Tamolitch Falls and Blue Pools

Hellloooooo, currently road tripping back to SF so I thought I would update you on our last day in Oregon while there’s still SEVEN hours left of our drive haha.

So we decided to take our time in the morning and skipped the seaside for a longer waterfall hike. It looked like we were walking through an enchanted forest with the greenery and all the moss. The inconvenience for real hiking vs our california fake Malibu hiking is that there aren’t really defined footpaths so we did a lot more climbing over rocks and uneven hills (no logs to jump over this time though!!). This was one of my favorite hikes! We had so much fun being wood nymphs again and boy am I sore today!!

The blue pools are this unique color because the snow goes under the rocks and then gets filtered and then rises back into the pools which was so cool!!

I really wanted to jump in, but there was no path down except for literally scaling the rocks down. Habib was a total spoilsport and banned me from climbing down even though I told her we practically have been training for this the past year with our rock climbing hehe.

Apparently one of the must dos for Eugene Oregon is to stop at Hirons. It’s a pharmacy, post office, Big lots, and any other random store you can think of combined into one! There was everything from Halloween masks (which we had a lot of fun messing around with).

I also found friends for my steamy alpaca!!

Like the good foodies we are, we decided to stop at the famous Dutch Bros for glittery red bull combinations (and a classic salted caramel latte for me). 

What better way to follow up our caffeine rush with a Vodoo Doughnut sugar rush! We had a lot of calories to make up for post hike hahaha.

They were delicious!! And the best way to end our trip in Oregon. Only six more hours to go guys!!

Love you all,

Carolyn

San Francisco, Day 3!

Good Morning Fam Bam!

Current status is 6 more hours to Oregon so I thought I’d update you on yesterday since I basically got back super late and crashed in bed for this morning’s 5 am wake up call. Woohoo, road trips!!

So yesterday we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (still have to pay that toll the next 24 hours by the way, don’t let me forget!!) to drive to Muir Woods. It was beautiful! I think this was by far my favorite part of all of San Francisco. 

The redwoods were magnificent and we were some of the first people in the park so it was quiet enough to hear birds singing and the river flowing. There’s some pretty intense hikes around, so I think I’ll come back and explore those the next time I make my way up north.

I braved through the Fisherman’s Warf because life’s too short to not live on the edge a bit. 

Boy was it worth it!! We found this arcade that had over 200 working vintage machines!!! It was AMAZING. I put a quarter in a Swiss music box that was over 100 years old!

 We got our fortune read by a grandmother, hint: it did not bode well for us. Apparently we talk too much and shouldn’t have travelled. Whoops, too late for that one!! 

My favorite machine was the Execution. I can’t believe people paid a whole quarter to watch that! I’ll attach the video so you guys can have a little culture shock with us. Things were definitely not politically correct back then hahaha.

After walking the whole day, we decided the best way to replenish our energy would be to go to Ghirardelli Square and order a classic hot fudge brownie sundae!! If you question whether or not we finished that huge bowl, you underestimate us, there wasn’t a single bite left and man was it good!!

Kelly and I decided that we really missed our China 2012 trip and what better way to recreate it then to walk through Chinatown? Oh, stinky tofu, we did not miss the smell of you.

Continuing our ethnic trend, we ate at a very Americanized Indian restaurant for dinner with Shaneli and Alexandra.

They had phuchka, which is a dish where you put chickpeas in a fried puff ball with some tamarind sauce and then shove the whole thing in your mouth, and I proudly showed my two white friends how to eat this Bangladeshi street food. A little bit of home in SF with even better company!!

That’s all for now folks!! Currently 4 hours to go to Oregon woooooo! 

Love you lots,

Aisha

P.S.  Update:  We have arrived in Oregon!  And here is an ode to San Francisco, courtesy of Kelly!

Golden Gate and Twin Peaks

Hi Guys,

Second day in SF and I’m beginning to see how little this city is!! Did you know it’s only 7 miles long and 7 miles wide. Talk about fake island fever, rest assured Mom, looks like there’s one place on this earth I’m not going to move to.

We started the morning off visiting Alexandra’s start up House Party. The whole building is designed like a “house” which includes this honest wall graphic, a bar, a teal couch, and two guitars, because obviously you should make good use of your on the clock hours pursuing your musical hobbies. Let’s just say I briefly reconsidered my stuffy law firm job for this lax office vibe. Then I realized that I’d have to work under a CEO who was probably my age and well, I might just question that kind of authority a little bit too much.

What can I say? It’s the inner future lawyer in me.

A long walk through Golden Gate Park to make it to the infamous Golden Gate Bridge!

Twin peaks was next. The whole city kinda looks like a big computer chip.

Our afternoon was spent doing henna at Delores Park with the other 3000 millennials and their goldendoodles. Don’t worry a dog only bowled me over once in his hot pursuit of a ball. I only lost a few years of my life off in the process and needless to say I was wide awake after that!!

I promise I ate real dinner. But obviously I had to stop for ice cream. Part of technically being an adult is eating dessert first right?

I only waited 40 minutes in line for the city’s finest salted caramel and cookies and cream ice cream. It was worth every minute. 😋

Anyways that’s it for today!! I swear we’ve already walked 90% of the city. Going to Chinatown and Ghirardelli’s Square tomorrow. Stay tuned for more adventures.

Love you lots guys,

Carolyn

SF and the Painted Ladies

 Hello everyone!!!

Guess what? I’m back to traveling aka the blog is back in action. So today I drove to San Francisco with Kelly..After 12 years of friendship, I’m happy to report that we can successfully spend 6 solid hours in a car together and not a) kill each other and b) still find things to talk about for the entire car ride.

San Francisco is so cute!! I love all the colors and the fun house stretchy mirror look of all the houses. Of course the ones I like probably cost a few million dollars, what can I say? I have good taste. Today we adventured to the Painted Ladies, which is a random row of pretty houses that people sit in the park and stare at for hours. Don’t ask me, they’re cute and all but it isn’t any Hawaiian sunset.

We met up with Kelly’s cousin, Alexandra and my best friend, Shaneli in the afternoon and it was AWESOME. I guess the only perk of having all my friends move is that I now have a local tour guide to all these new cities. Also if you notice the costume change with the blue scarf, let’s just say I underestimated SF winds and Shaneli came to the rescue with her more weather appropriate closet. Guess like I still managed to fulfill the typical SoCal stereotype of being underdressed, despite all the warnings. 

Nothing more to report other than good food and even better company. Don’t worry, there will be longer and more exciting adventures tomorrow!!

Love you lots,

Carolyn