of the three of us so feel free to enjoy a couple oldies from college below haha. We gave our hugs and said our goodbyes and Haley and I set off to catch the car ferry that would take us across the bay to Poulsbo; the little town where my aunt and uncle lived. (Was it the ferry that Derek Sheppard took to work at Seattle Grace everyday? Not sure, but we pretended like it was and that was good enough for us!) Truthfully I was more excited about getting a chance to recreate this picture I had of myself on this ferry many many years ago. I thought it would be a cute idea to retake the picture and then frame them both side by side for my mom. Unfortunately the wind was blowing exceptionally hard and since the picture had originally been taken in the back of the boat the smell of the exhaust was killing me! Between the wind blowing my hair around, my eyes watering, and my choking on exhaust lets just say this picture didn't turn out quite like I had planned. I ran back down to the auto deck and sat out the remainder of the ride in Penny.

Once we arrived I drove Haley through the cute little downtown area of Poulsbo, which is known as being an old Viking Village. I know my Aunt Mikie and Uncle Al were eager to see us so I promised Haley we would come back and do some more exploring of the cute downtown area. As we drove up the long gravel road to their house it was exactly as I remembered it from my childhood. I saw the blackberry bushes along the fence that I used to pick in the summertime and a family of deer were scampering away as we approached. I was always jealous of the abundance of nature and wildlife they had right in their backyard! They even have this family of raccoons that my uncle has fed and taken care of for over three generations. I had talked Haley's ear off about the raccoons so she was pretty excited to see the little guys! Mikie and Al were happy to have us and it was really great to not only see them but to be back in Washington! We visited with them for a little while and they took us out to eat at a local brewery. That's another really cool thing about this area, for being such a small town there are a ton of cool new Microbreweries. After dinner Haley and I went exploring and came across the tiny town of Port Gamble. The town literally had two stop signs and a tiny water tower which we "climbed". Climbing a water tower has been on my bucket list since watching Sweet Home Alabama but I'm not entirely sure I can check it off but it was still fun! Next we stumbled upon a Microbrewery in downtown Poulsbo called Slippery Pig Brewery and we fell in love! We drank some local Rhubarb IPA and listened to some live music! It was a perfect night in this small town of Poulsbo!

The next morning we woke up to some amazing donuts (thanks Uncle Al) and the raccoon family eating on the back porch. Now I'm not a morning person, not even close, but I was up and out of bed so fast that morning to catch a glimpse of those cute little masked bandits having their early morning snack! Haley was still a little bitter that we didn't make it to Voodoo Donuts when we were in Portland but thankfully I think she softened a little with each donut she ate this morning (we both ate about three and took just as many to go!). Sadly our time in Washington was coming to an end but we did want to spend a little time downtown while all the shops were open. So as we were upstairs packing up our things Al did what any good uncle would do and cleaned out Penny for us! We were grateful because it honestly was beginning to look like an episode of hoarders in that car, yikes! Also we had NO idea that you could get a ticket in Washington if you got pulled over and didn't have a trash bag in your car, who knew?! #thethingsyoulearndrivingcrosscountry Mikie also had been in the kitchen putting together a little care package for us with snacks and fun things to entertain us on the drive. I definitely win in the aunt and uncle department! We said our goodbyes and took a few pictures, even though we were looking a little rough that morning, and headed downtown.

We only expected to spend maybe 20 or 30 minutes walking around the town since we had a long day of driving ahead of us however we ended up spending over an hour in this little antique shop. We were looking for some post cards to send to friends and family back home but what we found was so much better! If you've ever been in an antique store you know how crowded they can be, shelves upon shelves just jam packed with things. I found myself at a dead end towards the back of the shop and as I turned to walk back up front my little black Longchamp bumped a shelf knocking over an old shoe box, spilling its contents. I quickly bent down to try and clean up my mess before anyone noticed but what I found were dozens of old postcards! I couldn't help but start to read them and realized they dated back to the early 1900s. A few minutes later Haley came looking for me and found me sitting cross-legged on the floor with these post cards all around me. I filled her in on what I had found and for the next hour we sat there reading about this woman, Isabelle Breckenridge, and her cross country road trip that she took about a hundred years ago! We couldn't believe what we had just found, it seemed as though Isabelle had followed a very similar itinerary as us, or I guess really we were following her path. There were a ton of gaps in her story since we were only reading what she had written to her father, A. W. Breckenridge. We managed to learn that she had at least two sons, Billie was the youngest it seemed and we actually found a picture of him. We think her older son traveled with her for part of her journey but we're not sure what happened to him. We could have spent hours on that shop floor trying to piece together the life of this woman but we needed to get on with our own road trip. As much as we enjoyed reading Isabelle's post cards at a dollar a piece we weren't exactly inclined to spend a fortune on them. So we grabbed about 20 or so of the ones that were easiest to read and a few of the pictures, including the one of Billie standing on the steps of an old house, and checked out. I just can't help but wonder in a hundred years what will come of all the post cards I've sent to friends and family. Will they be in a landfill somewhere or will a couple of young crazy girls be sitting cross-legged in a dusty old antique store trying to piece together this epic cross country trip we're on?

Multnomah Falls

August 15, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz

We didn't have the best timing when it came to seeing Multnomah Falls. It was the start of Memorial Day Weekend so we were leaving Portland with everyone else on their way out of town for the weekend. When we finally got there we found that just about every single person in Oregon decided to visit Multnomah Falls at the same time we did! We drove around and around trying to find parking, finally we saw a family walking to their car and we just followed them and waited till they packed up (I swear they were moving at a snails pace) but at least we finally got a parking spot! We put on our jackets and grabbed a few of our many cameras and headed out. As we approached the bottom of the falls we were in aw of the enormity of it. We had to wait our turn, and push with the masses, to try and get our pictures and videos. It really was overwhelming how many people were there, I definitely recommend NEVER going on a holiday weekend! As we started the hike up to that signature bridge that Multnomah Falls is known for we realized we were stuck walking in a single file line behind everyone else. This felt way more like being in line for a ride at Disney World instead of hiking in nature. Eventually we made it up to the bridge and did our best to get some good shots before heading across and starting our trek to the top. Thankfully as we hiked higher and higher the crowds thinned a bit, but no matter how high we got there were people in every direction. I know I sound incredibly bitter but please don't get me wrong we definitely enjoyed being there. It was a beautiful hike with multiple breathtaking overlooks. I loved getting little glimpses of the magnificent waterfall through the trees every once in awhile during the hike.

On our way back down Haley told me to hang out on the bridge for a little while and she was going to run down to the bottom and snag a quick picture of me. I was all for that and while I waited I played photographer for over a dozen different families, couples, groups of friends etc...I should have charged a fee! Eventually I spotted Haley way down there and started to pose for the camera. It was hard not to laugh because people were incredibly confused as to what I was doing. They were trying to figure out if I knew someone down there or if I was just posing for the hell of it. After a minute or so I turned around, smiled at everyone and told them I just felt like posing for a bunch of strangers, and headed back down before they could tell if I was kidding or not. Sometimes you just have to embarrass yourself in front of a bunch of people you'll never see again for a great photo op!!

Portland

August 02, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz in Cross Country Road Trip

Since we couldn't camp in Crater Lake National Park due to all the snow we decided to just push on through and head straight to Portland. We knew we'd be getting in late but that was fine because this way we would have all day to explore the city! We ended up finding a great last minute deal on the cutest little hotel, The Sentinel, right in the heart of downtown Portland. I felt so bad pulling up to this elegant hotel in a very heavily packed Penny, with her windshield covered in bugs, and a bunch of empty Starbucks cups and granola bar wrappers at my feet. To make matters even worse we realized just how unorganized we were when we ended up needing to bring in about 8 bags for ONE night!! I was honestly thankful we were getting in so late because this was pretty embarrassing. We definitely needed to get ourselves reorganized so this doesn't happen again!! Once we finally got checked in and lugged our insane amount of bags to our room we quickly decided we needed a beverage...or five! We freshened up a bit, grabbed our map of the city, and headed down to the lobby bar for a quiet drink and maybe a bite to eat so we could try and plan our day in Portland...or so we thought.

If you're ever in Portland and you want to go out to a very popular bar where all the locals hang out allow me to suggest The Sentinel Hotel's lobby bar - Jackknife! It became abundantly clear we would not be having that quiet drink after all. The bar had a really cool vibe to it though, kind of like 1920's meets modern day. Everything from the walls to the bar itself is made up of old reclaimed wood which gives it that old school Speak Easy feel. The dim lighting coupled with the dark leather couches and bar stools also enhance that old rustic charm. You're quickly brought back to modern day however by the heavily bass driven, electronic mash up that the DJ is spinning. Haley and I worked our way up to the bar and decided on two Dirty Martinis to start off the night. We barely had time to cheers and take our first sip when we were approached by a few locals, probably in their late 20's early 30's, who most certainly had come here straight from work. We chitchatted about our trip and actually received a lot of great advice; they were able to give us much more insight into Portland than our map and brochures ever would. For them the night was early and this was only their first stop. They kindly invited us along for the rest of their Friday night bar crawl but we were far too exhausted for all that. They did buy us another round of martini's before leaving which was sweet of them. We closed out our tabs, took our free drinks, and headed back to the room so we could catch up on some sleep!

We woke up refreshed and ready to explore Portland! First up on our agenda was food; we were starving!! Our new friends from last night suggested this place called Tasty n Alder so we headed that way, only to find it would be about an hour wait. We put our names in and decided to walk around town. I suppose we wouldn't have gotten the true Portland experience if it had been a warm sunny day, so when the rain began to fall we just shrugged on our jackets and embraced it. This town is so cute though, it seems to have a perfect mix of "Big City" and "Small Town" vibes. As we were walking around we saw beautiful murals on just about every street corner! Most of the stores weren't open yet so we window shopped our way through downtown. We did come across this four-story, block-wide used bookstore that we absolutely had to go in! I've never seen anything quite like it; there were just stacks and stacks and stacks of old used books! I've been searching for an old book called The Lion's Paw ever since we read it in school when I was in 4th grade. I thought perhaps in a store of this size the chances might be pretty good of finding it; sadly I was mistaken. Haley on the other hand had great success, she collects really unique or inscribed versions of Jane Eyre and they had quite the selection to choose from! We could have spent hours inside that place but our hour was up so we checked out and headed back to the restaurant.

If I lived in Portland I would be a million pounds because of Tasty n Alder...it was just that good! They have a small plates, tapas style menu with very unique options. I had the Tasty Hangtown Fry; which consisted of fried oysters, bacon lardons, melted cheddar cheese, on top of a buttermilk biscuit and served in a skillet. The menu itself is a bit confusing because everything is so unusual but when our waitress began describing each dish it became increasingly hard to choose. Even their drinks are eclectic and fun; they have an assortment of Champagne Cocktails, Bloody Mary's, and Grown Ass Milkshakes! Naturally we each started with a Champagne Cocktail, then tried a specialty Bloody Mary with our food, and ended with a Grown Ass Milkshake for dessert! We left feeling very fat and very happy...and honestly very tired. As we worked on walking off that amazing brunch we decided to swing by Starbucks to wake ourselves up and head to our next stop; Multnomah Falls!

Crater Lake National Park!

July 19, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz in Cross Country Road Trip

We left Napa bright and early like we planned. It was hard leaving the beautiful Napa Valley but we were eager to cross into Oregon since that would be a new state for both Haley and me. On our way out of California, however, we had the pleasure of driving around Mount Shasta. When Nance was little, she and her family used to rent a houseboat for a few weeks in the summer there. They would tow the ski boat behind the house and just drop anchor whenever they felt like water skiing! If blogs existed when she was my age y'all would be much more interested in hers, she had such a fun and exciting childhood!! For us we just stopped at the observation view point for a few quick selfies, yes we were those tacky people with the selfie stick! Honestly between my GoPro, her giant Cannon camera, my big Nikon, our cell phones, and Bessie her shitty but cute Polaroid camera that her parents had gotten her for graduation, we had our hands full in the camera department. We quickly decided that we would not be able to bring ALL of these cameras along on our hikes over the next few weeks. But I digress, Mount Shasta was beautiful! The top was covered with snow that looked pristine and untouched by man. There was a large beautiful bird that kept flying around the top as we were taking pictures, it was almost as if he was posing for us! He was too far for us to be able to identify though, we should pick up some binoculars for the rest of the trip, but he made for some great pictures!

When we felt we had taken enough pictures we set off again. We ended up making one more unplanned stop just before getting to the California/Oregon border...did y'all know there was a town called Weed, California?! Because we certainly did not! Naturally we had to stop and check out the gift shop, I mean how could you not! Contrary to what you might think they do not sell weed in Weed, California..well at least not that we saw from our brief 10 minute visit to the gift shop. We got a bunch of post cards and stickers and such for all of our 420 loving friends. According to their "Welcome to Weed" sign, it used to be an old lumber town. Now it seems to be a tourist stop with this gift shop being their only attraction, it was still a fun stop though!

FINALLY we made it to the border! The sign was actually really pretty, and as I'm sure you can imagine we had quite the photo shoot right there on the side of the highway. I lost count at the amount of honks and catcalls we received. It's so nice having Haley on this trip because she's just as crazy about pictures as I am so there will definitely not be a shortage of photos from this trip! Eventually we got back in Penny and headed for Crater Lake. Driving through Oregon was gorgeous, we hadn't even made it to the park yet and I was already in love with this state! The scenery was beautiful and the wildlife was abundant. We even saw a bald eagle which was really cool, we were so in awe that surprisingly neither of us managed to get a picture! Shocking I know!!

Well we eventually made it to Crater Lake National Park and holy crap! I really think it's the most beautiful place I've ever seen in real life! I mean these pictures hardly do it justice. There was snow in all the right places so the contrast in colors with the dark blue water, light blue sky, green trees, and white snow just made the whole place look unreal. As we were driving through the park the lake itself was hidden behind a wall of beautiful trees. We saw a slight break in the trees at one point so we pulled off to explore. I was shocked by all the snow that was still on the ground, in fact we were unable to camp because the campsites weren't open yet due to all the snow. Here we are in our cute little Lulu Lemon workout tanks and cropped yoga pants trekking through knee deep snow...clearly we weren't very prepared for this! Thankfully in most places the snow was solid enough to walk on and with the sun shining bright it really wasn't that cold. While I was distracted taking pictures Haley explored a bit and found an even better vantage point...right on the edge of the cliff. One wrong move and we'd get to see just how cold that water was, if we survived the fall that is! Thankfully we managed to get our pictures and enjoy the view without any casualties. It was really a shame that we couldn't camp though because I was definitely not ready to leave this view! I wanted to string up my hammock and take in the scenery till night fall. I can absolutely guarantee I'll be coming back here though that's for sure! Below are a few of our many pictures, including some impromptu yoga at the entrance sign, Haley catching me mid selfie (I have no shame), Penny surrounded by snow (she deserves a cameo since lets be real this trip would not be happening if it wasn't for her!), oh ya and that absolutely GORGEOUS lake!! Next stop Portland!!

Day 2 - Napa!!

July 15, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz in Cross Country Road Trip

I can't believe we did it but we finally managed to get everything packed up and we're finally heading out on this great adventure! Our first stop on our way north is none other than Napa Valley!! I know Napa like the back of my hand but this was a first for Haley. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love wine and appreciate wine, so it’s always exciting getting to take Napa virgins to the holy land. Driving into Napa is one of the best parts in my opinion. Of course years ago when it was just that two lane road surrounded by vineyards, before the outlet stores were built and the road was widened, it was a much nicer drive! Parts of the drive are still that way and it's spectacular. Whether you're a wino like me or not you can't help but get caught up in the beauty that is Napa!

We did the Mondavi tour because personally I think it’s the best and most inclusive tour. We got there right as a tour was setting off but we begged the lady to let us jump in with them and thankfully she did, otherwise we'd be waiting over an hour till the next one. We had a very diverse group of people on our tour ranging from South Americans to New Yorkers, there was even a couple from Miami which was exciting for me being a Miami native and all. The tour was fun and educational and of course ended in a tasting. Unfortunately this isn't the most exciting time to be in Napa in regards to the actually wine making process. The harvest isn't for a few months, typically in September, and the crush isn't until October. As we were touring the property our guide explained what would generally be going on if it were harvest season. As we followed the path the grapes would take from being on the vine to ending up in our glass we saw just how much effort, science, and love goes into each bottle. As we were enjoying our tasting at the end we learned that the couple from Miami had just gotten engaged so our tour guide gave us an extra wine to taste to celebrate!

Next we did a tasting at Cakebread, which is a family favorite of mine. Nance has been going there since it was just a tiny little barn and I've been going there since before I could legally drink wine! Fun fact: Cakebread is actually the first place I ever used my fake ID back in the day! Am I allowed to say that?? Oh well...anyways whenever I'm in Napa I have to stop by and at least have a glass of their Sauvignon Blanc, my absolute favorite!! I've made myself known there which I'm not sure is a good thing or not haha whoops! But for our sake it was a good thing today since we were getting there as they were starting to close up. Thankfully Christian saw me and led us outside for a private tasting! Haley had never had Cakebread wine and she LOVED it which I mean how could she not I obviously love it for a reason! After this second tasting however we decided we should probably get some food!!

There are numerous incredible restaurants in the wine country but my absolute favorite would have to be Farmstead at Long Meadow Ranch. A few of you reading this have definitely been there with me, and quite a few more have heard me rave about my love for this place! So would anyone like to guess where we ate?? Before you even get a chance to experience the wonderful food you're greeted by the most charming and inviting ambiance. There are fire-pits outside where you can enjoy an appetizer and a glass of wine, or even have your whole meal there if its not too chilly for you. Inside has a rustic wooden decor that I swear looks like it was straight out of a Pinterest board! The kitchen is open therefore not only can you smell the deliciousness the moment you step inside but you even get to see a preview of what you're about to enjoy! One of my favorite parts is they have these long wooden community tables, which is where we usually sit because I just think it's so fun meeting people anywhere I go! Tonight however since we were a bit ahead of the dinner rush we ended up having the long table all to ourselves, which was probably for the best since we ended up ordering an absurd amount of food! There are a couple staples that I always order right off the bat, one of them being the Burrata with Heirloom Tomatoes. Everything is farm-to-table so I'm sure you can imagine just how fresh everything is! Needless to say we had a wonderful meal and left feeling fat and happy!! Nothing too crazy to report of the rest of the evening, Napa closes up pretty early, plus we wanted to get a good nights sleep before our drive to Crater Lake National Park in the morning!

Road Trip: Day 1 - PCH and San Francisco

July 12, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz in Cross Country Road Trip

Since we decided we’re going north, I still wanted Haley to see a little bit of the Pacific Coast Highway driving southbound because there’s nothing like driving on that gorgeous two lane twisting, winding road where one wrong move and you’re soaring (or crashing) hundreds of feet down to the Pacific Ocean. So we hopped in Penny (my trusty old dark blue Saturn Vue, who I PRAY will make it to the east coast) and headed south for the day. Not 20 minutes into our drive, we see a really cool graffitied-up abandoned structure just hanging out right on top of a cliff, so naturally we had to stop and explore.

Little did we know, we were about to get some pretty badass free whale watching. We didn't realize that we were technically at the Gray Whale Cove State Beach (if I'm being completely honest we didn't figure that out until we were looking at our pictures on our phones and that was the location...thank God for iPhones!) As we were having our little photo shoot in front of the abandoned building I kept hearing what honestly sounded like whales shooting water out of their blowholes, so I peered over the side of the cliff and to my surprise there were about a dozen Gray Whales scattered throughout the water! We couldn't quite tell what they were doing but we got to talking with some people who had been there all day and they informed us they were feeding. There were quite a few boats scattered out in the ocean as well, apparently they were observing the feeding habits of these whales...how do I get that job?! It was hard to get any really good pictures of the whales from how high up we were but we did manage to get this little clip!

We didn't really want to leave the whales but our stomachs were starting to growl so it was time to continue on down to Half Moon Bay. Now I hadn't been to that area in years and I remembered there being more to do and see there. Aside from The Ritz Carlton, and we didn't feel like spending that kind of money on lunch, there weren't too many food options right on the beach. We decided to head back into the city to have a late lunch in Sausalito at one of my favorite restaurants - The Spinnaker! I've been going there for as long as I can remember and my mom Nance, who is from San Francisco, has been going there even longer. It hasn't changed one bit since I've been going and Nance say's it's been that way forever. It's built on stilts out over the water with floor to ceiling windows on three sides, so the view is outstanding and the food matches! Sausalito itself is by far one of my favorite little towns; it's well known for its abundance of house boats. Actually I could write an entire post just on Sausalito, a few years back I biked across the Golden Gate Bridge down into Sausalito so I'll dig up some old pictures from that day and share with you all the wonders this little town has to offer! After lunch I took Haley to see The 16th Avenue Tiled Steps, all 163 of them! Each level of the stairs are a different design all made from mosaic tiles; personally I think it's one of the coolest hidden gems in the city! We took our pictures and watched the sunset before heading back home across the bay. It was a great last night for me to spend in this beautiful city before we start this month long journey back east. San Francisco you have my heart and I will be back!!

Step 1: Lots of Irish Coffee

May 28, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz in Cross Country Road Trip

So when I told my mom, Nance, as you’ll get to know her, I wanted to do this road trip and start a travel blog, she was of course supportive but she had one request – that I write my first entry from the Buena Vista Café in San Francisco while having an Irish coffee. I had no problem with this stipulation, as I was calling her from the Buena Vista on my second, or fourth, Irish coffee already.

I've been living in California for about six months taking care of my 94-year-old grandmother, and seeing as she's doing better it's time for me to pack up and head back east! Haley, my best friend, sorority sister, and longtime travel buddy loved the idea of a cross country road trip and as soon as she graduated Elon, with her master's in interactive media, she hopped on a plane to San Francisco and joined in.

* Pause for a quick jam sesh to Party in the U.S.A. (yep, that actually just happened) *

So we’re now on our sixth, or eighth Irish coffee, we lost track...whoops! It's been quite the afternoon, as it usually is when you're at the Buena Vista! We’ve made about a dozen friends by this point, and we are convinced that travel blogging is clearly my calling. So I hope I’m able to provide y’all with some quality entertainment about our adventures across America. If not, then shout out to Nance, my one and only follower. Hi Mom!

Hello.Hola.Bonjour.Ciao.

May 24, 2016 by Kristyn Schwartz

I’m an amateur traveler and an even more amateur writer, so naturally I’ve decided to become a travel blogger. People always ask you to think about what you’re good at and what makes you happy, well thats simple: travel. I used to think there was something wrong with me as to why I couldn’t stand to be in one place more than a year or two but now I think its because I’m not meant to be in one place too long.

I grew up in Miami Florida, and yes it's on the water and we have the Everglades, which I love and have spent lots of time in, but it's still a big city and I've always wanted something a bit more remote. So for as long as I can remember I was always begging my parents to take me here and there, and more than once I asked to go to boarding school in the mountains. Much to my avail boarding school never happened. I did get my wish when it came to the travel though. My father was an amateur golfer so we would travel with him to ProAm tournaments all over the country. My favorite was getting to go to Hawaii each year!

When I was in college my love of nature and the environment was really solidified when I chose to get my degree in Environmental Studies. While my friends were studying neuroscience or Russian Lit I was out hiking the Piedmont region of the Carolinas and getting college credit for it! Then came that defining moment people talk about...that Ah Ha Moment if you will: my trip to New Zealand.

Don’t you worry I’ll tell you all about the wonders of New Zealand…and even the misery known as Stuart Island (just kidding it's a beautiful place, we just had a bit of a trying stay to put it gently). But if I give away all my stories right away how will I ever convince you to stay?? I look forward to getting to know you all over time just as you’ll get to know me and I hope you enjoy reading this blog just as much as I enjoy writing it!