#Nosemite

If you love Disneyland; the throngs of people, the gigantic selection of souvenirs and the warm sun, but happen to get sick from roller coasters, think about opting for Yosemite instead. The sheer volume of people will make sure you don't go anywhere too quickly, and if the outdoors aren't really your thing, that's perfectly acceptable because you'll spend hours in your car sitting in traffic anyway! They have plenty of luxury lodging to choose from so you won't have to worry about sleeping outside in nature either.
     I do hope you're a planner though, because without booking nearly a year in advance, you aren't likely to find a place to sleep for the night. Gone are the days of being a free spirit, following the wind and the road. There's no room for spontaneity here; not with your campsite or your activities, for that matter.
    The visitor center boasts a line just like any good Disney ride so be ready with questions, or don't, because you'll have plenty of time to come up with them while you're waiting. The gift shop is even worse, so expect to eat up some time in these lines if you need anything from a bottle of water to a sweatshirt. If you miraculously find yourself on a trail and do get too hot being outdoors in the elements without the comfort of AC, there are perfectly cool chlorinated pools around, laid atop what was once primal land, that can be accessed for your pleasure. 
    Walking can be tough, so like any good tourist park, they offer a cow train of sorts so you don't have to walk around the park at all! How kind of them to make peoples' lives that much easier. I can practically envision John Muir perched in his seat on the cow train viewing mountains around him without having to actually come into contact with the way they feel, smell and taste or move his feet at all. I'm sure he'd give up his spot atop a swaying redwood for a coveted seat near the tour guide telling him all about what he could be experiencing firsthand. 
     Yosemite has been defiled. It is no longer a place to experience the outdoors, it is not somewhere to go if you want to be with nature; to experience and appreciate it's glory. The only thing you will appreciate is the sense of relief upon leaving. The crowds and tailpipes are noxious and the park rangers have been turned into full time traffic attendants attempting to wave the throngs of cars in the right direction. 
    If you think this sounds great, then please please continue to go. Go to Yosemite, and leave the nameless woods to those who actually cherish them.

So thanks, but #nosemite

Leavenworth, Washington

     Have you ever heard of a wonderful little town in Washington called Leavenworth? If you haven't you are most definitely missing out. Leavenworth is a small town that could be called "Little Germany" as all the buildings are styled after German buildings, the restaurant food consists of brats, ruebens (even vegetarian ruebens for vegetarians like me!) Octoberfest is a big deal here, but Christmas is even bigger.

     This year, after much begging on my part, my parents planned a trip to this wonderful little town and invited me along (how convenient!!) We sta

yed in a little apartment type building just a little ways from the center. There was plenty of snow so we would walk into the heart of town, with the weather it would have taken longer to drive.

     During the day, there are plenty of stores for those interested in shopping, there are snow covered hills for the kids to sled as well as santa claus and frosty the snowman walking about,
 there is also snowboarding and skiing about an hours drive from town. They have bands play in the evening and just about every weekend in December they have a Christmas tree lighting festival.
     There is plenty of traditional food as well, lots of pretzels and very traditional restaurants! I do recommend getting reservations on weekends 30-60 minutes before you're ready to eat.
     You can look on the town website, it has a calendar of important dates and activities. If you have never been here, I highly recommend that you go! And preferably when there is snow on the ground :)

The Painted Hills of Oregon

Oregon has been pushing the "Seven Wonders Of Oregon" lately and on that list is the Painted Hills! We waited and picked a time when we'd have a full three-day weekend to go. The drive from Scappoose to Mitchell seemed to take forever! It was around six hours I think, which for me in a car is close to forever.. We arrived in the evening and drove up to the hills, we got out at the first main parking area with dozens of other people and enjoyed the view like they were. Well, some of them anyway. Have you ever noticed in a popular/beautiful place there are more people turned away from the gorgeous site waiting for their photo to be taken than people who are actually looking at it?

 
After walking on a short gravel path we took a seat and marveled at the striped hillsides in front of us. They had stripes of red and green and spotty stripes of black.

   As the sun began descending, we went into Mitchell to find a place to park, and sleep. The town is literally like two hundred yards long. It has a general store, a hot dog food truck, a restaurant, a hotel or maybe two, and a community park for RV's and tents and those of us saving money and sleeping in their car. Tyler found dinner,

and I ate some salad I had packed. We took a walk to the end of town, looped out onto the highway and walked back into town, and back to our car, all in a whole of about ten minutes. Needless to say, the main draw to the area is the hills!

  Bright and early we were up after a very cold and rough night that consisted of next to no sleep since my boyfriend coughed quite consistently through the night. The morning was warm already. Our map showed us a series of five hikes, all totaling less than three miles. I had really hoped there would be a lot more trails than that! Since we'd done the first one yesterday, we started on the lookout trail. It took us up onto a nearby ridge to offer a bird's eye view of the striped hills now below us.

 

The other hikes were short, and rather lame. They went around small hills (more like mounds) and described the process of the earth, as well as the colors of it. It was interesting to read but by early afternoon we had our picnic lunch and were ready to leave, there wasn't much else to see.

   I remembered a sign outside of Mitchell reading "Rock Museum" and I was intrigued. We followed the sign and talked to a woman who had spent her whole life looking at, examining, mining, and just plain loving rocks! She is a wonderful woman and her museum, although the building is nothing fancy, the rock collections she has are really incredible. There is even a blacklight room filled with phosphorescent rocks that glow lime green and orange in different shapes and patterns.
  If you go to Mitchell to see the hills, don't skip the rock museum! The lady is awesome and very knowledgable! But take cash, she doesn't accept cards. The museum itself is free but she has so much stuff for sale as well that you'll be eager to take something home!
   In the end, you really only need a day to see all painted hills; there aren't many but they are fantastic to see!