why you should take a solo road trip... annually

It's been four months since I took my most recent solo road trip... and I'm just now writing about it. I was worried that if I waited, I wouldn't have that same elated feeling that I had when I got back... but going through my pictures is bringing it back and reviving me all over again. 

I've done a solo road trip before; I drove down the California coast when I was going through a break-up or few. It was so therapeutic and life changing in ways that I thought I could never redo a trip like that. 

I was wrong. 

When you travel alone, there are things that happen that have taken me a couple months to really reflect on and realize and now I'm ready to tell you why you should do it. 

Let it be known- it's going to be scary. The days leading up to this trip, it was kinda hard for me to talk about it or plan a whole lot. I didn't know if I was going to be able to do this again. There were a lot of thoughts like "do I really have to do this again?" and "maybe I should just see what friends I can meet up with along the way." The truth is- I could EASILY do it again, and I didn't need any plans, friends, or safety blankets to help me out. 

So, reason #1- You'll conquer some fears. 

When I decided to book this trip, I knew I was in some sort of funk that I needed to kick before I got to the iHeartRadio Music Festival. I've always been proud to be fiercely independent, but after moving in with the bf, I quickly built up a lot of dependency on him. He helps me find everything I lost, calms me down when I'm over-stressing and working myself, and gives me that comfort of not being alone. Somehow I had subconsciously let myself think that I couldn't do things without him anymore. Honestly, this made me hate myself. Of course it's nice to have that person to help you out, but everyone should have some independence in a relationship... and if you're anything like me, you have to find a lot of ways to remain your independent, self serving person while keeping the relationship happy. [Let me know if you have any real secrets or tips for that, btw.] As soon as I had my first meal out and alone, while talking to the bartender, I realized I hadn't "lost myself," she was just put on a back burner. 

Reason #2- You will empower yourself and ignite independence and strength.A lot of people immediately ask "but where do you eat?" when I tell them about a solo trip. What do you mean where do I eat? I eat at whatever bar or restaurant Yelp and Facebook suggest to me, duh. I typically sit at a bar, so I can talk to the bartender, other solo visitors, or my phone. There's no pressure to talk or not talk, but the option is there if you want it. It's brilliant, and far less awkward than it feels when you arrive at a place before all your other friends and you're impatiently waiting on them. The best part- 

Reason #3- You can eat wherever you want. Order as much food or drinks as you want. No splitting checks, and no judgment. 

That "no judgment" thing is big. I think one of the biggest issues people have with solo trips is worrying about what other people will think about them doing everything alone. Let me tell you what they'll think- the same thing you're [probably, hopefully] thinking right now- that's badass. Bartenders high fived me, and fellow hikers offered to help with pictures, then literally applaused or said "oh WOW!!" when they saw I already had the photos under control. [I would set up my GoPro on a tripod, then look at it/control it from an app on my phone.]  People at the hotels and hostels were welcoming and helpful and friendly [although I was a little nervous to tell some of them I was staying alone.. but it ended up being nbd]. When's the last time you didn't care about what people thought about you? Unfortunately, it's not often enough for me anymore.

Reason #4- You'll realize the world really doesn't give a f#@% about what you're doing... and it'll free your mind to also not care about what your self is doing. 

Speaking of other people... when you plan a trip with others, whether it be one or ten other people, you have to plan things with them. Where do they wanna stay? What's their budget? When do they wanna be there or leave or move on? Do they even wanna commit to a trip? It's exhausting. You know what's not?

Reason #5- You get to live on your own time and on your own budget. Your plans can change whenever you want them to. There's no one to answer to. 

Something else that's in your control- what you listen to along the road trip. After reading "my Bible" on my last road trip, I decided to try some books on tape to give me that same feel. [What I didn't realize before this trip is that it wasn't just the book that changed me in California.. it was the whole experience.] I listened to "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck" and "Creativity, Inc" to help revive my brain and give me some real therapeutic thoughts. Maybe you'll want a podcast, or music blasting as you sing along.. or, get all of the above.

Reason #6- The time you'll have with yourself and the road is magical. You can let your mind go wild and the scenery will [hopefully] make it all okay. 

I kept setting my GoPro on the dash because the views were unbelievable. A lot of them are still on my Insta Highlights.

THE ULTIMATE REASON: You will come back invigorated, confident, excited to share everything with everyone you know, and ready to take on anything in this world.

I should clarify why I specifically say road trip and not just any solo trip. When you're alone, you need to stay active so that you don't feel that lonely factor. The more I discovered, the more badass I felt. The more I traveled, the more I learned... about the world and myself. I can't imagine going to a beach resort or one city for a couple days by myself. As much as I love a good drink and meal, I don't want to be drunk trying to explore my way home. I also don't want to just sleep on the beach alone all day. Booorriinnggg.

So my trip started in Denver, went through Utah, and ended in Las Vegas. It was only four days alone, but I wanted at least one or two more by the time I got to Vegas and had to answer to people again. Three days would be enough to get all of this goodness, I think.. and is a fair place to start for those

who are a little worried. And maybe "annually" is a ridiculous goal, but it's what I'm going to aim for. There's no reason for me to put something so beneficial to my life and health off. Maybe it won't always include National Parks, a full week away, a plane ride to my first destination, or my sweet minivan named Bonnie... but I'll always try to make some time for myself.

Now that I've gotten into all of this again, expect some details about each place that I stopped [and all of the amazing places I got to stay as a solo traveler] in the next couple weeks. Maybe you'll be ready to book something for you and yourself by then, too.

love,
elizabethany

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photo diary: my trip to portland and seattle

I don't know why I always wait til this late in the Fall season to go on my "big trip." It's cold and there's less daylight... but I did it again. 

This time, I called upon the BFF to help me through rough times and escape for a few days to uncharted territory in my life: The Northwest. I told myself it wouldn't be that cold. I believed that 50 degrees as a high was just jacket weather. Once again, like last year's trip to Europe, I was way under-prepared for mostly 30-something degree wet weather. 

When life gives you rain, dance in it... or.... something. 

First stop: Portland. 

We didn't really know anyone there and everything I found was like "try this beer" or "you've gotta eat this." So that's what we did. We drank and we ate, and stumbled around the city. [Hey, we were doing the buddy system so it's totally okay, Mom!] There are MULTIPLE breweries on every block it seems, and we tried to go to as many as possible but I'm going to blame the altitude and the higher ABV percentage on our relatively early night. [Don't you look at me like that.]

On Saturday, we got to walk through the Saturday Market which helped me pick up some Christmas gifts for myself, and then Powell's Books which I figured would not be for me, a girl who doesn't read.... but they had some fun journal-style books that I've been wanting to check out. YAY for a daily journal that only makes me write one line a day! 

When you walk everywhere, even if it's a couple miles away, you stumble across things you may not have found otherwise. I spent a solid 20+ minutes on this bridge just taking pictures of a park. [I love a good park in the city.]

Pinterest helped me find a bunch of "Insta-Worthy Spot in Portland," so we looked for a few of those. Including a fountain park [that ended up having zero water working at the time] and the smallest park in the world- Mills End Park. Really- it's just a plant in the middle of the road as if that's a safe place for humans to hang out in. 

Thanks to Facebook friends, I was told about Salt and Straw, an ice cream place with seriously unique flavors. We're talking Thanksgiving Turkey and cranberry-apple stuffing flavors [which I'm eating over there], plus olive oil, basil, mashed potatoes and more that you can see in the menu below. Luckily they let you taste everything and it was FANTASTIC. The BFF loved the mashed potatoes and olive oil flavors, and I was shocked to be ordering the turkey that tasted like a salty maple syrup of sorts. If you go to Portland, skip the Voodoo Doughnuts and check this out instead. There will likely be a line, but it's more unique than the semi- decent doughnuts.

As for other Portland food options, make sure you check out one of the food cart areas [lots of Greek and Asian food, but so good!] and don't think it's weird to eat at a brewery.

Portland has all sorts of places for #views, but if you want all of it, the five minute aerial tram is lovely. 

After a solid 40 hours in Portland, it was off to Seattle. Renting a car was only about $30 for the day, which is cheaper than most Uber rides to downtown. There are SO many places I wish we could have stopped at along the way, but we were antsy and low on time in each city. Plus- when it's cold and rainy- hiking to a waterfall isn't high on my want to do list. 

Seattle came with a tour guide for us- one of my closest high school friends. He helped us feel a little like a local [which is one of my favorite things to do/feel when visiting a city] then we hit the things Pinterest and Facebook told me to. After proudly cheering on my Redskins to a victory in their city, we did some bar hopping. 

One of my favorite things about Portland and Seattle [and really a lot of other cities outside of DC in general] is how much character all the bars have. There's something about the decor that always makes me amazed, even if it's a local sports bar. 

From left, then clockwise- Al's Den in Portland, which was a tiny basement bar in the middle of the street/median. 10 Barrel Brewing in Portland. A punching bag in Sam's Taven's bathroom in Seattle. Nacho Borracho in Seattle. 

One of the most beautiful bars I've ever stepped foot in was in Seattle, though. Someone told me about it on Facebook and my friend said it's normally dead unless it's late on a weekend night. That was perfect. I had all of the room to take all of the pictures of Unicorn. 

Just bring a good camera and someone with not-wasted eyeballs to take some great pics. 

Speaking of drinks, I had also read about a place called Canon, which was tagged with all sorts of Insta-worthy drinks on Instagram so duh, had to go there. Why would anyone travel without planning everything around their Instagram pics?! 

Turns out, you need a reservation just to try out their $18 drinks... but LOOK AT THESE THINGS. 

The Pop Art, Warhol and Bitter Petals. Elementary and Child's Play. Campfire in Georgia. 

Then it was all about the touristy things. Luckily, most of them are really close together in Seattle and we did a lot of walking [and commenting about how rough it was to walk in the cold mountains].

Let's first acknowledge the most beautiful wall to ever exist.. at the Museum of Pop Culture. It's right next to the Space Needle and I saw someone with a perfect picture/reflection and wanted to recreate it, but instead took a couple dozen tries of different angles.

The rest I'm sure you've heard of or seen plenty of so I'll do what everyone wants: Less words, more pictures. 

The very first Starbucks... that was packed the first time I went, but was a fairly normal line at about 9:30 on a Tuesday before my flight.

The Market... which you've probably seen endless videos of fish being thrown, but I was amazed that it was such an old building, that smelled old, and so many random shops! Also, it was interesting to see the set up happening around 9:30.

The Gum Wall, which had unfortunately been cleaned recently. HOW DO YOU CLEAN A LANDMARK LIKE THAT?!

The Fremont Troll, which is amazingly huge when you're driving straight for it. 

The nighttime view from Gas Works Park is breathtaking.

We drank a lot of Rainier beer and heard all about the mountain, but hadn't had clear enough weather to see it. I'm so glad I went on the morning walk before my flight. I walked down Pier 66 and saw it reaching over the stadiums and up to the clouds and just like everyone says- no picture truly captures what your eyeball sees. 

There were also some pretty incredible views on the way home.. which ALMOST makes the fact that you're going home a little better.

In review, in case you're looking to make this mini road trip that's less than three hours between the cities.. [As always, I recommend flagging places that you've seen or been given as recommendations so it's easy to figure out the closest and also the best routes.]

PORTLAND: 

• Uber drivers LOVE to give recommendations
• I stayed at the Hyatt House. It's easy walking to plenty of places, and gives a fantastic free breakfast. 
• Go to as many breweries as possible. Walk around, walk into places that seem intriguing. They won't let you down. 
• Skip Voodoo Doughnuts, get Salt and Straw ice cream
• Eat at a food cart park. Yelp will give you nearby recommendations
• Giggle at Mills End Park
• Walk over Hawthorne Bridge
• Take the aerial tram for a quick and cheap view of the whole city from above
• Check out the market if you're there on Saturday. It's right next to the famous "White Stag" sign and an easy walk to Powell's Books and other things the internet will say are "must-see." 

SEATTLE:

• I stayed at Belltown Inn which was GREAT location, but not the nicest hotel.
• Eat breakfast at Biscuit Bitch
• Pier 66 has a great view of the stadiums, Wheel, Mt. Rainier and more. 
• Go to the Market early [before 10], get your Starbucks if you need to, then go back a little later for the shopping if you must. 
• Gas Works Park has a breathtaking view of the city at night. 
• Get drinks at Unicorn and Canon... if you're into drinks and vibes worth photographing. 
• Museum of Pop's wall is also fun to take pictures in

THINGS I WISH I DID INBETWEEN: [We wanted a straight shot drive, but if you can take a day to drive, do these things]

• Multnomah Falls
• Cannon Beach
• Mt Rainier National Park/High Rock lookout
• Snoqualmie Falls

Okay you have fun pretending like you're gonna do all of these things too, okay? Or making me feel like you're pretending such things. 

love,

elizabethany

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photo diary: camp eb, my 30th birthday party

*this is going to be such a braggy post and ya know what- I deserve to brag about this so here we go, haters.*

Guys.. I have news. I'm 30 years old. 

So many people have been like "damn, you're 30..." with a scary face, but I've been looking forward to this for a few years. There have been so many boring birthdays and milestones, I've been waiting to do something epic to celebrate my existence on this earth. 

[Also, this is gonna seem really morbid... but for whatever reason, from a young age, maybe 14 or 15, I have fully believed that I would not make it to 30. I've told everyone I know that, assuming it would be a helpful thing to know at my funeral. When I was walking home alone from the bar 20 minutes before turning 30, I thought "this is it. This is when it happens."]

BUT I MADE IT Y'ALL! AND WE CELEBRATED. 

My birthdays are normally full of blacked out people, via bar golf, party buses, etc... this time I rented out an entire campground that slept 200 people, and had a homemade adult summer camp all weekend. I planned it all myself, starting in October of last year, with helpful ideas from everyone attending. Anyone who wanted to come pitched in $70, and checked in to CampEB. 

Here's what we had: 

There was food. I ordered catering from Moe's and Famous Dave's for dinner, then we cooked our own basic brunches and lunches. 

There was a relay race. Four teams of 12 competed in flipper races, sack races, Drunk Waiter, and finding paper clips in a pool of pudding.

There was a "photo booth" made with balloons I ordered from China, a painted thrift store frame, and my green screen base. 

An insulated fanny pack and color changing cup for everyone at the check-in table!

A Snapchat filter that they said was "promoting excess drinking" so it only worked for a night, and a convenient camp map. 

A birthday cake that I didn't wait to eat. 

A pinata I was really good at

Essential camp activities like tug o' war and crafts like tie dye and friendship bracelets.

Some Bubble Ball battles

Of course, there was alcohol. We ended up going through five kegs, countless bottles of vodka, and over 500 Jello shots that my mom made. 

A Lip Sync Battle, which was my favorite part of the whole thing. Watching people perform without worrying about talent is so much fun and the perfect way to boost energy and confidence. FIVE STARS, HIGHLY RECOMMEND. [We also had the FANTASTIC DJ Image on Friday night!]

Dad's dance moves were in full effect. 

And finally, there was a final pic that perfectly captured the weekend. Not everyone made it late night, but we the few made the most of CampEB.

Okay, fine. I'll show you the video my brother made. We had set up a geofilter Snap story, and at the end of the weekend there were 45 minutes worth of snaps that he edited into this work of art, full of my best looking self: 

As someone who loves the outdoors, it was my perfect weekend, only missing some sort of water activity. Some of my friends were way out of their comfort zone, others took a plane to get there, one even took a plane and a $100 Uber ride. Goodness, I'm really not deserving of all of that... which is exactly why I made it a thing that anyone would want to do, birthday or not. Now they're wanting to do it again, and we just might have to.

Also, there needs to be some sort of therapy for after events like this or weddings happen. After months of planning and the event over in what feels like minutes, it's hard to cope with! Luckily there's a chance we can do this all again. Start sucking up now if you want to be invited.

love,
elizabethany

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photo diary: i planned my bff's bachelorette

Some people say "you'll only be a bride once," but the only thing I know for sure at this point is that I'm only gonna be a Maid of Honor, for my lifelong best friend, one time. I've gotta go all out! 

I've been planning her bachelorette party for several months now, and of course I was like "OMG this is gonna look so cute and I'm gonna take so many pictures and it's gonna be such a good blog." Then real life happens and I live in the moment and I forget about work and well- I have crappy phone pics again. 

Crappy phone pics > No pics... and this first one is pretty damn good to be honest.

This is our semi-new trademark pose, which was obviously perfect for this.

Kelly and I used to carpool to gym every day for like a decade or something. We've been through a lot of life changes, struggles, moves, and everything else life throws at you, but never fought. Her first kiss was the first love of my life [in preteen years] and I didn't even start a slam book against her. That's real friendship. 

Now she's engaged to a man who lets her stay young and happy, what we've always said we'll always be... and it's time to celebrate that!

As a lover of everything 'Merica and red, white and blue, I knew that had to be the theme. I've seen some for "Red, White, and Bride," but that doesn't even make sense. The bride is white, ya stupids! I went with "Red, BRIDE, and Blue," had her dress in white, the rest of us in red and blue. Because she had people coming from literally every corner and coast of the US, we went with a fun place in the middle: Austin. 

I've never had to plan something to suit a diverse group of unknowns and holy bleep, I'm glad I'm only doing this once. In the end, I figured the best way to do a little bit of everything and keep the bride happy was to have an awesome party house to hang at one day, and city activities planned for the next. 

AirBNB is the best way to go, and I found some lists of suggested houses on the Google machine, and ultimately decided on this "MANSION IN BUDA," complete with a pool, game room, and beds for a solid 14 people.

It wasn't the cleanest house you'll ever step in, but the owners sure know how to throw a party. Look at this addition/game room/club!

Opposite side views. Be sure to note the "Sex Beds" on the bottom right.

The pool had tons of rocks to jump off of, perfect for a group of gymnasts.

As for decor, I bought a ton of balloons, lanterns, a pin the peen on Willy game, and other little things from this party store straight outta China. I ordered a few months in advance so they came with plenty of time, and the balloons were only about $1-1.50 a piece, even for large letters that said BRIDE. I bought a helium tank once I got to Texas, but turns out those tanks aren't strong enough to make the foil balloons float, I guess. PINTEREST FAIL. I also splurged on some coozies from etsy, and didn't catch the spelling error until Kel saw them. Go figure. 

I also created a pretty simple Snapchat filter that I had activated for a few of the locations I knew we'd be at during a certain time. [Click here if you wanna see/download it]

Now, the bride loves her some water hangs, and Austin was perfect for that. We started the weekend [after they made a stop in Waco to visit the home of Chip and Joanna] at Barton Springs Pool. I am SO JEALOUS this place doesn't exist near me. It's a fresh, clean, natural spring with huge lawns surrounding it, and even a diving board. No picture did it justice. 

Dinner was at a nearby food truck park, because Austin, then a house party full of real Beirut, air hockey, pool, and dancing under a disco ball.

Day two was spent by the pool before heading to the city. In 2017, one must visit as many murals as possible for the most shareable pics. I found a list here, starred them on Google, and made the rounds. The two most famous [i love you so much and Austin] were a little outside of downtown, but worth it. 

We had dinner downtown before heading to a pedal tavern, which took us to the tiniest bar in Texas and a ton of other bars that are perfect for a group and/or anyone with ADD; They have games and food and dancing and the best of all the worlds. If you saw my Snaps, that's good. You saw the party. This blog will not. 

It was a Bachelorette party with only a little bit of cheese, a noticeable theme without being obnoxious, and as much of the bride's favorite things and people as possible. If it were mine, I would have had way more peen and obnoxiousness, but I tried to remember what I learned before. 

And now, I can breathe a little. Kinda. For like a week until I need to put all the finishing plans on my 30th birthday party that happens one month from today.

love,
elizabethany


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