Coast to Coast in a Week :)

June has been a busy month full of travel and new adventures. I just finished back to back trips - one to NYC with my sister and daughter to see Frozen and Anastasia on Broadway (although in my opinion the highlights of the trip were Central Park, Musical Chairs in Bryant Park, and the library and they were all FREE!) and one to Oregon where I had the chance to visit the coast, summit a mountain, and walk along the Pacific Crest Trail. Here are some of the highlights from both trips:

Who can decide?! Not us! We will see them both ;)

Getting autographs from the cast!

Posing pretty outside the theater!

Visiting the Alice and Wonderland statue in Central Park.

We stumbled upon the free musical chairs event while just walking the city. There were about 30 circles of 20 people each competing to get to the final circle and win a pair of Southwest Airline tickets. I can't believe how fun this was and am thinking of pitching it to the college I work for as either a New Student Orientation Day activity, or a Campus Day one.

Competition was steep and a few tumbles were involved, but everyone proved to be really good sports!

Was super grateful for my daughter who was also a good sport. You had to be 18 or older to play so she cheered us on from the middle of the circle and practiced nailing a cartwheel ;)

Adjacent to the park is the NYC Public Library which I actually wish we would have left more time to explore. There was a 60's exhibit going on that was really pretty incredible.

The exhibit showcased counterculture: from the music, to the drugs, to the sexual revolution of the times as well as highlighted the fight for civil rights, gender equality and gay rights.

This part of the exhibit provided headphones so you could listen to hits of the day.

Liv must have enjoyed the trip as well; I was informed by a little birdie that she chronicled some of it via a Snapchat story as evidenced from the screenshot my sister snagged below:

After exploring the big Apple it was nice to retreat to beautiful Astoria, Oregon (setting to the Goonies movie). I loved the sleepy feel of the boating town (this could have been a product of visiting midweek before the crowds). While in Astoria we got to climb the column (it was fun watching kids throw little wooden planes from the top and watch them sail on down to the ground), visit the site of a shipwreck, and go out on the jetty.

We stayed with my partner's family for a few nights (where I got my ass kicked in just about every card game we played) and then it was off to the coast and the Slyvia Beach Hotel, a literary themed hotel where each room is styled after an author (we stayed in the Fitzgerald room). Along the way, we took the time to summit Saddle Mountain, my first official mountaineering experience! It was super hazy at the top, but glad I can now officially mark it off my bucket list!

Once we got to Newport and after a bowl of clam chowder, we walked along Cannon Beach which was simply stunning. Seeing Haystack Rock literally took my breath away. So while one thing got crossed off the bucket list, another got added - a home on the Oregon coast looking out on this view (to my pleasant surprise the home we looked up online only cost a cool $600000 as opposed to the 2.4 mil I had guessed!)

I love all the jagged cliffsides that hug the beaches here. Something about the rugged wildness of it appeals to me.

After Newport we made our way to Sisters, Oregon. I just can't get over how much there is to see as you drive along the state. We literally could have stopped every 15 minutes to see something beautiful. Now, I will forever want my road trips to hold such wonder!

And what trip is complete without lots of good food! On our stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory I got to sample cheeses and try Marionberry ice cream which was....delicious (as was my Samon the night before!).

We wrapped our trip up with stops along the Pacific Crest Trail (which always reminds me of the memoir Wild ), the Metolius River, and Forest Park in Portland.

Visiting Oregon with someone who is from there was truly AWESOME! Thank you for being such an amazing tour guide and a huge thanks to your fam for making a Midwest girl (or is it East Coast?) feel so welcome!