Day Eight

Today had a bit of a slow start. My Cassandra Marie hasn't been feeling well the past few days, and she tried to power through. But unfortunately, she didn't make it.

She died. 

Just kidding. We almost died of boredom in the medical clinic today - we were there for about two hours. As it turned out, she had strep without having a fever or any other symptom besides a sore throat. But we finally got her some antibiotics and soon she'll be her cheery self again. And she'll stop making weird stank faces at me every time she tries to swallow food. 

After the doctor adventure, we were in San Francisco. Honestly, I've been to San Francisco and done a bunch of the touristy things there already. And so has Cassie. Since we got such a late start in the day, we didn't really have a lot of time in town anyway. 

When we drove in, it was already almost sunset. And in the distance were these huge storm clouds that looked like they were about to encompass the city. Oh wait, they weren't storm clouds. It was the disgusting smog fog that rest on top of San Francisco.

Cassie and I have both already been to San Francisco and done the typical touristy stuff, so we skipped the usual sight seeing. It was already nearly sunset when we got into the city. So the first place we went were the 16th street mosaic steps. I think this was an effort to maintain culture in the neighborhood. The mosaic looked awesome. The steps together as a whole picture, but it was also arranged in sections that had their own mural.

We also wanted to go on the Seward Street Slides, a set of super steep slides nestled between some houses in San Francisco. But they were closed. Whatever, we thought. We'll just be cool and rebellious and go on them after they close. No. They had set up min gates throughout the slide so it was impossible to slide down. What a kill joy.

We drove a couple of hours to our stop for the night. I almost had to slap this women at our inn, Pat. She told me she could see that I had a reservation but I didn't have a room. When I asked her how that was possible, because to me that just doesn't make sense, she told me to calm down. Yes, I should calm down after calmly asking what was going on with my reservation. She continued on, "Everything is a process. You just have to be patient." Um no. Excuse me. I just drove three hours and I'm trying to figure out if I have somewhere to sleep or not! She finally called someone to help her out, because apparently she can't figure out their computer system. This guy was great. Apparently they gave our room away, so we got upgraded, for free, to a cottage. Because they also have cottages. Cassie and I got to settle up for the night. And when we got hungry, which was at midnight when every restaurant is closed, we went to a grocery store and got chicken nuggets and mac n cheese that we were able to make in our kitchenette. Greatest dinner yet.

Day Seven

Fun fact about Cassie: she handles stressful and serious issues in quite the calmest way. Just as we were driving to our hotel for the night, out of nowhere, a taxi cab swerved out of his lane across the two lanes of the highway we were on. Cassie immediately swerved out of his way but his bumper was next to our tail light so I was sure we were gonna hit him. But she handled it so well we slipped right by him! I couldn't believe. I'm so thankf she stayed so calm and reacted.

I'm a day behind but I'll catch up. Sometimes I'd rather read or sleep than blog.

So yesterday we went to Napa Valley! We chose to take a tour with the Robert Mondavi winery. I have to say it was an excellent choice. Apparently Mondavi is so a marketing genius. And I love stories about marketing geniuses.

We also got to witness drunk California girls on a wine tasting spree. One of them sounded just like Kristen Cavallari on Laguna Beach. And they were wearing dresses with fur vests and heels. On a wine tour. I just don't get it but maybe I'm not "Cali chic". They also took a million selfies while our guide was actually giving the tour. They were just special.

Im sure the winery is beautiful in the spring or summer or during harvest time. But yesterday was cold and rainy and the vineyard was bare.  We got some excellent information on their picking system and their drip irrigation as well as how they use oak barrels for their wine. A lot of useful information on how the wine is made and why it tastes the way it tastes.

The tasting was great, too. We got to wat some bomb meatballs with our wine. We were very concerned we couldn't get more meatballs.

After the winery we made a spontaneous decision to meet some family that was getting together not to far from us. My dad is the sixth of seven siblings. I've only met one of my Aunts, my Grandma Maybelle, and last summer I met my cousin Mary for the first time. I was really excited to meet more St. Johns. I was meeting my dads oldest brother, Edward, his wife, and his three children and their children.

It was so great. I can't desribe how happy I was to meet them and feel so at home. It was so easy to see that we were family. And they had great stories about my dad and grandma that I wouldn't otherwise get to hear. It was also hilarious to see how they interacted with each other. They had so many inside jokes. I'm really just filled with not that I was able to meet them. And I had my Cassandra Marie with me the whole time.

Day Six

Fun fact about Cassie:
Cassandra Marie is a glorious singer. It's a privilege to hear an angel sing. You may think I'm always sleeping in the car but I hear you in my dreams. I'm taking you to some sort of karaoke night when we get back home. Don't fight it.

We continued driving around the Redwood forest today. There is a road called Avenue of the Giants that runs parallel to the highway. It weaves you around all these glorious trees. It's a much better alternative to the high way.

Once we were through the Avenue of the Giants, we went to the world famous drive thru tree. Its called a Chandelier tree and it's over 300 feet tall. Thankfully, we have a little car that was able to fit through the tree. So were literally drove through a tree.

On our way to the next stop, we got to drive along the coast. We must have been so distracted by all the sights around us that we didn't realize just how low on gas we had gotten. We had to turn around and drive back to a small strip of town that had about 300 people in the whole population. These little towns freak me out. We encountered more NorCal hicks at this general store that had a gas pump on the curb. They invited us to drink some beer that he was keeping cool in his truck bed, like 7 six packs of beer just chilling in his truck bed. They were smoking something, I didn't really realize what until he offered me some and I noticed a piece of bud hanging off his upper lip. We graciously declined such hospitality. I just couldn't believe they were going to hard at noon. But it didn't seem like there was much to do in that town anyway. 

The next stop was Fort Bragg. The beach in Fort Bragg is rumored to be covered in sea glass. We knew from reviews that it was no longer covered in sea glass, and that maybe you could find patches of it here and there. We got to the beach at the same time as some high school group or boys. They were there for some field trip it looked like. Just as Cassie and I get to the edge of a cliff and can look down on the beach, we saw half a dozen of these boys strip down and run into the water. You just can't plan for some things. 

The beach sits below a cliff or hill. It's weird to describe. We walked around the upper terrace looking for sea glass. It was a great view because all over this hill/cliff were succulents. I've never seen so many and they were so bright and vibrant. 

We found a patch of sea shells and glass. I really enjoy finding sea glass because I remember looking for some at Rockaway Beach with my Uncle James years ago. The pieces here weren't nearly as big, though. 

After the beach we went through the town for lunch. It's a cute little beach town. The shops were a bit older and they were painted different colors so it was cute to look at. After lunch we had a three hour drive to Napa. We stayed there for the night to be ready for wine tasting in the morning.

Day Five

I had an idea on how to start these blogs. I am going to supply a random Cassie fact of the day. Spending ten days side by side with someone lets you see a side of them you may never have gotten to see. I am with her constantly and I am still swelling with happiness. Thanks for being the perfect person to embark on this trip with, Cassandra! Love you. Ew. I said it.

The Cassie fact is: This woman can sleep through anything. She is willing to sleep through everything. I'm usually up for about two hours before home girl even stirs awake. Ive taken showers, used the blow drier, made coffee in the loudest coffee makers, had bells on a micro wave go off, and she won't wake up through any of it. I'm in awe of you.

The first place we headed to this morning was Face Rock. It's a scenic rock in the ocean near Bandon, Oregon. The rock looks like a face and at sunset, the sun sits right near the rocks mouth. We thought we'd start our morning out there on the beach, relaxing and taking in the view. But there was no way to relax out there. The winds were so strong I could lean back and the wind could support me. I actually got pushed by the wind into a thorn bush. Like what the hell? The rock was beautiful. My favorite thing about the beaches in Oregon are how powerful the waves are. They rise so much more than waves I've seen on other coasts.

The rock is in the background behind Cassie's head. I got better pictures of it on my disposable camera. 

Hannah - thanks for the cameras :) Love you.

We then departed to head to California and the Redwood forest. There is a tour called "Trees of Mystery" that takes you through parts of the forest and shows you interesting phenomena of the trees growing there. You can also take a "gondola" up through the forest to an observation desk so you can overlook the forest. 

We wanted to get to something called the Avenue of the Giants tonight as well. But, when it is pitch black by 5 in the evening, it really messes with your plans. We spend about 5 hours in the car and there just wasn't enough time. 

We were driving through a town near the Redwoods called Orick. The population of this town is only 650 people if you need an idea of how small a town we were in. We needed to eat, and once again, almost every restaurant Yelp suggested was closed. Except, the Snack Shack. Just a kitchen shack on the side of the highway in a small town. We were pretty nervous to try it. We each got a burger, fries and a milkshake. A bunch of the kids from the town were hanging around this woman. It struck me as there was literally no where else for them to hang out in the entire town. Which is sad. They also had a weird country drawl that I would not expect from a town in NorCal. When I looked back at our cook, she was sticking a meat thermometer in our burger. I was really surprised at first - I mean it's a friggin burger - but Cassie pointed out that at least we'll know it was cooked. She always finds the bright side to everything. 

To my surprise, it was pretty good. We ended up eating huddled up in Sparky because the only seating that the Snack Shack has is outside. It was a special perk we got to experience on our trip. 

We got checked in a hotel around 6. And I kid you not, we were both in bed by 7 ready to go to sleep. This whole early sunset followed by complete darkness is throwing us off too much. And I need to be ready to get Cassandra Marie up and going in the morning so we can get to Napa Valley by tomorrow night!

Day Four

This morning, Cassandra Marie and I set out to do what we came to Tillamook for. We got some authentic Tillamook cheese.

We headed to the factory this morning to see how Tillamook cheese is made and packaged to be shipped out.

We learned a lot! Like the life of a dairy farmer. Did you know all the cows had names, they weren't just numbers? Just think about that.

We got to try some cheese, which is fantastic because Cassandra Marie and I love cheese! Fresh Tillamook cheese is actually pretty great. If we had a refrigerator in our car, we would've bought some to take on the road.

Today was another day spent mostly in a car. But it was an amazing day. Every day is an amazing day when you're with the love of your life, but the sights we see are pretty great, too.

We started our trip on Highway 101 to Cape Kiwanda. While seeing an Oregon beach was cool - wet, cold, dark, ew - it wasn't quite the sight we were hoping to see. So we got back into Sparky and continued down the road.

The next stop was a place called Thor's Well, also known as the Spouting Horn. This structure rests as a part of Cape Perpetua. Essentially, it's a huge salt water fountain. Seeing Thor's Well is reportedly best at high tide, which is also at it's most dangerous. However, we made it to Thor's Well at low tide. Regardless, it was still a spectacle. 

We had to park Sparky on the side of the highway and walk down to see the well. There's not a clear cut path, but part of the fun was hiking down the muddy hill to get a better view of it all. Cassie is the adventurer, so she went further out. And found wonderful sea shells. 

After our fun playing around outside, we continued driving on the 101. Here's we the spontaneous fun comes in. We drove by the largest sea lion cave in America. I mean, you would stop, wouldn't you? 215 ft. below a gift shop is a viewing space that was constructed out of solid rock where you can see hundreds of sea lions hanging around. They swim in from the ocean and lay upon rocks and sing to you the songs of their people. It was incredible. When we went, because this is an off season, there was a couple of hundred inside the cave. 

We wanted to get to Face Rock by sunset, but because the sun sets around here at 4:30, that became to much to ask for. We drove out to Old Town Florence and found a cute little town on the water, Everything was rustic looking and there were so many Christmas lights. We drawn to a restaurant that had amazing Yelp reviews. Our guts were right - it was Wine Wednesday at this place. AKA half off bottles of wine. 

Cassie and I are the queens of living the high life on a budget. Everyone would be so lucky to plan a trip with either of us. 

We had shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, chicken alfredo and ahi tuna steak. I am a sucker for some tuna steak. 

Tomorrow we will finally leave Oregon. Not that I want to leave, but we have spent so much time here! There's so much to do that we have to drag ourselves away so we can actually make it to California. 

Day Three

Yesterday was the part of this trip that can only be described as "Trying New Things."

Cassie and I started our day with a wonderful ride through a winter wonderland. AKA Mt. Hood. We were heading to Timberline Ski Lodge so I could try skiing for the first time ever. I was terrified but Cassandra Marie had faith in me, so I knew I could do all things.

The drive was incredible in itself. Within minutes of our ascent up the mountain, everything was covered in snow. We aren't used to such things in Texas - snow, mountains, an abundance of trees. It was quite the sight.

When we got to the ski resort, I nearly bailed. I am so afraid of heights and things that combine heights and speed and no control of my legs are not ideal for me. I'm amazed I even agreed to go in the first place. And, no surprises, I fell. A lot. I ran into trees, rolled down the hill and face planted only a couple of times. The only thing even open today was the friggin smallest bunny slope, too. So, I'm just inexperienced. Most of the time, I fell because I couldn't figure out how to stop. So I just tried to flatten out. Which was funny because sometimes I continued skiing down the hill while lying on my back.

Cassie Marie, on the other hand, is a snow goddess. I've never seen anyone else ski with such small effort and with such ease. She was the envy of all the snow land. I had a great teacher. Every time we we went down, I got a little better. Until we took a break for lunch and drinks. Then I had to start all over again.

We must have been doing such a good job that we caught the attention of a local news van. They stopped to interview us, ask some deep, personal questions, and also what we thought about the weather and snow. Well, we're from TEXAS. It doesn't take a lot of snow to impress us. So we were just so excited to even be out there. But apparently we chose the worst day to go ski. The snow on Mt. Hood was 13% of its average and the lowest amount of snow since 1981. We really didn't care, though. We still made it on the news. Watch us here.

After all the fun that was our ski adventure, we took off on a three hour drive to our next destination, Tillamook, OR. We are only here to go to the cheese factory, which better be good because this town smells like cow pies.

On the way to Tillamook, we had to refuel Sparky. That wouldn't really matter, except in Oregon, you can't pump your own gas. They have attendees come over and pump your gas for you. Normal people don't care, but this was just another adventure for Cassie and I! We told him we were novices so he slowly and surely explained to us how we could literally sit in our car while he pumped our gas and cleaned our windows. He must've known we'd just become local celebrities.

When we arrived in Tillamook, like I said, the first thing you really notice is the smell. Of cows. Everywhere. As soon as you step outside. I mean damn. We found a hotel to stay at but needed to find somewhere to eat. Mind you, it's only 8 p.m. when we try to find a restaurant. I think in this whole town, only 5 restaurants were open after 8:30. We had very little options. So we chose a restaurant that had decent review and when we get there, no one is there. The lights are off. No cars in the lot. The place was completely closed. We went to the one other restaurant that was still open at that time, now 8:30. It was some brewery/restaurant combo. The smell on the inside of the restaurant was worse than the smell of the entire town. We almost just called it and went to Subway. But Cassie found an Irish Pub that was open till midnight and still served food. When we got there, we were informed that we had chosen to come in on karaoke night. Thank goodness.

This whole bar experience is really indescribable, but I'll do my best. There were flashing lights and booming music from 2004 and a bunch of drunk hicks yelling at each other. Cassie and I immediately ordered some drinks and food. We got nachos. There weren't even beans on the nachos. The "sour cream" was pink. The pulled pork on the nachos was also fine, but better if you ate it without the nachos. I was full pretty fast. We had someone, we really don't know who, buy us drinks from the bartender. Literally as we were about to leave. So we tried to pawn them off on someone else, and I somehow ended up playing pool so we could offer my teammates our drinks so we could leave. We heard things like, "We can tell you're not from around here," and "Texas?! What the hell are you doing out here?"

We don't know, sir. We just wanted to try some cheese.

Day Two

Well, today was a pretty busy day. 

I think the most important thing begins with the first thing that happened this morning. We got our loyal Sparky. 

YES! We will be traveling the coast in a chic Chevy Spark. AKA half of a real car. It's got enough character to make up for the zero trunk space though. I mean, we love him. 

But now that we have a car, we are unstoppable. So we went and set out to do what our sweet and pure hearts desired. First stop was the stag sign of Portland. 

Which coincidentally led us to walk around Waterfront Park.

Then we took the Portland Aerial Tram. Now, we can't tell if it's actually a tourist attraction or not, because we were mixed in with a bunch of people going between the hospitals connected by the tram. But we got a pretty sweet view of the city. 

Moving on, we went to Portland's Japanese Garden. Spanning over 5.5 acres, the garden featured Japanese plants and structures. We felt very zen and tranquil. 

Feels like we did a lot, doesn't it? This just brings us to lunch time. We went to an American diner called Brekkin's by St. John's bridge. I can safely say we ate the most intimidation burger I've ever seen. We also had some bomb meatloaf.

After lunch we went to check out St. John's bridge. I mean how could we not - it's my name sake! The bridge is located in Cathedral park right on the water. It's really quite the majestic site. 

From there, we drove out to Multnomah Falls. You have to cross underneath the highway and then start up a trail through the mountain. But you come across a beautiful waterfall that is LOTR worthy. 

Magically, I found the cutest hotel near the falls. The Columbia Gorge Hotel sits on the river and is covered with Christmas lights. The elevator is the same one in use in the 1920's and one of the hotel staff members has to operate it whenever you use it. I think the best part of the hotel, however, is that we found robes in the closet. We had really been wanting to find a hotel with robes....

Day One

Hello, everyone!

If you were unaware, or live under a rock, my sweet Cassandra Marie and I have decided to travel to the West Coast for 10 days to celebrate our graduation. There is really no way we can describe how fun and exciting it was to plan this trip. And now we're actually here!

I thought I would go ahead and blog about our trip here much the same way as I blogged about Italy. Shockingly, many of you seemed to actually like reading my blog. I'm still surprised but in love with everyone that took the time to see what I was really up to on my summer abroad. We're traveling to a lot of destinations in a short span of time, and I will post plenty of pictures here as well as on Facebook or whatever.

I almost said I wouldn't take about food as much as I did while I was in Italy, but we had some amazing food yesterday. Don't worry, I'll get there.

We left San Marcos yesterday around 5 in the morning after a full night's rest. We definitely didn't get two hours of sleep and then struggled to get up and on the road. See, mom? I listen to you.

After about nine hours of traveling and wandering around airports, we finally arrived in our first stop - Portland, Oregon!

We had a little bit of a rough start when we got here. We went to the company that we rented a car from only to find out we went to the wrong location. So we took a cab to the right location. Unfortunately, I cannot find my driver's license. (Mom, EVERYTHING IS FINE! Please don't worry. You don't even have to text me about it. Really....don't.) So they will not accept my credit card as payment. So my sweet Cassie steps up to pay. But they won't accept her debit card as they need a credit card. So there was a struggle. We resolved to travel like nomads to a nearby hotel and walk the streets of downtown Portland for the rest of the day and start over with the car issues tomorrow. While walking up to a posh looking Embassy Suites, we pass by another car rental company. I thought I might as well check with them about our situation, so I ran over. While they still could not accommodate me for a car that day, they said our issues with ID and payment were fine and that we could rent a car the next morning. So, like I said, everything was fine!

With our car booked for the next morning, we checked in to the hotel. And damn, this is a nice hotel. Our room has a huge and luscious king sized bed that I thoroughly enjoyed napping in. The concierge also informed of us free drinks at night and free breakfast in the morning, so we were feeling pretty great.

By that time we were starving. We took our huge tourist map out and scavenged for food. We settled on an Irish pub about a block away from our hotel called Kell's. We made a good choice because apparently Kell's has been ranked as one of the best Irish pubs in the country. So go us. I got a Shepherd's pie that was absolutely amazing. Can't ever recall having eaten one before but the bar is set high. My date had Bangers and Mash that was also really good. The pub also had a really cool tradition of tying a dollar, kind of like a dollar bow tie, and sticking a tack through it. Then the waitress would throw the dollar up and try to get it to stick to the ceiling. Our waitress told us that all the money that gets on the ceiling is periodically takes down and donated to a children's charity. There are A LOT of dollars on that ceiling so good for them.

 

 

By this time we just wanted to chill. We spent some time in our hotel, thought about going to the pool, got in bed and watched tv instead. Then got our free drinks.

We set out to Powell's City of Books. This is a book store in downtown Portland that could easily be described as the biggest library I've ever seen. There were several stories of different themed rooms that must house every single book that has ever been written. It was amazing just how many books this place had. I mean the name should have warned me but still...

After Powell's, we went to dinner at Old Town Pizza. Apparently,  the pizzeria used to be a hotel that also housed prostitutes. Theres a story that one of the prostitutes, Nina, who had been abducted and sold into the profession, began divulging information of the trade to a group of people who promised to free her. However, she was thrown from an elevator shaft and died. So yes, we ate at a haunted pizza place. And it was delicious.

Then we got ten hours of sleep in our luscious king sized bed. Boom.