Browsing Category

travel

style travel

A Scottish Highland Dream in Drumnadrochit

I’ve always been drawn to the British Isles, for years and years I wanted to travel to England, and my first trip abroad, across an ocean, was to Ireland. That trip only fueled my attraction to this area of the world. I can’t explain why I’m so drawn to it, my ancestors come from the region and I find the ancient history of the Celts and the Picts fascinating. Maybe it’s just my imagination gone wild with stories from history but I’m so wonderfully ensnared by the region, I feel like I could visit 100 more times and never get bored.…

June 21, 2017
peak 2 peak gondola whistler view
Canada travel

Weekend in Whistler

I lived about 80 miles north of Seattle in Bellingham for almost 5 years, and somehow in that time I never once made it to Vancouver or Whistler. And even after that, it took another 5 years for me to finally make it over the border into the great white north. When I was younger, my family didn’t take very many vacations that required air travel. We drove everywhere from Spokane and some of my favorite memories for the Thanksgiving holiday involve going up into eastern British Columbia and staying at Radium Hot Springs and the Fairmont Hot Springs. I loved having breakfast at this little café in Radium, and you could watch the resident herd of Big Horn Sheep walk down the highway without a care in the world. Each time we went I saw a wolf in the wilderness, so I was even more enchanted with Canada each time. The last time I was there was about 11 or 12 years ago. And so here we are now, finally, after all this time, I have made it to the Western side of British Columbia, and up into Whistler, a ski resort of the likes that I have never…

April 10, 2017
travel United States

Weekend Getaway: MGM Grand Las Vegas

Oh Vegas. I will say I prefer a weekend getaway to Las Vegas in the summer when all the pools are open. I much prefer to hang out at the MGM’s lazy river pool and drink, float, lay in the sun, and then repeat. But we were in Vegas to celebrate a family member’s birthday so our agenda was a little bit different and a little bit more laid back…and a little bit more full of gambling then the last time I was in Las Vegas.…

February 20, 2017
Hawaii travel

Dreaming of Kailua-Kona: What to Wear in Hawaii

I’m being a bit of a mopey Steph this month. Mostly because it is ridiculously cold in Seattle, and I am not going to Kona this year. I’m trying not to be all, woe is me about it, I do have lots of things planned for later in the year. I have seasonal affective disorder and four years in a row of finding some relief in sunny Kona has helped make PNW winters endurable.…

January 8, 2017
travel United States Work Trip Photo Diary

Houston, TX Photo Diary

In October I attended Grace Hopper Conference in Houston, TX.  The conference is a celebration of women in tech and is one of the largest conferences I have ever attended. I only spent a few days in Downtown Houston and did not get to get out and explore the city as much as I had wanted. Traveling is one thing. Traveling while recovering from a nasty cold and going from a crisp autumn climate in the PNW to the humid south zapped all my spare energy.…

November 26, 2016
Arizona travel United States

Valley of the Sun

Last week I went to spend a few days in Mesa with my mom.  The desert landscape and the history of the people who inhabited and survived there is so intriguing to me.  The heat was a nice escape from rainy and wet Seattle, and it was almost 40 degrees warmer down there then the Pacific Northwest! It’s a drastic change but to feel that sun hit your skin and soak in is a beautiful thing.…

March 5, 2016
Hawaii travel

Surf’s up in Kona

Hawaii. My winter escape to sunshine and marine life. For me, it doesn’t matter that every year I go to the same place with my family. We stay in the same condo complex and see the same friends and this is perfectly fine with me. I am baking in the sunshine while the dolphins spin by and the whales spout along the coast. This is the epitome of a mental reset for me.…

February 25, 2016
travel

London Part 1

Deep down there is a part of me that is an idealist. I get a romantic notion in my head about the way something should be & make me feel. I had this idea about autumn in the United Kingdom. I’m not sure why specifically autumn, and I’m not sure why specifically the UK. For years I have felt a pull from Britain. The idealist in me likes to think I had a past life there…but it’s probably because half of my heritage is from Britain. Anyway, after a direct flight from Seattle to Heathrow, we touched down in London, exhausted, and made our way through Heathrow and took a cab into the city. We stayed in a lovely little flat called Villa Fitzrovial, about a 5-10 minutes walk north of Oxford Street, but being jetlagged and finally getting settled at 5PM UK time, we crashed…woke up at 1 AM, crashed again, and then managed to role out of bed still feeling funny, but ready to take on the day. The view out the back of our flat. All of the brick is so charming.…

November 6, 2015