Pacific North Wonderland Day Four: Portland to Anacortes to Orcas!

The morning of our fourth day in Portland we got up early and left our tiny farm house behind. I took one last little walk around the house before we left and saw these mushrooms all over the garden path! We went into town in search of donuts (Blue Star this time) then got on the road to Anacortes, Washington. 

A few hours later we stopped in Seattle for lunch, after exclaiming over the space needle and how beautiful that town looks! We got lunch at Wayward Cafe, after many recommendations!

 Travis had some sort of biscuits and gravy meal, his go to on this trip apparently. I got a Warlock sandwich. It was the perfect little lunch stop.

 We kept going up to the north west point of Oregon, and stopped at this cider store in Mt. Vernon.

I read about it on Roadside America and fresh cider sounded so good! It is an unmanned store, you pay with cash in a little locked box. Looks like people were taking advantage! I love the eyes they drew at the bottom of the sign.

I just planned on getting us a gallon, but once I saw the little pumpkin sippers I had to get one of those too! How cute!

 I laughed at Travis for wanting to only pack shorts, but the weather was so gorgeous all week!

On our way to the ferry terminal we passed this place and had to stop! That big pumpkin was like a siren beckoning us off the road. You know I can't resist a photo op.

 I didn't even buy one pumpkin this year. How awful! I was tempted here, but that would be weird to bring home on the plane.

 Travis and I were cracking up taking these photos. And they turned out just as good as I imagined!

We left the pumpkins and made our way to the ferry terminal at Anacortes. I was really worried about being there on time, and we made it about 45 minutes before the ferry left. The view was so gorgeous, the wait wasn't bad at all! We just ate donuts and listened to podcasts.

I thought it was VERY exciting to drive onto the ferry, I never had before. Travis wasn't as impressed. Our ride was a little over an hour so we left the car and went to the seating area.

We had to stand on the front of the boat of course. I really couldn't get over how beautiful it was there. Photos can't do it justice.

 I guess I'll finish this post up here. I'm trying to get better at editing and not putting 40 photos in one post. Which means they usually just get split up! Ah well. 

Vilano Beach!

We rented a house in St. Augustine for 5 nights during our trip. It was 1 block from Vilano beach, and it was awesome! We used air bnb again and it worked out great as usual! It was nice to be in a house together, which a kitchen and living room (and a hot tub!), instead of being in a hotel. It was cheaper than being in a hotel too!

There was about a 2 block walk to the beach. Not too bad! It was also just a few blocks from a Publix. We went there several times a day every day, to buy floats, and fruit, and drinks, and popsicles.

I got contacts just for the beach! I didn't want to worry about losing my glasses, and I didn't want to swim blind. I'm very near sighted and overly concerned with shark attacks. 

I'm so mad at myself. I bought a beautiful Put a Lid On It hat JUST for this trip! And then left it at home! I left it until last so it wouldn't get smushed and then it stayed home. Bah. I had this fold up one Travis bought me at Goodwill last summer. I had it "just in case" but ended up falling in love with it. I need more colors! I spent most of my beach time under the umbrella. I love listening to the waves but I don't love the sunburn! Also, Crystal brought me that Frida bag back from her honeymoon in Mexico (almost 7 years ago!). It was perfect for the beach!

The beach was covered in tiny shells. Which was a little hard on the feet, but pretty! It also SUCKED the first two days when the waves were really rough and if you fell you got dragged over the sharp shells. I got a few battle wounds. But on the third day it calmed down and got perfect. Travis and Marc just rode waves the entire time.

 Travis bought the big gator, and the little guy was at our beach house. Isn't his face funny? 

 We're all about sun protection in this family.

It was so gorgeous! And the beach front was mostly single family homes, not condos or hotels, so it felt like a private beach! I'll put up with some pokey shells to not have to be crammed in with hundreds of families any day. Look at that sky!

One morning we came down and there was a horse in the sea! Beautiful!

 His owner just walked him through the waves for a while, then walked up to the ramp and left. 

 I liked taking the little gator out and just floating on the waves before they broke. I could do that for hours. I especially love when huge ones come and you can jump. It feels like you are going so high! Crystal and I started pretending to slam dunk when that happened. Dorky and hilarious.

 You have to take a photo like this if you are on the beach.

 We bought beach coozies at publix. Aren't they cute? I'd been looking for this variety of Arizona tea all over in Tennessee but could never find it. Mucho Mango, it's good!

 We went on many beach walks. You could have your dog on this beach so we saw tons of cute ones!

 So many walks.

 The first two days we were there it rained pretty hard around midday. So we had to walk back in the rain. It was kind of fun though, and when we got back we sat in the hot tub to warm up!

 The only picture taken of our house for some reason. We had the bottom floor. 

 Beautiful beach motel a few blocks from house. That sign!

It was pretty much perfect. I highly recommend Vilano beach if you are looking for somewhere not crowded, where you can ride the waves all day.

Florida Road Trip 2014: A Stop in Savannah!

Did you guys miss me? I didn't mean to be gone from the blog for two weeks! But I'm back and I have a ton to share with you! We just got back yesterday from an amazing 10 day vacation down to Florida and back! We went with our best friends, Crystal and Marc. I'm so happy I have some friends I can spend that much time with happily. They are like my family.

Here we are on our way down! We started our vacation in St. Augustine, Florida, by way of Savannah, Georgia. It's about 9 and a half hours from Nashville. Savannah is a fun place to stop to break up the drive.

 We also had to make a quick stop at Cashew in Chattanooga for vegan donuts (and a brownie). They are so good! I wish there was a place to get vegan donuts in Nashville.

We entertained ourselves on the long drive with Mad Libs. Hilarious almost every time! There was also a LOT of singing. From Crystal and I at least.

 Our first stop once we got to Savannah was a place called The coffee fox for soy chai lattes and vegan brownies. Yum!

 Then we went to a store called Paris Market. I was trying out a new site this vacation, Atlas Obscura. IT recommended this as an oddities shop. Which is wasn't really, but it was still really cool!

Look at how beautiful! It was a mix of a cafe, vintage shop, and specialty store. They had so much neat stuff! Like that big white deer!

There were lots of inspiring displays. I loved how they used the skulls and vintage photos in the bell jars. I might have to steal that idea for my house.

 

Across the street was this perfect photo op.

 On our way to our next destination we saw this little buddy driving along! 

 Our next stop was to check out Graveface Records and Curiosities. Can you see a theme developing?

 I was tempted by lots of things in this stop (I was thisclose to bringing home a vintage taxidermy armadillo) but I was trying to hold out on the souvenir front.

 Travis' favorite part was probably the free arcade games! Crystal bought a funny rolly eyeball here. 

 Savannah is a beautiful city. Lots of huge trees dripping with spanish moss and old houses lining every street. This was one of our favorites.

Before getting back on the road we stopped by Carlitos for mexican food. I had read they had an entire separate menu for vegetarians/vegans. Woo! I've mentioned it before, but Happy Cow is an invaluable resource for traveling herbivores.

 Travis and I both got spicy tofu tacos, and they were good! So spicy they made my nose run! 

After lunch we continued on to St. Augustine. It was the perfect little stop! The only thing we didn't get to do was tour one of the historic cemeteries. Next time!