San Fran to Seattle
Ft. Alyzee, Rachel, and Me
This was the first major trip that I ever planned on my own (patting myself on the back). We rented this beauty of a van from Escape Campervans in San Fransisco and we started off on our eight day journey to Seattle.
San Fransisco was such a beautiful city, and walkable if you like to hike like Alyzee and I do, (sorry Rae). We only had a bit of time here but we managed to see the painted ladies, have some clam chowder, and stop by Ghirardelli with a view of Alcatraz. The streets here felt very alive no matter what neighborhood we were passing through, from china town’s lanterns to the flowers and murals on the sloped streets, I can totally see why this is one of the most expensive cities to live. We however had our trusty van to avoid those inflated housing prices and we slept right in the Golden Gate Bridge’s view point parking lot! First night of van camping was a total success and with a great view.
Next stop Yosemite National Park!!!
Off with a bang!! We made it to Yosemite after about a three hour drive and immediately locked ourselves out of our van/home. WHOOPS. Lucky us Rachel had AAA so crisis averted but they couldn’t help us until after 3:00. So while locked out we headed off on our first real hike of the trip. I don’t remember the exact trail we were taking up to half dome but it was full of steep switchbacks which quickly got the best of me to my distaste, but just being real my body was not agreeing with me and I had to cut this hike short. Total bummer but Alyzee kept on going without us to get the real views. Like I said really off with a bang, lol, only up from here!
Leaving Yosemite after a long day of mishaps we found this beautiful place to pull over and sleep for the night. We made our first van kitchen dinner which was just a salad but we were full on life and probably some trader joe’s wine too. Our first night playing rummy was followed by us reading with our headlamps on until we fell asleep (this will become a pattern). Couldn’t have asked for a better more private spot and THERE WAS A TOILET.
Okay now this was really the first real hike of our trip. Mount Tallac over looking Lake Tahoe.
Mount Tallac was such an amazing hike, a little more than 10 miles round trip with the most breathtaking views of Lake Tahoe at the top. There is nothing to me that compares to the beauty of snow capped mountains and the blue of that water. Totally worth the rocky way up. The hardest part of living out of a van is the lack of accessible showers, and boy did we need one after this hike. So shower we did, in Lake Tahoe! We jumped in the FREEZING water with our natural soap and scrubbed up, very refreshing but I learned after this day that I was just going to have to accept greasy hair life because natural soap is just essential OILS woohoo.
IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!
Lassen Volcanic National Park was not one that I had heard much about prior to planning my trip but dang! I mean I think the pictures speak for themselves, it was absolutely breath taking and hard to tell from the pictures but at the top of the hike hundreds of orange butterflies swarmed the air, talk about magical. This was also the first day we got to test out our solar shower which we were all very excited about until we drove away with it on the roof of the van (major face palm). Nothing could top this day though, we parked on the side of a semi deserted highway in the middle of no where, made a make shift table and had a potluck of all the random foods we had. And of course some bubbly!! Not most people’s ideal 21st birthday but it was literally perfect to me.
Crater Lake National Park
Oh Crater Lake where do I begin. The most breathtaking place I have ever been and talk about blue!! We all did a short hike up to a great viewpoint and then Alyzee and I spent the rest of the day meandering around the crater while Rachel sipped coffee and read in the van with the most epic view. To me these pictures don’t even look real, and hardly do it justice. When you’re there in person it honestly feels like you’ve stepped onto a new planet, made entirely of blue, pristine and still. When I think of blue (my favorite color) my mind goes here to this water and sky, HOW WONDERFUL IS OUR WORLD!?
Hello Portland! What a quirky place. We only had a bit of time so Voodoo Doughnuts and Powell Books were about all on our list of must sees. My favorite area was the pearl district where Alyzee and I met our animals friends and did some eco friendly shopping. A place worth revisiting and spending more time for sure!
Mt. Rainer National Park
Let’s just say this day definitely did not go as planned. We pulled into the park just before dark planning to camp for the night and hike the next morning. To avoid paying for a campground we pulled into a view point parking lot for the night (knowing full well that we weren’t technically allowed to park there overnight). We were peacefully reading in bed when we saw sirens out the back window of our van. Peering through our curtain we see that the park rangers have pulled someone over and are doing a full DUI test directly behind us. They arrested the drunk driver and we thought we were in the clear until we saw flashlights approaching and before we knew it there was a ranger banging on our door. The girls decided I should handle it lucky me so I hopped out of the van to 4 rangers surrounding me. They were super sweet once they realized the hippy van contained only three small girls reading before bed LOL. But did warn us that it wasn’t the safest place to sleep and gave us direction to the nearest campground, where we spent the night for $20. THEN to top it all off the next morning we woke up to winter like conditions. We drove to the start of our hike with only a view of fog and saw other hikers preparing for their journey with shoe shoes and trekking polls. Having spent the majority of our trip in the summer heat we were definitely not equipped and sadly had to leave the park and head to Seattle without ever getting a view of Mt. Rainer. Just leaving us a reason to head back again in the future!
Seattle, WA
Seattle has been one of my favorites cities ever since I first visited when I was 14. Once convinced that I would move there for college but deterred by the chronic rainy weather, ironically every time I have ever visited it has been absolutely gorgeous. It was so fun to explore Pikes Place again and show Alyzee and Rachel some good spots for food. We went to Starbucks in true Seattle fashion, but not the original one because the line there was ridiculous. We walked and walked and popped in and out of shops all day until we finally ended our last night of the trip with our first meal at a restaurant! We went the entire road trip making our own meals and really skimping by, so this last night we really went for it. Seafood buckets and pina coladas all around! Way too expensive but worth it to commemorate an amazing trip. And that a wrap folks!