European Adventure - Part One!

Hello Adventure! I love it when I get to tag along on business trips!

Adventure awaits!
Unfortunately, it took us SO long to get to Barcelona from PDX.
PDX to Vancouver, BC (I hour)
Vancouver, BC to Toronto (5 hours)
Toronto to Barcelona (9+ hours)

I wore Coug gear almost the entire trip and only got ONE GO COUGS!
That was in the enormously long line to go through customs in Barcelona.

We arrived at our hotel in San Cugat around 10:30 a.m. Omid and Edgar had to go straight to work, and I took a train to discover Barcelona. We only had 1.5 days in the city, so I had to narrow my list down to a few small tourist sites. The first stop was the Arc de Triomphe and Parc de la Citudella.

Fun fact:....Barcelona also had an Arc de Triomphe.

The rain in Spain at the Arc de Triomphe

Did you know? Barcelona is the pick pocketing capitol of Europe?! Rick Steves and my friend Lyn (lived in Barcelona for several years) both say so. I purchased a FlipBelt for the trip and my moolah was safe!

After exploring La Rambla as well, I headed back to the hotel to try to do something with my rain drenched hair before meeting Omid and Edgar for dinner.

Would you believe my flat iron DIED on this trip too? It also happened in Singapore!
Despite the travel adaptor, my flat iron was so powerful, it blew the circuits in the room and I had to
get maintenance to reset the breaker for me. I also had to take a ride into town to the local Eroski store (think Target) and purchase a new flat iron. It's now Nas' for her upcoming European travels.
The good news: I had nicely ironed hair for the rest of the trip!

Hair situation fixed, and the guys and I headed back on the train to Barcelona for dinner. First stop, a local tapas bar for Catalonian wine and jamon sandwiches.

Tasty!

La Rambla tourist selfie!
 

Edgar, Omid and I all love wine. We all love good cheese. And we all love a good Iberian jamon. Next stop was the Jamon Experience.

Iberian jamon!!

All my favorites: tempranillo wine, manchego cheese and Iberian jamon!

This restaurant was delicious!! Thankful we had Edgar along to translate the menu and order our food for us!
Fun fact: Not everyone in Barcelona speaks English!!!

 

By this time, it was late at night and we were all suffering from jet lag. We headed back to the hotel.

The next morning, Omid and Edgar headed in to work and I headed back to Barcelona. There was still so much to see!!

First stop: La Sagrada Familia!!!
Not so fun fact: You MUST purchase tickets online in advance.
LSF only has a small number of tickets available at the door and they usually sell out before 9:00 a.m.
Guess who didn't purchase her ticket online? :(
 

I was so disappointed, but live and learn.  I spent about an hour at LSF just walking all around the building and looking at all the outside architecture. Did you know, LSF will still not be finished in my lifetime? Wow!

After that, I took the train to Monjuic to visit the National Cataluniya Museum. One of the very nice Priests at UP (Father Rutherford) had told me it was a must see. I am so glad he gave me this advice. It was amazing!

Palau Nacional

View of Barcelona from the top!

This is the dome inside.
It was absolutely spectacular!!

I saw SO many amazing things in this museum! Works of art from the year 1000!!!! Frescoes from ancient churches, art from Mariano Fortuny! I stood in front of his very famous Odalisque painting. I can remember this work from my Art History class at WSU. It was very cool to see in person. I also saw paintings by Pablo Picasso.

 

If you travel to Barcelona, this museum is a must see! It's only $12 Euros and the ticket is good for two days. If we had another day in town, I definitely would have visited again.

Pullman Weekend!!

 

 

I recently won tickets to any WSU home football of my choice on Instagram and chose the EWU game (first home game of the year).

 I

First stop in Pullman: Ricos for a drink!

Next stop: Lin & Ward's RV! WOOHOO!!! GO COUGS!!!!

Lia and Amy drove off for their own adventures after dinner at Sellas.

We were up to our alumni shenanigans on campus after hours! #gocougs!

Up bright and early for game day celebrations. We had the yummy omelets in a bag again. If you haven't tried those yet, do! Very easy and delicious!

Great seats! Not bad for free tickets!!!

#America!

View from the endzone

GO COUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At half time, Lin said the seats next to her and Ward were vacant.
We rushed over and watched the game with our
besties!
The Cougs lost, but it was so great to be back in Pullman again!

Omid had to practically put me in the car kicking & screaming, I didn't want to leave.
This was the view out of town. So beautiful!!!


Omid was so thoughtful and took a detour to Walla Walla for wine tasting.
That definitely lessened the sting of leaving town.

Dusted Valley cabernets - always a good choice!

After spending the day in Walla Walla, we headed home.
Check out the sky near Boardman, OR.


Washington State is so beautiful no mater where you travel!

Road Trip Oregon

Omid and I embarked on a fun filled road trip through Oregon last week. We visited all new places we hadn't been before. The best part was meeting up with dear friends along the way.  

Old school navigation. #ilovemaps #gocougstoo

First 'selfie' stop: Diamond Peak Wilderness

Sprague River #serene

We met up with friends Tom & Katie in Lakeview.

Coolest Safeway sign we ever saw. #cowboycountry

 

Restaurants close early  (8:30 p.m.) in Lakeview and were hungry while waiting for Lin & Ward to join us. We stopped at one restaurant and were turned away. They told us to try Jerry's. Jerry's hours say there closed at 8:30 p.m. too, but we were welcomed with open arms and stayed until almost 10:00 p.m. Thanks Jerry's!

4th of July with the BACs #badasscougs

Festive Friends
 

After spending a lovely 4th of July together, we parted ways with Lin & Ward. They left for the rainy coast and we stayed in sunny central Oregon with Tom & Katie for more adventures.

First stop was Fort Rock. Fort Rock is a volcanic landmark called a tuff ring, located on an ice age lake bed.

We could see for miles: an absolutely beautiful day!
#fortrock #bluesky #lushgreenalfalfa

We brought out our trusty map and looked to see where we should travel next. Katie found a place called 'Hole in the Ground.' Katie and I decided Tom & Omid had to take us there. When you see a name like that on a map, it's a must see!!

 

We drove 6 miles on a severely rutted Forest Service gravel road to see it. Hole in the Ground is actually a large maar (volcanic explosion crater). We heard there was a smaller maar nearby called Crack in the Ground, but decided against visiting as it is apparently hard to see.

Not as impressive as I hoped it would be. The crater is one mile across.

Tom then drove us up to Paulina Peak, near LaPine. From there we could see the Three Sisters, Mt. Washington and Mt. Hood. It was beautiful!

Paulina Lake & East Lake as seen from Paulina Peak.

♥!!!

 

Guess what we saw from Paulina Peak? Fort Rock!!!

Then it was off to see the Big Obsidian Flow.

Wow! So strong!

Paulina Falls

Katie & I found this old log full of Indian gum. We both had fond memories of chewing the stuff as kids, but didn't dare try it now. #kidsofthe70s.

 

It took us all day to stop and travel at these places and we were exhausted. We decided to stop in Bend, OR. We had dinner at the Deschutes Brewery Public House. So good!! Their Inversion IPA Caesar salad was out of this world!

The next morning it was off to see the Painted Hills. They are one of Oregon's 7 wonders!

 

 

From a distance, the hills look soft & velvety, but up close you can see it looks like dried mud. They are so fragile. It was unfortunate to see where tourists had stepped on the hills or had thrown rocks to break the claystone.

All in all, it was another wonderful adventure with our BACs (bad ass Cougs) friends! We are already looking forward to the next adventure!!

Happy 12th Birthday Remy!!!

 

 

Happy 12th birthday to our favorite pooch!!

 

Remy started his birthday off with his traditional birthday breakfast: a bowl of freshly picked blueberries from Meadowglenn Farms and a dollop of whipped cream.

 

Happy birthday Remyjoon! We love you oh so much!!!

Prosser Wine Weekend 2016

Last weekend we had our annual wine tasting weekend in Prosser,WA. We were so happy that Lin & Ward were able to join us again this year!

Reunited! #dearfriends

I  LOVE US!!! Three WSU Love Stories! #gocougs

Katie loves to photo bomb!!!

Every year we meet to shoot sage rats & wine taste after.
We asked permission of the vineyard owner. Please don't go into vineyards and start shooting!

GO COUGS!  at Davenlore Winery

With the famous Gordon Taylor

After wine tasting, we headed back to our friends' winery, Pontin del Roza for a private party. Lin's 50th birthday party!!!! Their patio was the perfect place for the event.

Dustin did an amazing job decorating the table for Lin.

So pretty!

Love these ladies!

Omid made Persian BBQ

I stopped snapping pictures at this point, but during our delicious dinner in the stunning setting, I thought to myself: "This is so wonderful! I am here with my best friends and having the time of my life. Thank you,  God!"

 

I'm already looking forward to our wine tasting weekend 2017!