I suppose the title of this post is a bit misleading. There is no quick trip from Oregon to Kentucky. Between the flight time, the layovers, and the time difference, traveling across the country is a full day affair. But it’s so worth it. I went home this weekend for my dear friend Kayla’s wedding….
waterfalls and ocean waves.
In our attempt to fit in everything awesome while the weather is nice, we checked two things off our “Oregon to-do” list on Saturday. A hiking trip to Kentucky Falls and a visit to the Oregon coastline. We were also celebrating our 6-year dating anniversary, which seemed to require an adventure of this magnitude. We…
hike to the blue pool.
We had a very “Oregon” Saturday. We started our morning at the Saturday Market. I had heard mixed reviews about this market, some of which warned us that it might make us want to move back to Kentucky. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the market wasn’t weird. It was mostly…
the oregon trail: day 7 (nampa, idaho to eugene, oregon)
The playlist for today’s drive: -We put the iPod on shuffle and enjoyed hits from the Backstreet Boys, Nsync, John Mayer, Sheryl Crow, and Hanson, among others. Clearly, I have wonderful, mature taste in music. Today marked the last leg of our journey across the country. To start the day, our host family in…
the oregon trail: day 6 (park city, utah to nampa, idaho)
The playlist for today’s drive: -”Born and Raised” -John Mayer It has been kind of crazy to wake up every morning on this trip because we’re constantly surrounded by awesome things that we’ve never seen before. This morning was no different, as for the first time, we watched the sunrise over the Rocky Mountains in…
the oregon trail: day 5 (jackson hole, wyoming to park city, utah)
We packed up our tent this morning and left the Grand Tetons as tiny specks in our rearview mirror. Luckily, we had many more miles of forests and mountains before we entered the way less exciting valleys of hay fields and dirt. In case you ever plan to make the drive from Jackson to Park…
the oregon trail: day 4 (hiking in the grand tetons)
There are two things that you need to take away from this post: 1. We saw a live moose in the wild. 2. We hiked 10 miles in the Grand Tetons. If either of those interest you, keep reading. Let’s start with a recap of the night before. We camped at Gros Ventre Campground, where…
the oregon trail: day 3 (fort collins, colorado to jackson hole, wyoming)
The playlist for today’s drive: -The rest of “Bossypants,” read by Tina Fey (thank you Tina, for getting us through Wyoming). We started the day off in Fort Collins with an early morning walk along the path in the neighborhood where we stayed. The trail went behind a lot of houses and eventually into a…
the oregon trail: day 2 (kansas city, missouri to fort collins, colorado)
The playlist for today’s drive: -“Born and Raised”- John Mayer -“Bossypants” (the audiobook)- read by Tina Fey We covered a lot of ground today. Six states: Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Colorado. Wow. In the Smith family, we have a little friendly competition to see who can visit the most states. We call it…
the oregon trail: day 1 (lexington, kentucky to kansas city, missouri)
The playlist for today’s drive (thanks to all who contributed music to our ipods prior to the trip): -“Old Tyme Religion” -Hugo -“My Head is an Animal” -Of Monsters and Men -“Torches” -Foster the People -“Some Nights” -Fun We began our drive across America bright and early this morning, leaving Lexington early enough both to…
a spontaneous trip to charleston.
Eric and I are not spontaneous people, by any means. Generally, spontaneity makes us nervous. We are planners to the core. Take our past vacations, for example. We researched the areas, made reservations and itineraries to make sure we did everything we wanted. We are people of lists. But last weekend, we threw caution (and…
san diego: the last days.
We were really spoiled with eating out for breakfast on this trip. I think my usual morning yogurt is going to taste lame in comparison. We ate at Pannikin during our last two mornings in San Deigo. This place is super cute because it used to be a train station, and now it’s a coffee…
san diego: the middle.
Our second full day in San Diego was, by far, my favorite day of the trip. We started off with a hearty breakfast at The Daily News in Carlsbad. I think the real star of this meal was the toast. Whole wheat toast with the perfect amount of buttery goodness. Oh my. It was glorious….
san diego: the first days.
San Diego is a little bit like a foreign country. I don’t recognize any of the plants. The geography is crazy. And everyone speaks with an Italian accent. But it is incredibly beautiful! We’ve been hearing all kinds of stories about the wonders of California since the Ringers moved there last summer, and we finally…
san diego.
Hello! We’re back from our mini-vacation to visit Eric’s parents in San Diego. Before I get started on the day-by-day blogging, I want to share my initial thoughts on sunny Southern California: 1. There are a lot of plants. Seriously. If you are looking for a career in landscaping, I’m sure someone in San Diego…