Today is the first day of spring, and if you’re like me, you’re already looking forward to barbecues, pool parties, and other outdoor activities that accompany the warmer weather. As you begin stalking up on SPF and planning your next beach getaway, don’t forget this year’s must-have aquatic accessory: Instagram-worthy pool toys, floats and loungers.
A short ferry ride from Seattle, Bainbridge Island is one of my favorite places to visit anytime I’m in Washington. Though the island itself is beautiful, the wine is what lures me back again and again (for an introduction to the different wineries check out my post “Sipping through Seattle: Wine Tasting on Bainbridge Island”). Recently, I had the opportunity to return to Bainbridge Island and explore some new wineries as well as visit old favorites during their annual “Wine on The Rock” event.
It’s a beautiful thing when a long drive becomes a road trip. Some would argue that, by default, a long drive is what defines a road trip. I, however, believe that a road trip is more about the experience of the drive, rather than the destination, itself. It has a wandering, circuitous connotation to it, while a simple stand a lone trip by car does not. A road trip implies a trip between two destinations with some (generally unplanned) stops along the way, whereas a trip between point A and point B with a specific timeline in mind is more a trip by car than a “road trip.”
On January 13th I turned 28. To celebrate – or, rather, ease the sting of inching another year closer to 30 – I left behind Portland snow for tropical sand, and got on a flight to Kona, Hawaii. Though we booked this Hawaii trip in December (not even a full month prior) the wait was brutal. Portland was experiencing the coldest winter it had seen in decades, and we left the city buried in a foot of snow (the Uber ride to the airport was fuuunnnn). READ MORE
Last year, I shared some tips for beautifying your photos with BeFunky’s photo editor. Now I’m back with a few more tips on how to take your travel photos to the next level with BeFunky’s photo to art effects. BeFunky’s new photo effects allow you to turn boring pictures into beautiful works of art in a matter of minutes. If you’re looking for expressive images to display in your home or on your feed, channel your inner artiste and (with the click of a mouse) turn your travel photos into paintings, cartoons, sketches and more! Check it out below. READ MORE
The colorful vines lining the hills of J. Wrigley vineyards combat the dark and rainy gloom that embodies Oregon in October. Perched atop one of the larger hills in the valley, I have a birds-eye view of the surrounding vineyards and forests from the tasting room patio. During the summer the area would buzz with tourists and traffic noise, but today it’s silent. Harvest has come and gone, school is back in session and the rainy fall weather deters most area vinophiles from venturing out for a day of wine tasting. I have this winery (and most subsequent ones) to myself. The resulting intimate and authentic tasting encounters are what has come to define Oregon wine country.
