travels

50 States - Washington & Hawaii

Seattle, Washington

 

February 18-21, 2016

In February I got to spend a couple days with my sister Emily and brother-in-law Nathan in Seattle. This was the first time I had ever been there and I was so excited to see the city my sister has called home for the last year. It did not disappoint. I wish I could have stayed longer in Seattle, but after a few days it was off to Hawaii with my husband. 

I was given a tour of the city that included places Emily and Nathan have grown to love in their year of living there, as well as the "must-see" places such as Pike Place. We had good food and lots of good fun, and I can't wait to get back there. It was such a change from Colorado in February - when I left Denver, it was brown on the ground and clear skies, getting into Seattle was green and lush with cloudy skies. 

This first set is some of the highlights from my iPhone:

Of course I had to do a couples session with Emily and Nathan while I was in town. The Washington Park Arboretum was the perfect backdrop.

Honolulu, Hawaii

 

February 21, 2016

The last night in Seattle, Reid flew from Denver to Seattle so that we could fly to Hawaii on the same flight and so he could see Emily and Nathan. We flew Hawaiian Airlines on the way there and it was honestly the best experience I've ever had flying. Free rum punch just before landing was my favorite perk. Look at the view from the airplane:

February 22, 2016

We spent most of the day at the beach. Our hotel was on on Waikiki Beach.

February 23rd, 2016

We swam with sea turtles! Such a fun experience. The pictures of the sea turtles were taken with a disposable underwater camera.

February 24, 2016

We went to Pearl Harbor

And then on the way back got dropped off about a mile from our hotel so we could walk along Waikiki Beach

For dinner we tried Rainbow Drive-In and Leonards Bakery. I'm officially obsessed with malasadas! 

February 25, 2016

Went to the Botanical Gardens, found some really cool food trucks, and went back to Leonards.

February 26, 2016

One of the coolest experiences of my life, Reid did a flying lesson and we got an aerial tour of Oahu.

February 27, 2016

We went to Lanikai, the most beautiful beach with the warmest sands I have ever been to. Honolulu is on the dry side, Lanikai is all rainforest. The bottom right picture is from Waikiki Beach.

February 28-29, 2016

Our last day in Hawaii. We woke up at 7:30 in the morning, we were up all day, and then our flight left at 11:55pm. We changed planes in Bellingham, WA, then again in Seattle. We finally ended up landing in Denver at 7:30pm on the 29th and didn't fall asleep until 11:30. I didn't sleep that entire time traveling, making this the longest day of travel both of us have ever experienced. After a long vacation I was very ready and very happy to be home. 

50 States - Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California

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September 13-20, 2015 we did a road trip from Colorado, through Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and ending up in California. 


Reid and I are obsessed with San Diego. We had both been there as kids, and decided that our second road trip needed to be to California. I had been on this exact road trip as a kid, so it was fun to re-live that adventure with Reid.

This was one of my favorite vacations of all time. Reid and I actually had fun on our road trip, listening to books on tape, enjoying the scenery, and laughing together as we drove over the Rocky Mountains to the desert ultimately to the Pacific Ocean.
 

Not going to lie, it's going to be hard to check off all our 50 states because we just want to keep going back to California. 

September 13, 2015

Utah | Arizona | Nevada

We left Colorado bright and early because we wanted to eat dinner in Las Vegas. We drove through Western Colorado, through Utah (and the only thing we stopped at was this weird Burger King for lunch), and through the little corner of Arizona (still counts!). I don't think I took out my camera once until we got to our hotel in Las Vegas, so there's only cell phone shots of that portion of the road trip. I need to get better about having my camera out the whole time, it's just so bulky that it's easier to travel without it on me. 

We made it into Las Vegas by about 6:00 and had dinner at Rainforest Cafe. I remember that place being a lot tastier as a kid, now, not so much. We walked around the strip for a little bit and then headed back to the Stratosphere, which is where we stayed the night. We went to the top of the Stratosphere and I got over my fear of heights for 0.02 seconds to take the bottom right picture.

September 14, 2015

California

We left Las Vegas later than we wanted to, and headed to California. Our hotel was in Pacific Beach, but we stopped in Oceanside for dinner beforehand. We were so happy to see the beach!! 

September 15, 2015

Our first day in San Diego was pretty gloomy and rainy so we couldn't go to the beach. We decided to check out the Gaslamp district in downtown San Diego instead. We also had lunch at In-N-Out for the first time ever, and we were underwhelmed - probably because the anticipation had built too high!

September 16, 2015

Our third day we went to La Jolla and saw the seals on the beach. It was one of the coolest things! We then went back to Oceanside and took the picture under the pier. After that we went to dinner at Alta Marea in Pacific Beach and it was incredible Italian food. We were the only ones in the restaurant, and I have no clue why, because this food was seriously legit. For dessert we stopped by The Baked Bear for delicious ice cream sandwiches. 

September 17, 2015

We didn't take many pictures this day. We checked out of our hotel on Pacific Beach and moved to a hotel on Huntington Beach. On the way out of Pacific Beach I grabbed a pitaya bowl from Northside Shack - I could seriously eat that every day! I wish those were a thing here in Colorado. 

I didn't take many pictures this day. We were both exhausted and kinda sick of eating out and we were sad to be leaving Pacific Beach. We did have dinner with Reid's cousin Jeff that evening by Santa Monica Pier, and it was really fun to see him!

September 18, 2015

 

This was a fun day. We got donuts in Huntington Beach in the morning and then went to the beach for a little bit. After that we went to Downtown Disney (too broke to actually go to Disneyland lol) and then met up with my Uncle Scott and Aunt Gina at The Grove in LA. We then did a little tour of LA going to LACMA, the Walk of Fame, Grauman's, and had Pink's for dinner. We also had some great pie to end the night. 

September 19, 2015

Our last day in California. Neither of us wanted to leave, so we ended up leaving at pretty much the last minute. We spent the day going to beaches after we checked out of our hotel. Started in Long Beach which we found out is kinda gross, then went to Laguna Beach. We got to Mesquite, NV at about 11pm to play some penny slots before bed.

September 20, 2015

Woke up bright and early to head back to Denver. The road trip home felt longer because it's always less exciting. I loved that when we left there were no changing leaves, but as we headed home there was a ton of Fall colors. 

 

 

 

California, we'll be back soon. 

 

 

 

50 States - Wyoming, Nebraska, & South Dakota

As some of you know, my husband and I are on a mission to see all 50 states as a married couple. We have been married since May 30, 2015, and we will have 11 states checked off by May 30, 2016. 

Our first trip was to Wyoming, Nebraska, and South Dakota. I didn't get any pictures with my camera in Wyoming, so I'm only highlighting Nebraska and South Dakota. 

When deciding to take a road trip to Mount Rushmore, Reid and I came up with our 50 States idea. Reid traveled all over in his childhood, but I have only been to a handful of states myself. That's why we decided to start from scratch and see all 50 states as a married couple instead.

Cheyenne, Wyoming  &  Scottsbluff, Nebraska

August 16, 2015

We left at 9am for Scottsbluff, Nebraska. We passed through Cheyenne on our way.

Side note: about half of these trip pictures are from my iPhone - when I know I'm just going to print these as 4x6 or smaller, I take out my iPhone. If there's a chance these will end up being bigger I pull out my DSLR. Because my DSLR is so big and heavy I tend to limit when I use it on vacation. 

 

Scottsbluff National Park was beautiful, here's my favorites from there:

August 17, 2015

We left early on the 17th to head to South Dakota. It was a cold and foggy day, so we made a detour to get me a sweater from the Target in Rapid City (I was not thinking about sweaters in August!).

At Mount Rushmore I talked to a retired professional wedding photographer from Oregon who offered to take our picture together. One of my favorite things about these 50 States travels have been all the neat people we have had the pleasure of meeting. 

We then headed back to Keystone where we had dinner and stayed the night. 

 

The next morning we checked out the profile view of Mount Rushmore, went to The Purple Pie Place in Custer, and took the scenic route home (aka got a little lost). We saw buffalo on the way out of South Dakota which seemed like the perfect ending to our trip. 

Our first road trip together was a successful one. We saw family, checked off our first 3 states, and had fun adventuring together. 

Our Honeymoon - June 2, 2015 to June 9, 2015

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On May 30th, 2015 I got married to the man of my dreams. I obviously didn't take any pictures of my own during the wedding, so you'll just have to friend me on Facebook if you want to see any of those :) I did however take a ton of pictures on my honeymoon. We went to Cabo San Lucas and stayed at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach and it was absolutely beautiful! We got engaged in Riviera Maya, so we wanted to be on the other side of Mexico for our honeymoon.  All the pictures of me on here my husband took with my camera - not bad, right?! 

Cabo San Lucas was the most perfect destination for our honeymoon, I can't think of a better place!