Washington | Light a fire in my soul.

That’s what everyone said to us when we said,
“Oh we’re from Oklahoma and Texas!”
The next question was often, “What are you doing up here?”
“SPRING BREAK!” we’d all say back enthusiastically.
Which was almost always greeted with confused stares.
And that’s how my senior spring break went.

For those of you who don’t know,
two of my sisters and I left Texas on Friday morning and headed to the weird city of Portland, Oregon.
Once there we ate a lot of good food.
Here’s looking at you Grilled Cheese Grill,
This place serves gourmet grilled cheeses out of a truck and you eat in an old school bus.
and had some of the best beer.
We went on a tour around the city, just about beer.
Which during, I managed to find, of course, the German-speaking brewer…
Proceeded to stumble over all my words ever…
Could hear Herr Wakemen crying in the background,
and could see Frau Schestokat and Herr Te Velde rolling their eyes.
We drove up to a mansion in the hills, just for the perfect view of the city… every day.
We left Portland twice, and ended up some weird places and some beautiful places.
Oregon City, Oregon: Home of the End of the Oregon Trail.
and Multnomah Falls, which is downright gorgeous.
A highlight of our time in Portland was seeing my amazing friend Jessie!
We met at camp over the summer and instantly thought the other one was super cool.
OH how great it was to hug her neck again after so many long months without my MSR girls!

Wednesday, right in the middle of Spring Break, we packed our bags and flew to Seattle, Washington.
Seattle is a city about coffee and airplanes, which are two things I definitely love.
Once in Seattle we continued our escapades of eating, and eating a lot.
Drinking, of course, took place daily.
I mean it is Spring Break after all.
We wandered through Pike Place Market day after day, and it was cool every time.
We were under impressed by the original Starbucks, but over impressed by the Starbucks Roastery.
Spent an entire day driving through Mt. Rainer National Park.
Walked through an underground city, which we knew of thanks to my Swiss host dad.
Took a free boat ride, even though I have an insane fear of water.
Walked around the museum of flight entirely too long for not having paid to be there…
And had Thirsty Thursday at the University of Washington,
Which we learned, Thirsty Thursday on the trusty strip in Stillwater, OK is far superior.

All in all, this trip was amazing.
Hanging out with two of my best friends,
In two really cool cities, in a region of the States none of us had ever been to.
It was such a great experience to have marking the upcoming end of my college education.

Lessons I took away from this trip:
(1) LAX is a weird ass airport–got stuck in a terminal for hours with only Burger King and Starbucks.
(2) You can get in and out of VooDoo Doughnuts in under 5 minutes, if you’re skilled.
(3) Portland is actually too weird for me, but Seattle, despite my fear of water, was somewhere I could see myself living.
(4) The South has way better manners, which I was reminded of every time a door wasn’t held for me.
(5) The Space Needle is overrated.
(6) Beer, friends, and exploring, will always be a few of my favorite things.

I’ll leave you with some real cool shots from the adventure, and the piece of advice of,
GO GO GO to the Pacific North West!