San Luis Obispo, CA

In March, Jesse and I spent my final Spring Break week back in California!  Jesse's brother, Matt, and wife Heidi, moved there several months ago, and we were excited to visit their new town.  Most of you already know that we are actually considering San Luis Obispo (SLO) as a possible place to move after my graduation. We haven't made any final decisions yet, but I wanted to share our trip with you in the meantime.

We flew from ATL to LA, then took the Surfliner Amtrak train up the coast. I have always wanted to travel by train, and this experience did not let me down. It was a beautiful ride, right along the coastline. It was so nice to just store our luggage, then relax after a long flight.

We had a full week in SLO, and Matt and Heidi were eager to show us around. We walked around Pismo Beach, took in the amazing view at the pier, and grabbed a snack at ChipWrecked.

Did a little kayaking in Morro Bay, around Morro Rock:

There were lots of great restaurants to try in downtown SLO. Here's a sampling of some of the tasty dishes we had:

(Batch: Snickerdoodle cookie w/ coffee ice cream sandwich)

(Luna Red: Fried Brussels w/ Bacon dust; Bacon wrapped blue cheese dates; Olive oil cake; not pictured- Lamb sausage pizzetta)

(My new all-time favorite restaurant - The Spoon Trade: Rosemary Chicken and Waffles w/ kimchi; Sourdough bread; Halibut sushimi w/ avocado puree; Burrata toast; Sweetbreads with Homemade Fettuccine)

(The central coast's version of BBQ - the famous SLO Tri-tip Sandwich)

We visited the Mission and also hiked Bishop's Peak - one of the mountains that surrounds SLO (which you see in the background below).

Every Thursday the main street of SLO is shut down for the Farmer's Market. I was in heaven surrounded by fresh produce, and I of course helped support the locals by trying some of the foods available.  :)

On one of our last days there, we went tide pooling. We didn't see very many fish, but it's just incredible to stand that close to the ocean and soak up the nature.

And because we couldn't get enough of the outdoors, we walked through Montana de Oro State Park which has trails that line the bluffs. The views here were the most incredible of all! The cliffs are so high and steep, and the ocean is constantly crashing beneath you.

We even got to celebrate Easter while we were there with an awesome worship and church service. We cleaned up a little bit and snapped this fancy photo:

It was so wonderful to visit with family and see how happy they are in their new location. We can't wait to go back! Until next time, Cali....

Charlotte, NC // Gadsden, AL

In January I took my last part of my board exams. This one required traveling to Charlotte to spend 2 hours showing observers and cameras that I can, indeed, perform an eye exam. It was a quick trip, but we tried to make the most of it. After my exam I picked a restaurant for us to enjoy: Futobuta - a homemade Ramen and Sake bar. It was one of my favorite meals to date. We has the Miso Ramen, Pork Belly Steam Buns, and Sesame ice cream for dessert. (I am excited to find a similar concept restaurant closer to home in Montgomery. We haven't tried it yet, but definitely will in the near future!)

The following day we went to the Billy Graham Library. We are senior citizens at heart. It was a really interesting place, though. Our generation did not grow up hearing much of Billy Graham, but he is truly an amazing man who lived to tell the true Gospel of God. It's incredible how many people he reached through his crusades, and he was so humble he never took credit for anything.

We had to catch one more hot restaurant on the way out of Charlotte. We chose Luna's Living Kitchen for lunch - a vegan restaurant and juice bar that serves mostly raw ingredient foods. Their dishes are so creative and delicious. I love when simple, fresh ingredients are used in non-traditional ways to get the most flavor out of each product. Luna's does this very well. I had the lasagna (zucchini noodles, topped with a pesto, cashew nut "cheese") and a side salad with hemp seed dressing. Jesse had a quinoa burger with a beet salad side. Everything was beautiful and amazingly delicious!

We took the long route home and stopped to visit with one of Jesse's coworkers. They have a lovely secluded cabin that has been featured in Country Living magazine. They were kind enough to invite us to stay and gave us the tour of the property the following morning. Look how charming!

On the drive back to Birmingham we drove through Little River Canyon, starting at the top and stopping to take a peek at the falls. LRC is on of the deepest and longest canyons in the southeast. It starts at Lookout Mountain near the triad of Georgia-Tennessee-Alabama and eventually empties into the Coosa River near Leesburg, AL. There is an 11 mile parkway that follows the canyon with lookout spots along the way. We started at the top, at Little River Canyon Falls.

We wound down, down, down - the end of the drive getting a little scary with steep hills and rocky roads.  We stopped in Gadsden to see Noccallula Falls at sunset.

There are so many beautiful places to explore in Alabama. We are looking forward to finding more gems like these now that Spring is finally here!

Seattle and Olympic National Park

Jesse and I have made a point to travel as much as possible before we both have "real" jobs and before kids come along one day.  So, this summer we knew we would take a trip, and we quickly decided on Seattle. The previous summer we met the beautiful West Coast while in California. This was also the beginning of our National Park quest, and with Seattle came Olympic National Park. Plus, we have high school friend Chase and college friends Hannah and Adam to visit while there! It was a win, win decision.

Between summer and fall semesters we took 9 days to peruse Washington, and in like-fashion of our other trips we packed it full! We landed in Seattle on a Saturday around noon, and after a slight mishap with public transportation that gave us an unexpected tour of Tacoma, we arrived at Chase's doorstep ready to see the sites! (There were so many photos I wanted to share I had to make collages out of them. Click to view them larger, if needed!)

First up was Pike Place Market, which is busting with freshly caught seafood and fresh produce, local artists, bouquets of flowers, restaurants, and more. My heart sings for this kind of stuff. Across the cobblestone street is the original Starbucks, of which I took a picture like the good tourist that I am, but didn't care for any of their coffee. Seattle is home to too many local coffee shops to bother with Starbucks, in my opinion. We ate breakfast at Le Panier French Bakery and Cafe where they create the most decadent croissants I've ever encountered! I had to get another before we left Seattle. We were still in Pike Place for lunch, so we ate at Lowell's for seafood with a waterfront view. (Travel tip: move along and avoid the long wait to eat here. I'm sure you can find seafood just as good in the area.)

Jesse and I had the afternoon to explore alone, so we took a walk to see the Space Needle and visited the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum. These are right next to each other, and I highly recommend the glass museum. We didn't have it on our list of "must-see" places, but it was worth the entrance fee to see his amazing works of art! (Travel tip: you can purchase combo tickets at the glass museum to go up in the Space Needle. We had to pass on this due to time, but it saves a good bit if you're doing both!) The weather was perfect while we were in Seattle- even unexpectedly warm. According to locals, Seattle is not the dreary water-logged city you might think!

We took an Underground Tour of the city, which was really ineresting to learn the history of Seattle as you walk through what was the original business district, beneath its new iconic streets and buildings.

The next day we road the ferry over to Bainbridge Island to get to Olympic. This gives one of the best views of the city!

 Olympic is the most versatile NP we have been to. It covers a good bit of land and consists of beaches, a temperate area similar to a rain forest, to the mountain range. It's really amazing to experience so much just within one park! We camped our first night at Kalaloch, between Beach 2 and 3, all of which are covered with driftwood. We made it here just in time to pitch our tents and watch the sunset!

The next day we woke up early to investigate the tide pools. The amount of shore that is exposed at low tide is incredible. The tide can change by 10 feet, revealing barnacle covered rocks surrounded by puddles of sea life! The rest of the day was spent hiking within the Hoh Rainforest. We chose two short trails - the Hall of Moses and Sol Duc Falls trail. Sol Duc Falls is one of the iconic waterfalls of Olympic. With recent drought conditions, the fall wasn't gushing with water, but it was still a beautiful view. We prefer to get a little off the beaten track to enjoy the surrounding nature while forgetting about all of the people. That's when we found one of our favorite spots of the trip, which crosses a bit downstream of the main Sol Duc Falls.

Our second campsite was pretty awesome as well - underneath a huge Sitka spruce tree and next to the Hoh River. We hiked another trail in the rain forest, engulfed in nature's beauty! National Parks are some of the best get-aways because you are fairly off the grid - making do with what food you brought with you and very limited cell service. While you're hiking, the trees really put you in your place as they loom overhead. It's so refreshing to pull out of our everyday lives and strip down to the basics. Even during a busy vacation, hiking in a protected and historic forest helps us slow down and unwind.

We relocated our campsite for the upcoming night (to Mora campground), then hiked yet again! This time 1 1/2 miles down Rialto Beach to Hole in the Wall, an arch that has been carved out of the rock which is only accessible at low tide.

On our last day in Olympic, we woke up early to enjoy the coast one last time. We took a short drive and hike down to Second Beach. This was one of the best mornings of the trip. We had the beach all to ourselves. After rounding a huge rock wall near the water's edge, we came up on a group of sea otters. If you look closely at the bottom right photo, you can see them sitting on the rock!

We stopped at Hurricane Ridge on our way out, and did a short hike near the Visitor's Center there to Sunrise Point. The mountain range is absolutely glorious!

For our final leg of the trip, we headed to Yakima, WA to visit friends Hannah and Adam. We have been friends with them since our Auburn days, and they moved cross-country for Hannah's job as a physician's assistant! They live in the cutest cabin-like home on the hillside of Yakima, surrounded by apple orchards. Plus they live within short driving distance to many outdoor activities. I always love seeing what adventures they are taking on next! They took us to Mt. Rainier NP and we pleaded with the clouds/fog all day to part so that we could see the mountain in all its glory. It held out and only decided to show a few glimpses here and there, with the most visible at the very end of our hike. It was still totally worth going, and we had a wonderful visit with the Wilsons!

(I promise Mt Rainier is right behind us!)

(The top middle photo shows the glaciers on Mt Rainier. Middle bottom is a groundhog/marmot.)

(The best we got!)

We loved everything about this trip (well, except for the detour to Tacoma)! Seattle was such an enjoyable city. We could go back again and again and do completely new things both in the city and in Olympic. And, of course, eat a few more of those croissants!