Skagit Valley Tulip/Daffodil Festival

  

Two weekends ago was a really wonderful weekend. It was spent adventuring, watching soccer, seeing some live music, and laying around watching movies. Probably the highlight of this all was that Travis and I went up to the Skagit Valley Tulip/Daffodil Festival. I was really in it for the daffodils, even though they were starting to wilt a bit, but the tulips were beautiful as well. As we were getting close and I could see the fields of yellow I was so excited, I maybe squealed a little. Just maybe. 

I have been living in Washington for almost 7 years now and this was the first time I've gone to the festival. I highly recommend going if you have the opportunity. It's only $5 to get in and it's a fun place to just walk around and take photos. Speaking of, here are some photos from our adventure!

This photo by Travis.

And the tulips he bought me!

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A Very Northwest Weekend

The weather the past few weeks has been amazing. You would think it was at least May here in Seattle. This past weekend I took full advantage of the fact that it has been sunny and that I live in the PNW thankfully, because the rain has started up again.

Saturday was spent hiking at Twin Falls in North Bend, WA which is about a 30 minute drive out of Seattle. It was a pretty tame hike, not too steep and about 3 miles. I would definitely recommend for anyone. I haven't been hiking much lately so I'm trying to work my difficulty level back up!

This photo by Paige.

Sunday was spent lounging around at Shady Lake all day. Travis and I were lucky enough to get invited out to a friends' place right on the lake. There are tons of little lakes around Washington and the unknown ones are truly the best.

The only part of the weekend that wasn't amazing (for me, I'm sure the guys would say it was the best part) was the fact that our friends parents have tons and tons of amazing cheeses, none of which I could eat.

I also had the realization that I may have to start sharing my camera time with this guy, he apparently is an aspiring photographer. News to me! ;)

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Mt Rainier Adventure

About a month ago my friend Tessa and I had both had a free Thursday and decided to take a photo adventure up to Mt Rainier.

It was a really awesome time talking while driving around through the mountains and pulling off at different points. We also had pretty clear weather until the end when Washington started doing its thing and down pouring.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day!

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10: Boise, ID to Seattle, WA

I'm not sure exactly where the Pacific Northwest line is drawn but being in Boise was at least closing in on it, so I'm going to just wrap the last couple of days of my trip into one! I spent one night in Boise and one night in Pullman/Moscow. I have heard only good things about Boise and it definitely held up. While there I stayed with my mom's best friend and her parents that I've known forever, well my whole life, and we drove around in her sweet ride, a '64 Galaxie. While in Moscow/Pullman I hung out with my brother's old roommate and had dinner with my old roommate's parents. Roommate connections all around!

I also fell in love with a cafe in Boise, The District Coffee House, and absolutely recommend going there. They had great coffee and a great atmosphere.

And just a few extra photos from my drive back across to Seattle.

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9: Salt Lake City, UT

This is the only photo I have to share of Salt Lake City and I think it's the only one needed. I was only there for a night but I got really lucky having my hotel right next to Temple Square and City Creek. It was beautiful.

Everyone in Salt Lake was extremely nice, from the receptionist at the hotel to the random people sitting at the bar next to me during Monday Night Football. Speaking of which I went to two bars, Whiskey Street and The Beerhive Pub and was impressed by both. Whiskey Street has a ton of well, whiskey. From the looks of it the food is probably great too but I didn't have any. The Beerhive Pub has a strip of ice on the bar to keep your drinks cold, so cool! (Bad pun intended).

I was surprised at how interesting I found the city. This is another spot I would have liked to explore more and definitely plan on heading back to eventually.

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8: Denver & Boulder, CO

This is the second time I have been to Colorado but the first time spending any time in Denver. One of my good friends attends grad school in Boulder and I visited him once last year (you can read about that visit, here!) I had a blast the last time I was there so I was pretty excited to get to spend more time there, including a quick trip into Denver.

I have to say, I was swooning over things like a school girl while in Colorado. I have a big ol' city crush on Denver and the fall colors there leave you complete awe.

Caught in the Instagram act!

People in Boulder are really big on brunch. Therefore my main recommendations are both brunch spots.

Zeal: Amaaaaazing. I had a juice flight - amazing. Coffee - amazing. Frittata - amazing. Atmosphere - amazing.

Snooze: I honestly don't know which place I prefer but Snooze is also, for lack of another word, amazing. (Maybe I should look into a thesaurus, but an accurate adjective nonetheless.) They have multiple locations, and you should go to all of them.

Goldmine Vintage: Not for brunch, but great for treasures. The last time I was in Boulder I snagged some awesome things from here. This time I picked up a Golden State Warriors hat and a nifty ring.

Colorado, I'm liking you more and more.

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