Just J.Faye

Hiking & Other Adventures

A trip to Azores and Lisbon, Portugal

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My friend Nat and I just got back from a trip to Azores and Lisbon, Portugal!

Azores & Lisbon, Portugal

Annual Trip Tradition

airport meeting

In 2010, the year after we graduated college, Nat and I decided to create an annual tradition of traveling internationally together. We found that we travel very well together, primarily because we both love exploring new places, walking around everywhere, laughing, and eating delicious, local food.

The tradition has been going strong! Our previous trips include:

  • A cruise from Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • Paris, Bordeaux, and Marseille France
  • San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Ostional and Monteverde, Costa Rica
  • Buenos Aires and Mendoza, Argentina
  • Cusco, Machu Picchu, and Lima Peru
  • Koh Yao Noi and Chiang Mai, Thailand

We were supposed to go to Banff and Jasper in Canada last year, but had to cancel after I found out that I needed heart surgery. That was bummer, but I am very lucky to have the opportunity to go on amazing trips with my best friend (almost) every year!

Here’s an old, blurry, small picture of us cheers-ing on our very first trip! We looks like babies!

trip 1

And 8 years later we are off to Portugal!

Itinerary

Here was our itinerary for the week:

  • March 9: Fly from Denver to Boston to meet up with Natalie. Then fly from Boston to Ponta Delgada, a 6-hour flight.
  • March 10-14: Stay in Ponta Delgada and explore the island, the fly to Lisbon.
  • March 15-17: Stay in Lisbon and explore the city, then fly back to Ponta Delgada.
  • March 18: Hang out in Ponta Delgada for half a day, then fly to Boston and stay overnight.
  • March 19: Early morning flight to Denver.

Some other details:

car

  • Car: We rented a car through Discover Car Hire. Since neither of us can drive a stick we had to rent an automatic, which is much more expensive. We also got a wireless router so that we could access the internet for directions while we were driving around. The car was basically a little toy car. I hated driving it. I get anxious with rental cars in general, but driving one in a different country was a whole different ball game. It’s a personal problem. Natalie did fine with the car and there was basically no traffic ever anywhere, so it was really easy to get around.
  • Ponta Delgada Airbnb: The place was great! The Airbnb was studio apartment located a short walk away from the center of the city. Everything was clean and updated. The hosts were very nice and gave us helpful list of places to visit around the island.
  • Lisbon Airbnb: This place was great too! Again, it was close to the center of the city, was clean and updated, and had great hosts.
  • Ponta Delgada Hotel – We had one night in Ponta Delgada after Lisbon and before flying back to the US. We stayed at the Comercial Azores Guesthouse. We weren’t there very long, but we had a nice room and comfortable beds!

ponta delgada

Not for the fun stuff – sights, activities, and food! Just a head’s up that most of the links throughout the post are from Trip Advisor.

Sao Miguel Island in Azores

azores

Sights & Activities

Ponta Delgada was our home base while we stayed in Azores. We chose a different area of the Sao Miguel island to explore each day. Everything was only a 30-60 minute drive away. Tiny island!

In and around Furnas:

  • Miradouro de Santa Iria – A lookout point of the northern coast of São Miguel.
  • Gorreana Cha – The oldest tea plantation in Europe! We took a self-guided walk around the family owned and operated factory while we enjoyed a complimentary cup of tea. They have basically been using the same process since the late 1800’s. After walking around the factory we went on a 3K walk around the tea fields.

gorreana cha

  • Poca da Dona Beija – Hot springs! This place had 5 different pools and it only cost 4€ to get in. Towels and hot showers were extra, but we brought our own towels and settled for quick, cold showers. We spent a little over an hour here (I can’t stay in hot water too long!) and tried out all the pools.

poca da dona beija

In and around Sete Cidades:

  • Boca do Inferno – An overlook of Sete Cidades. This was one of the things that I was most excited to see, so of course there was a giant fog curtain with zero visibility. #betterlucknexttime

boca do inferno

  • Lagoa das Sete Cidades – A set of lakes in the crater of a dormant volcano. They look connected, but are ecologically different – one lake is green and one is blue. Our initial view of the lakes was very foggy, so we walked around the lakes and town until the clouds started to lift. We caught a decent glimpse from a lookout as we were driving back towards Ponta Delgada. Worth the wait!

green lake

sete cidades

  • Salto do cabrito – A waterfall! I love waterfalls. This one was located at the bottom of a super steep hill, so we parked the rental car and walked down. The waterfall was beautiful and the walk up and down the hill was a nice, little workout.

salto do cabrito

  • Caldeira Velha – A National Monument and UNESCO Global Geopark with hot springs. It cost 3€ to get in (more if you want to go in the hot springs). We didn’t stay long, but it was a beautiful place to walk around.
  • Lagoa do Fogo – A view of a gorgeous lake! This was one of my favorite views of the entire trip! We lucked out with a pretty clear view (for once) and hung out there for a bit just staring at it and commenting on how pretty it was. Pictures don’t do it justice.

lagoa do fogo 1

In Ponta Delgada

  • Jardim Antonio Borges – A park in the center of Ponta Delgada. This park was better (and bigger) than I expected. There were crazy looking trees, tunnels, and caves, and lots of other cool looking things.

jardim antonio borges 2

jardim antonio borges 1

In and around Nordest

  • Parque Natural da Ribeira dos Caldeiros – A natural park with waterfalls, a water mill, and hiking trails. This was one of my favorite places! Everything was so green and lush and beautiful. We walked on one of the hiking trails for a little, but it was super muddy and we didn’t know where it led to so we didn’t stay on it long. We did snoop around an old water mill. There was an old woman inside that didn’t speak English and got us to buy a donut from her. Luckily for us, it wasn’t poison.

riberia dos caldeiros 3

riberia dos caldeiros 1

riberia dos caldeiros 2

farol ponta do arnel

ponta do sossego

  • Miradouro da Ponta da Madruga – another beautiful overlook of the ocean!
  • Pico do Ferro – A lookout point over Furnas. We went here the first time we drove through Furnas, but we couldn’t see anything with all the fog. Second time’s a charm!

pico do ferro

  • Lagoa do Congro – A lake. This was an interesting one. We drove down a pothole-y, gravel road that was super deserted, then parked and hiked down to find the lake. It wasn’t actually that great of a viewpoint so we headed back to the car. On our walk back we saw so many people walking towards the lake. It was weird! Maybe we went on the wrong path to the wrong lake?
  • Agua de Pau – A little town along the coast that has gorgeous ocean views. There was a couple getting their wedding pictures taken while we were walking around!
  • Ananases A Arruda – A pineapple plantation! The plantation was free. You could go on a self-guided tour through the greenhouses that brought you through each stage of the pineapple’s life. There were so cute! Afterwards I was obviously craving pineapple, so I bought one at the gift shop. It was the best pineapple I’ve ever eaten.

pineapple 1

Food

Since we were staying at an Airbnb with a nice kitchen, we decided to save money, go to the market, and make our own breakfasts each morning. We made breakfast sandwiches with bolo levedo (similar to an English muffin, but so much better!!), eggs, and ham or proscuitto, cut up some fresh fruit, and brewed some coffee. While we ate we sat, chatted, and planned out our day of adventuring.

Lunch restaurants and cafes:

  • Restaurante Tony’s – This was a fun one. Tony’s is located in the town of Furnas where they have a lot of hot springs and geysers. We went there specifically to get cozida – a stew of meat and veggies that is cooked in the ground by geo-thermal heat. IN THE GROUND! So cool! It was delicious. Our waiter was a silly old man who pressured us to order wine. We finally gave in and asked for just a tiny pour, so of course he returned with two wine glasses filled to the rim.
  • Green Love – This was just a little cafe in the tiny town near Sete Cidades. We both got a light, cheap meal and a coffee.
  • Lourve Michaelense – Lourve Michaelense is a cafe where we spent a rainy afternoon in Ponta Delgada. We enjoyed coffee, pastries, and white bean tart while we read and waited out the rain.

lourve

  • Restaurante Jardim – We stopped here for lunch as we were driving through the little town (village?) of Povoação. I ordered “steak on a plate with sauce” (I love menu translations sometimes). The sauce was a traditional Azorean sauce made with red wine and garlic.
  • Café Central – This was our very last meal in Portugal. It’s a little cafe that has a giant patio with views of the beautiful Church of San Sebastian (Igreja Matriz de São Sebastião). Our plan was to stop here for a quick breakfast and then walk around Ponta Delgada one last time before heading to the airport. We ordered – I got some yogurt and granola, a bagel, and some fresh-squeezed orange juice – and ate and waited and waited and waited for our bill (service in Portugal isn’t the quickest). When it didn’t come we decided to stay a while longer and enjoy a glass of wine. It was, afterall, our last day of vacation!

last wine

Dinner restaurants:

  • Boca de Cena – Our very first dinner in Portugal! Boca de Cena is a one man show. There is one man who does everything – seating, cooking, serving, everything. ONE MAN! Can you believe that? We got there right when it opened (7pm) and were the first ones in the restaurant, which gave us the opportunity to chat with the guy (I really wish we would have asked his name!) and order before the restaurant filled up and things got insane. The food was delicious! We had an octopus appetizer to start and each ordered a fish dish as an entree. Neither of us will ever forget the chocolate cake we had for dessert (that he made us order along with an additional glass of wine). Nat and I both agreed that it was one of our favorites.
  • Bar-Restaurante Aliança – Neither of us were excited by this restaurant. We were exhausted after our first full day of driving around the island and were just tired and wanted a quick meal. Bar Aliana fit the bill. We probably would have enjoyed it more under different circumstances.
  • Avenida dos Anjos – We weren’t really excited about this one either. The restaurant was located in a touristy area and it was easy to tell that they received a lot of American guests. We split some octopus salad and a fish and rice stew, both were very good. It just wasn’t as memorable compared to a few of the other restaurants.
  • Rotas da Ilha Verde – Rotas is a cute vegetarian restaurant that is in an old house and only has service at 7:30 and 9:00 (or maybe it was 7:00 and 9:30, doesn’t matter). We needed to make a reservation in order to get a table. Both of us really liked this one! We had some quinoa crusted onion rings, tomato and zucchini rolls, mushroom ragu over rice, and rounded the meal out with a triple chocolate mousse. It was all delicious and was a nice break from all the meat and fish.
  • A Tasca – This was one of our favorite restaurants/meals of the entire trip! We tried to go here two previous nights, but they were always packed! We finally made reservations for our last night in Azores. It’s a tapas restaurant, so we ordered a variety of things to share – grilled limpets, fried octopus, sausage balls, fish (can’t remember what kind!), and veal ribs. Everything was absolutely amazing!

Things we learned about the restaurants in Azores:

  • Waiters seem almost offended if you don’t order wine with dinner and espresso with dessert.
  • Pretty much everything is served with potatoes – boiled, fried, mashed, or in fry form.
  • Food and wine are cheap!
  • It’s an island, so order the fish.
  • Dinner doesn’t really start until 8:30/9:00, so if you go earlier than that you will be dining with the old people and American tourists.
  • You won’t get your bill until you ask for it (which is super European).
  • Most of the restaurants are tiny!

Lisbon, Portugal

lisbon 1

Sights & Activities

  • Tram 28 – A vintage tram that brings you on a scenic tour of the city. The tram got pretty crowded, but we stuck it out and got spots in the back with plenty of standing room and better views out the window.

tram 28

  • Castelo sao Jorge – A beautiful old castle with great views of the city, lots of Portuguese history, and some random peacocks. It costs 8,50 € to go in.

lisbon 2

  • LX Factory – An old fabric production plant in a run-down area of the city that was renovated into an area filled with cafes, restaurants, shops, design centers, and show rooms.
  • Belem – A city located a few miles west of Lisbon. Besides indulging in a delicious pasteis (see below) we walked around the city admiring things like the Jerónimos Monastery, Belem Tower, and Belem Palace.

belem tower

jeronimo

st. paddy's day

Food

  • Cais Das Colunas – This was our first meal in Lisbon. After getting up at 4am for an early flight we were a little out of it and just wanted to sit down and eat. We tried a couple of restaurants (all were closed) and finally ended up here. Cais das Colunas is super touristy as it’s located on a popular street with a lot of shops and other (identical) restaurants. At this point we didn’t really care and the paella was good!
  • Marcelino Pao e Vihno – We stopped in this little bar and split some olives and a bottle of wine and hung out for a while.
  • O Chiado – Another of our favorite restaurants! The waiter was so silly and pointed out that we were saying “thank you” all wrong – we thought you say orbrigado when talking to men and obrigada when talking to women, but apparently if you are a women you say obrigada to everyone. Oops. We ordered split a stew with pasta, veggies, and grouper and then split baby goat followed by rice pudding. Dinner at O Chiado was one of our favorite memories of the trip!
  • Oprego – We stopped here for a quick breakfast before exploring the city. I had some muesli and fruit and Natalie ordered a chocolate croissant.
  • Mez Cais LX – Mexican food was a nice change of pace. Can’t complain about delicious chips, guac, and burritos!
  • Pasteis de Belém – One of the highlights of the entire trip. Pasteis (also known as pastels) are a traditional Portuguese pastry. They are little tarts that have a crispy puff pastry crust filled with egg custard and sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar. I’m pretty sure that Pasteis de Belém was the birthplace of the pasteis, but I could be totally wrong about that. Anyways, we each ordered one and is was the most amazing thing. The crust was super flaky and the custard was still slightly warm. This is a definite “must do” when in Lisbon.

pasteis 1

pasteis 2

  • The Portuguese Bakery – We stopped here to grab a quick breakfast before walking around the city. I ordered an almond croissant and it was the best croissant I’ve had in years.
  • Taberna da Baixa – A tiny restaurant serving typical Portuguese food. We split a pineapple chicken salad (my body was craving raw vegetables!), cod gratin, and pork cheeks. It was one of the better meals that we had, but the experience wasn’t as memorable as O Chiado, A Tasca, or Boca de Cena.
  • Time Out Market – This market was pretty cool. One half of it is kind of like a farmer’s market with vendors selling fresh produce and the other half is a giant square filled with restaurants. In Denver it’d be something similar to Avanti or the Stanley Marketplace. I feel like this concept is more popular in the US than in Europe, because people seemed to be going crazy for the concept. I did like it, but it was so crowded and the atmosphere was a little overwhelming for me. We did have some amazing sea bass tartare there though!
  • El Gordo Sul Americano – We stumbled into this restaurant while walking around the city in the rain. We were going to just stop in for a glass of wine, but then we saw that they had feijoada on the menu. We had no choice, but to order it. Our mutual love of feijoada stems from the very first meal of the very first trip we went on together in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was delicious!

The End

Holy smokes this was along post! I hope you make it to Portugal sometime soon!

lisbon portugal 3

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Winter Yurt Trip

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I went on a winter yurt trip to Clark Peak Yurt and it was super fun, so I want to tell you about it, because I think you need a yurt trip in your life.

Winter Yurt Trip

First of all, what is a yurt? A yurt is kind of like a cross between and hut and a tent. It has a round wooden lattice frame and is covered with canvas. There is no electricity or running water. There is a propane cookstove, an outhouse, and a wood stove used for heating the yurt and melting snow for water. You could call it glamping.

The Clark Peak Yurt looks like this:

Winter Yurt Trip

My friend Anna and I have been talking about wanting to do a yurt trip since forever. I think it was Memorial Day weekend 2016 to be specific. I had just learned what a yurt was and the idea of spending a weekend in one sounded awesome – cozy hut, snowshoeing, wood stove, pretty views, etc. What’s not to love?

We kind of forgot about the idea and didn’t make it happen last year, but then it resurfaced in December and I decided to look into it a little bit more. I told Michael about it and we started looking up options through Never Summer Nordic. There was nothing available aside from some random weekdays. Yurts are popular! I think you have to plan and book these things about 6 months in advance. However, we totally lucked out. The next morning Michael was scrolling through Instagram and saw this post by Never Summer Nordic – two weekends had opened up! We jumped at the chance and booked the Clark Peak Yurt that afternoon. I texted Anna immediately and we all marked the dates on our calendars: January 13-15.

Hurray!

We gathered a few other friends, cemented the plans, and headed up to the yurt the morning of January 13.

Winter Yurt Trip

Packing for a yurt is interesting. It’s like packing for a backpacking trip – you need to pack in things like food, a sleeping bag, clothes, but, you don’t need a tent or camp stove. However, since it’s only a 2-mile snowshoe in you allow yourself to bring some bougey, glamping things like face wash, deodorant, lanterns, games, water bottles filled with alcohol, etc.

Here was my packing list:

Michael carried in the rest of our food (Good-To-Go backpacker meals, mini packets of Seven Sundays muesli, some bars, trail mix, dried mangos, electrolytes, instant coffee) and our games (Five Crowns, Farkle, Yahtzee), because he’s the best and wanted to keep my pack as light as possible.

I should start doing those overhead “I laid out all my gear” pictures. Instead here’s what I looked like when we started snowshoeing:

Winter Yurt Trip

We drove up through the Poudre Canyon (passed the noosa farm!) where there was no snow and beautiful views. Minutes later as we drove up and around Cameron pass the ground was covered in snow and we were driving through a winter wonderland. Fortunately road conditions weren’t too terrible. We even saw a moose!

We stopped at the State Forest State Park Visitor’s Center to pick up some permits ($7/night/car) and use the restroom then headed to the parking area for the yurts.

It took us a couple of minutes to get geared up – snow pants, gaiters, hiking boots, mittens, snowshoes. It’s a lot to put on! We started our 2-mile snowshoe to the yurt at about 1:00.

Winter Yurt Trip

“Everybody point to the yurt!”

The weather temperature was perfect and we had slightly overcast skies. This made snowshoeing through the trees quite magical. It felt like we were either in Narnia or north of the wall. Fortunately, the hike wasn’t too steep. I did have a couple of “episodes” (where my heart goes a little off-rhythm and my ICD has to kick in and break it up), so I was a little distracted. It took us about 1.5 hours and we all made it to the yurt safe and sound!

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the snow. Our original plan was to build a snowman, but the snow just wasn’t sticky enough. Maybe next time. As it got colder and darker we moved our activities into the yurt.

Winter Yurt Trip

Winter Yurt Trip

Winter Yurt Trip

Winter Yurt Trip

As I mentioned before the yurt was equipped with a propane cooktop and wood stove. Inside there was wood, a giant snow melt pot, various pots and pans for cooking, 3 bunk beds (twin on top, full on bottom), a table, chairs, a mop and broom, soap, sponges, coffee mugs, plates, bowls, and eating utensils. There was also a bunch of food and games left back from previous guests. The outhouse was a short walk from the yurt that was filled with plenty of toilet paper.

Winter Yurt Trip

Winter Yurt Trip

The wood stove keeps the yurt nice and toasty, especially when filled with 6 people. We spent the rest of the night eating, drinking, and playing cards. It was fun to have a low-key silly night with friends.

Winter Yurt Trip

Before heading to bed, the boys loaded up the shelves with wood and found some hefty logs to fill the wood stove so that it would burn as long as possible. Michael did have to get up in the middle of the night and throw in some more, but overall I was surprised at how warm it was all night.

We woke up and took our time with breakfast and getting ready for snowshoeing. I think we all finally gathered ourselves a little after 10:00am. There are plenty of trails to explore around State Forecast State Park. Our plan was to head to Ruby Jewel Lake, which looked to be a 1.5/2-mile hike from the yurt.

The skies were bright blue and fresh, fluffy snow blanketed everything. We were all so in awe at how gorgeous it all was. It was stop-every-three-minutes-to-take-pictures gorgeous.

Winter Yurt Trip

Winter Yurt Trip

Winter Yurt Trip

Pro: The trail was very lightly traveled.

Con: The guys had to break the trail. This was exhausting for them, but worked out just fine for the ladies.

Winter Yurt Trip

It got more difficult to follow the trail (it was blazed with blue ribbons on trees) as we went on, so at about 1.75 miles in we decided to call it and start heading back to the yurt. Again, I had a couple of episodes while snowshoeing, so I was fine with heading back.

Winter Yurt Trip

Winter Yurt Trip

We only saw one other couple while we were out there. That is unheard of in Colorado! Usually the trail is filled with bunches of other people, but we had it all to ourselves. #luxury

When we got back to the yurt Anna, Shira, and Anni had to pack up and head back to Denver, so that just left Herbie, Michael, and I. We spent the night as we did the previous one – playing games and eating food while enjoying some wine and whiskey. I lost terribly at every single game of Yahtzee and Five Crowns. We did pause our play time to step outside and take in some beautiful alpine glow and, later, all the stars. Both of these things were hard to capture on camera, so you’ll have to trust me when I tell you that it was beautiful.

The next morning we woke up, packed up our stuff, cleaned up the yurt, took a few final pictures, and headed out. The whole process went quite quickly. Unfortunately, about 100 yards into the hike back to the car I started feeling a little light-headed. This isn’t abnormal for me, so I stopped to collect myself for a moment and starting walking again. Then I felt this shock go through my body as I fell to the ground. My ICD went off! It gave me a full on electric shock. This was the first time it had ever happened. Up until that point the only thing that had ever happened was that it would pace me out of a bad rhythm (like it had snowshoeing the previous two days). Fortunately, it didn’t hurt as bad as I thought it would and I felt fine afterwards.

Michael and Herbie were both troopers. They stayed calm, which was exactly what I needed, because if they started freaking out I would start freaking out more and we’d all be a mess. Plus, we still had to snowshoe 2 miles back to the car! Michael carried my pack, Herbie set a nice, even pace, and I focused on putting one foot in front of the other. I don’t know how I kept myself together, but I did. The rest of the hike was uneventful in the best way possible. When we got to the car we quickly striped off our gear and jumped in to start thawing. Then we headed back to Denver!

Winter Yurt Trip

I want to re-visit the defibrillator shock for one moment. I did feel fine afterwards and didn’t need any other therapy the rest of the day. At the time it happened I was weaning myself off of an anti-arrhythmic medication in order to start a new one. It was the third day after not taking any medication, so I think that’s why it happened.

Looking back I probably should not have gone on the yurt trip, especially while being in between medications. However, I was sick of not being active and not being able to fun things with my friends outside. It was a personal risk and I took it. Just wanted to live my life, you know? Fortunately, everything ended up fine. I’m thankful that it happened while I was outside with Michael and not while I was walking on the treadmill at the gym or something similar.

While I was on my previous anti-arrhythmic medication I basically went into ventricular tachycardia (VT) every day, sometimes more than once a day. I started taking the a new anti-arrhythmic medication last Tuesday and spent Thursday and Friday in the hospital getting a higher dosage. So far, no episodes! Michael and I went on a 3-mile walk on Saturday morning. I cried a little bit because I was so nervous it would happen again, but everything turned out fine. I am learning how to trust my body again.

Winter Yurt Trip

And back to the yurt…

Overall, it was such a fun trip! The whole experience (except the part where I got shocked, obviously) was so wonderful. I was thankful to be able to spend the weekend with friends, have outdoor adventures, and take in some gorgeous scenery.

You should probably book a yurt trip now. Just sayin’.

Winter Yurt Trip

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Exploring Glacier National Park

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You need more than two days to explore Glacier National Park; however, if that is all you have it is still so worth it.

Exploring Glacier National Park

Why Glacier National Park?

Michael’s birthday was at the end of July and we each took a long weekend off of work to be able to go celebrate somewhere. After talking through a couple of options we landed on Glacier National Park. It is Michael’s favorite place in the lower 48 and I had never been, so it seemed like the perfect place to go.

The two downsides:

  1. With my heart issues we couldn’t go backpacking. Instead we car camped and hiked along some of the easier trails.
  2. Glacier is 14 hour drive from Denver plus time for gas, bio, and food breaks. Meaning we had one day to drive there, two days to explore, and one day to drive back.

Despite these downsides, we still managed to have a wonderful time.

Exploring Glacier National Park

The drive to Glacier National Park

We left Denver at about 5:30am Saturday morning equipped with hiking and camping gear, books about Glacier National Park, food, iced coffee, and some podcasts and playlists. It’s kind of difficult to just roll out of bed and start driving before the sun is up. I tried my best to be a good co-pilot while Michael drove, but I won’t lie, I had to take a quick little cat nap about 2 hours in. I’m the worst, BUT after than I was refreshed and ready to par-tay!

Honestly, the trip to Glacier National Park is not the most exciting drive. You essentially drive through alllll the boring parts of Wyoming and then allllll the boring parts of Montana. We took breaks when we needed gas, a bathroom, or food, but we kept them all pretty short. It was drive, drive, drive all the way to East Glacier.

This was our route:

map to glacier national park

We got into East Glacier at about 7:30pm and checked into the Circle R Motel. We dropped off our things and headed directly to dinner at Serrano’s Mexican Restaurant. Unfortunately, it was a 1.5 hour wait. We walked around the little shops in East Glacier while we waited. We drank a beer while we waited. I even had time to walk back to our motel to take a shower while we waited. Eventually we sat, ordered food, waited some more, ate, and then went straight to bed.

Day 1 in Glacier National Park

Our alarms went off at 6:00am Sunday morning. The original plan was to drive to Many Glacier Campground to try to get a spot there; however, Michael figured it would be full by the time we drove the 1.5 hours there. Instead we decided that Two Medicine would be the smarter choice, since it was closer to East Glacier and doesn’t typically fill up as fast.

We arrived at the campground and drove around and around scoping out the different sites that were open and then drove around and around a few more times and then finally landed on a site that we would call our home for the next two nights.

Exploring Glacier National Park

After setting up camp (and tracking down a place that sold coffee) we immediately headed out to explore. We drove along the Going To The Sun Road to the Logan Pass Visitors Center. I ooh’ed and ahh’ed at the scenery as Michael pointed out different sites and we both kept our eyes peeled for bears. We didn’t see any, but we did score big at the visitor’s center – it only took us a few minutes to find parking in the completely packed and busy lot.

First stop, bathrooms. Second stop, visitor’s center. Third stop, Hidden Lake.

The hike to Hidden Lake was about 5.5 miles. My top concern was to spot some mountain goats. Michael’s top concern was for me not to pass out. I’m happy to report that both of our concerns were taken care of.

Exploring Glacier National Park

On top of mountain goats and not passing out, we also got to experience beautiful scenery, bear grass, and lunch at a lake with the clearest water and stones so smooth I’m positive they were created specifically for skipping along the water.

Exploring Glacier National Park

Exploring Glacier National Park

Exploring Glacier National Park

After the Hidden Lake hike we continue to drive along the Going to The Sun Road. It was a beautiful drive around all the trees, lakes, and mountains. Apparently, I was tuckered out because I took another 10-minute cat nap. I’m the worst.

To help wake me up a little bit, we stopped at the Trail of the Cedars. Michael taught me about the different trees as we walked along the 1-mile path. There was an option to walk 1.6 miles out to Avalanche Lake and we started to take it; however, I was starting to get a little paranoid about my heart, so we cut it short and headed back to the car.

I heard Avalanche Lake is beautiful, but why risk it?

We continued along the Going To The Sun Road all the way to the Apgar Visitors Center at the edge of the park. Here we made the wonderful decision to buy National Park Yahtzee. We were both pretty excited about it, because we are both big dorks. Then we headed back to our campground with a pit stop to get gas and beer.

When we got back to our campsite we were able to chat with our camp neighbors a little bit who two very nice older men. These guys were great and had a lot of fun adventure stories to share – hiking all of the 14’ers, climbing various mountains, trail running, camping trips, etc. And let me tell you, they really know how to car camp! They enjoyed their meal of chicken parmesan and pasta, while Michael and I each made some ramen with our little backpacking stoves. Chicken flavored ramen and chicken parmesan over pasta are basically the same thing, right?

After dinner we played a couple of games of Yahtzee (so fun!!) and then took a nice walk along the campground.

Exploring Glacier National Park

Exploring Glacier National Park

Two Medicine is a very beautiful campground.

Day 2 in Glacier National Park

For our second day in Glacier we decided to hike along the Highline Trail. The Highline Trail Loop is one of the more popular trails in Glacier. It follows The Garden Wall to the Granite Park Chalet and then leads back down to Going To The Sun Road for a total distance of about 12 miles. To my surprise Michael had not already hiked it. The Highline Trail does parallel the Continental Divide Trail, which he hiked last summer, but this would be a new experience for the both of us.

We started from the Logan Pass Visitors Center. Unfortunately, we weren’t as lucky with parking this time around. It took much longer, but we eventually found a spot. That parking lot is stressful!

When we started hiking the Highline Trail we didn’t really have a plan – hike 1 mile and turn around? Hike a little more and turn around? Hike the whole loop? We just decided to take it slow and play things by ear.

Well, we ended up hiking the whole thing. It was just so beautiful I didn’t want to stop! Fortunately, there wasn’t much elevation gain, we hiked at a slow, steady pace, and I made sure to drink tons of water. Looking back this was probably a little bit risky. But hey, I survived!

The highlights of the Highline Loop:

About 2 miles into the hike, we spotted a mama and baby goat along the trail. The mom was busy eating grass to the left of the trail and the little goat was parkouring along the rocks to the right of the trail. It was the cutest thing! We were a little nervous to walk on the trail between the mom and baby, but we waited for a good time, went slowly, and made it.

Exploring Glacier National Park

I told Michael I was going to take a hiking selfie of us. I asked him if he was smiling. He said no.

Exploring Glacier National Park

These views:

Exploring Glacier National Park

If you had telescopic vision, you’d be able to see a mama grizzly and her cub in the little green space in the picture below. I wanted to see a bear from a safe distance, but this distance was maybe a little too safe? It would have been more exciting to see a bear just a little bit closer so that it would have looked more like a bear and less like a brown dot.

Exploring Glacier National Park

There are two things that I simply could not leave Glacier National Park without:

  • A stuffed mountain goat.
  • Huckleberry-flavored things.

Mountain goats are just about the cutest darn things (especially the babies). I bought a little stuffed one to go with Michael’s grizzly back in Denver at the Logan Pass Visitor’s Center once we were off the trail. The goat and grizzly are now best friends.

There are huckleberry flavored things all over the place in this area of Montana. Since I kept seeing things everywhere I couldn’t help but get a couple of huckleberry items to try. I am a marketer’s dream!! I got a huckleberry beer, a huckleberry ice cream sandwich, and a huckleberry salt water taffy (not at the same time, all the purchases were spread throughout the trip). Everything was actually pretty delicious!

Once we got back to our campsite we pretty much did the same thing we did the previous night: chat with our camp neighbors, cook ramen, play Yahtzee, walk around, and then hit the hay.

The drive Back to Denver

We took the more scenic route on the way back to Denver. We drove down through Kalispell, picked up some road-side cherries for a snack, and stopped in Missoula for lunch. We continued along 90 and stopped a little past Bozeman to fill up the gas tank. Here we saw a sign pointing to Yellowstone. At first, we just joked about driving through Yellowstone, which would take our drive from 17 hours to 20 hours. Then figured, “what the hell, let’s just do it”. So, we did.

It was more time to hang out, more time to spot wild life, and more time to see some pretty scenery.

Drive Through Yellowstone

Drive through Yellowstone

The detour was worth it, but it did make the rest of the drive – the boring parts of Wyoming in the dark late at night – difficult. We used the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban audio book, McDonald’s burger and fries, and sour Haribo bears to survive. We made is safely back to Denver at about 3am Wednesday morning.

Thoughts on Glacier National Park

I would go back to Glacier National Park in a heartbeat. It’s a gorgeous park with so many things to offer – trails, views, backpacking, camping, etc. Two days exploring the area was definitely not enough time. It just whet my appetite and left me wanting more. I have no doubt that I’ll back. Hopefully next time will include more days and a backpacking adventure.

Plus, this trip served as a much needed break from the city. Michael and I both needed some quality time with each other and Mother Nature.

Exploring Glacier National Park

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A Long Weekend in Iceland: Days 1 & 2

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iceland days 1 and 2

I spent a long weekend in Iceland to celebrate my 30th birthday. The boring stuff (flights, hotel, car, packing, planning) is all here, so now we get into the fun stuff!

Day 1 = flying, exploring Reykjavik, taking a nap, & walking around Thingvellir National Park

We landed at Keflavik airport at about 6:30 am on Saturday morning. I felt like an idiot when we landed, because I definitely thought we were flying into Reykjavik.

Face palm.

It really wasn’t a big deal, because Keflavik is only about 40 minutes from Reykjavik, but still, it’s a good idea to know where you are actually flying into. We got a shuttle to Lagoon Car Rental, picked up our car, and drove to Hlemmur Square hotel. Of course I should have realized in advance that our room would not be ready at the early hour of 8:00am, but I didn’t.

It’s like I’ve never travelled before?

Oh well. We were able to freshen up a bit and leave our luggage in the storage unit at the hotel. Despite being extremely tired (because neither of us really slept on the 7 hour flight) we dragged ourselves up and out and began to explore Reykjavik.

First stop? Coffee. Much needed coffee. We came across Reykjavik Roasters and stopped in to caffeinate and warm up (it was 30 degrees and windy). It was a cute little coffee shop that was packed with people.

From there we wandered around the city for a bit. Hallgrimskirkja was our first sight.

Hallgrimskirkja

Hallgrimskirkja is a church and one of Reykjavik’s most notable landmarks. The design was inspired by how lava cools into basalt rocks. It’s actually one of the tallest structures in Iceland. You can see beautiful views of Reykjavik from the top of the tower. Apparently. We didn’t go up to check it out, but we did go inside and saw the massive pipe organ.

We eventually made our way down to the ocean and checked out the Sun Voyager.

Sun Voyager

The Sun Voyager is a giant steel sculpture created by Jon Gunnar Arnason that looks like a Viking ship, but is actually a dreamboat and an ode to the sun. I liked this one, especially with the views of the ocean and Mount Esja in the background.

We headed back to our hotel with high hopes of being able to check into our hotel. No luck. The concierge recommended a lunch place with a soup and salad bar. She told us to look for the green building with the big red heart. I ask what the name was, but she just said it was a complicated Icelandic phrase (aren’t they all?!). We ended up finding it. It was called Kryddlegin Hjortu (AKA Your Heart’s Delight). They had a soup and salad bar with an Indian flair. It was all very delicious and pretty reasonably priced ($15/person if I remember correctly).

After filling our bellies with warm soup all we really wanted to do was take a nap, but alas, we could not. It was too cold to just sit and hang out in a park, so we continued to trudge around Reykjavik, stopping in random stores to check things out and warm up.

We circled back to Hlemmur Square to check once more if our room was ready. I had high hopes. Michael did not. But, hurrah! It was ready! We immediately crawled into bed and took a glorious three-hour nap. It was one of the best naps I’ve ever had.

After unpacking and showering and feeling 1000x better we decided to take the rental car out to Thingvellir National Park, a 45-minute drive from our hotel.

Thingvellir National Park

Thingvellir is a national park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and basically the birthplace of the Icelandic parliament. It borders the beautiful blue waters of lake Thingvallavatn and houses hiking trails, waterfalls, and Silfra (a tectonic fissure between the North American and Eurasian plates).

thingvellir national park

Thingvellir has huge historical and cultural significance and was a beautiful place to spend our first evening in Iceland.

After driving back to Reykjavik and walked over to Noodle Station for a big bowl of noodle soup. It was cheap ($14), warm, delicious and exactly what we needed. We ended the night with a couple of beers (Tuborg Classic) at the hotel bar.

Our first day in Iceland was pretty exhausting, but we were able to cover a lot of ground around Reykjavik (6 miles!) and see Thingvellir National Park. Not too shabby.

Day 2 = all the fosses, a black sand beach & the Blue Lagoon

Day 2 was all about driving around the country looking for waterfalls. We drove along the southern coast to the black sand beaches of Vik, checking out a variety of waterfalls along the way and ended the day with a soak in the Blue Lagoon. Maybe you’ll recognize some of the views from this video?!?

We started the day with breakfast at our hotel, which was a classic European-style breakfast with things like meat, cheese, bread, fruit, yogurt, and cereal. We loaded up on food and coffee and set out on our way – Michael in the driver’s seat and me in the supportive passenger/navigator seat.

The first stop on our little tour was Seljalandsfoss and Gljufrafoss (FYI, foss = waterfall). Seljalandsfoss is one of Iceland’s best-known waterfalls. It’s about 200 feet tall and originates at Eyjafjallajokull, a volcano glacier. You can walk behind it, which is awesome, but we didn’t do that.

Seljalandsfoss

A short walk down from Seljalandsfoss was Gljufrafoss (these Icelandic words just kill me). This waterfall is shorter at a height of 130 feet and is partly hidden by a gorge, which made it both very beautiful and very difficult to capture in a picture. I wanted to climb up the rocks to get a better view, but considering it was a little icy and I was wearing Nike frees, I decided against it. Instead I just stood and stared at it for a bit.

Then it was time to move on to our next sight: Skogafoss.

skogafoss

Skogafoss is about a 20-minute drive from Seljalandsfoss. It’s about the same height, but much wider (about 50 feet). It was so powerful and breathtaking and I loved it. We also climbed up the steps to get a view from the top down. Legend has it that the first Viking settler in the area buried a treasure behind Skogafoss. We didn’t go looking for it, but we did see a rainbow. That was nice.

Skogafoss

We jumped back in the car and headed to Reynisfjara, the black sand beaches of Vik. This beach was unlike any beach I’ve seen before with it’s black pebbles, basalt columns, and caves. It was all so incredible.

Reynisfjara

Then there are the giant formations out in the ocean known as the Reynisdrangar. These are either huge basalt sea stacks or trolls that were pulling a three-masted ship to shore, but were caught by the sun and turned into rock.

I don’t know. You decide.

Reynisdrangar

We hung out in the parking lot for a bit and ate a bunch of snacks. That is probably not worth noting, but this is – All throughout Iceland we kept encountering these adorable little churches:

icelandic church

All were similar size, shape, and color. It’s like this little church was stalking us.

Our final stop for the day was the Blue Lagoon.

blue lagoon

The Blue Lagoon is a geothermal spa with bright blue water and is one of the most visited places in Iceland. We knew it would be super touristy, but it just felt like one of those things you need to do while in Iceland, you know? We treated ourselves to a silica mud mask, an algae mask, and a couple of drinks.

At the swim-up bars they had a variety of beverages. One of them being “Krap”, which looked to be the Icelandic version of Icee. I was really tempted to order a “cup of Krap”, but went with a glass of white wine instead.

Anyone else find that as hilarious as I do?

No? Ok…

Once we were thoroughly relaxed from hanging out in the lagoon we cleaned up and headed back to Reykjavik. We were pretty exhausted at this point so grabbed a quick dinner at Ban Thai and then went to bed.

view from Hlemmur Square

^^ That was the view from our balcony. Too bad we didn’t get to utilize it much since it was windy and cold most of the time. However, it was still nice to peak outside at the city as the sun was setting.

And here are a few extra pictures from the day.

iceland days 1 and 2

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A Long Weekend in Iceland: Planning

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iceland planning

I spent a long weekend in Iceland. It was amazing and I want to tell you about it.

Why Iceland?

Back in January I started thinking about what I wanted to do for 30th birthday in April. 3-0! It needed to be good. Real good.

Initially I told my family to come out to visit. We could rent an Airbnb, explore the mountains, and hang out together. But that didn’t happen because of lack of vacation days, expensive travel, planting season, etc. Then I emailed my girlfriends about doing a camping trip in Moab. We could camp and hike and wander around the area. But that didn’t work out because all the camping sites were already all reserved (in January!!).

Instead my mom, younger brother, and his boyfriend ended up coming at the end of March (my dad got sick and had to cancel his flight last-minute) and my girlfriends and I went to Moab mid-March. Both were amazing, ridiculously fun weekends. However, it still left me with an open 30th birthday weekend.

Then it hit me – Iceland! My Instagram feed has been filled with people travelling there and posting beautiful pictures. Plus, you can fly there direct from Denver for a pretty good price. Soooo… a long weekend in Iceland?! Yes.

While this idea was fresh in my head I happened to have met a man through the Feral Mountain Co ambassador program. We started dating. I told him about Iceland and he said, “Well, I’d go with you if you want.” Ummm… yes, I do want. We ended up booking flights a few weeks later and I crossed my fingers and hoped and hoped that we would still be together by the time April rolled around.

(We were still together when we boarded the flight to Reykjavik and we are still together now.)

The Plan

  1. Buy the flight tickets.
  2. Book the hotel.
  3. Figure out what the heck we are going to do in Iceland for 3.5 days.

Buy The Flights

After a lot of stalking flight prices on Icelandair and some discount travel sites, we ended up booking tickets through Vayama.com for April 14-18 for $510. This would give us a full 3.5 days to explore Iceland (land 6:30am Saturday, fly out 4:45pm Tuesday).

I was a little nervous about booking through Vayama, but it was $100 cheaper than going directly through Icelandair. The flight was direct and I purchased flight insurance for an extra $10, so I figured everything would turn out just fine and it did!

A word to the wise: Icelandair does not offer free meals, snacks, or drinks like most airlines do for international flights. You can upgrade your ticket, purchase your inflight meal in advance, or bring your own food (<recommended).

Book The Hotel

Then we started looking up hotels. We wanted something nice and something central to downtown Reykjavik. We landed on Hlemmur Square Hotel. Most of this was due to the fact that we were drinking cocktails while we were hotel searching and “hlemmur” was fun to say.

Just kidding.

Kind of.

We enjoyed our stay at Hlemmur Square. The rooms were nice, very clean, and had one of the most amazing shower heads I’ve ever used. There was a bar downstairs that served breakfast and also had a decent happy hour in the evenings. Also, the location was super convenient. We could easily walk to anywhere we wanted to go in the city. Overall, a great choice!

Figure Out What The Heck We Are Going To Do In Iceland For 3.5 Days

Initially we were thinking to just book some tours and walk around the city. From a couple of quick “what to do in Iceland” Google searches we knew we at least needed to tour the Golden Circle and visit the Blue Lagoon.

After thinking about it a little bit more, realizing that neither of us were thrilled at the idea of having a strict schedule and being stuck with other people on tour buses, we decided to rent a car.

Let me tell you, renting a car in Iceland is not cheap. At all. However, the freedom to drive around and do whatever we felt like outweighed the expense. Plus, at the end of the day the cost of the car should about the same as booking a couple of tours.

We ended up booking though Lagoon Car Rental. They offered free shuttles from the airport and had decent rates. Since it wasn’t the dead of winter and we weren’t planning on doing any crazy off-roading we went with the cheapest automatic car (but then got upgraded to a Renault Talisman) and purchased gravel insurance.

Turns out gravel insurance was a very smart choice. When we returned the car before our flight back to Denver they discovered a very small scratch on the passenger door. I’m talking small, like 1/4″. To make a long story short, they charged us $1350 to fix the scratch (after crediting me $2520 from the initial $3870 that they had me deposit). This was still too many $$$, so I re-read through the contract and the website FAQs and found that the body of the car was in fact insured under gravel protection, meaning that the most we should have to pay was $110. They credited me another $1240. Paying $110 was way better than paying $1350. Such an ordeal!

Moral of the story: I recommend getting insurance.

But anyways…

After more “what to do in Iceland” Google searches and reaching out to friends that traveled there we had a tentative plan to:

  • Drive the Golden Circle to see Thingvellir National Park, Geysir, and Gullfoss
  • Hang out at the Blue Lagoon
  • Drive the Southern Coast to see Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, and the black sand beaches
  • Explore Reykjavik

I was pretty happy about this plan. Even though we would only be in Iceland for 3.5 days it seemed that we could see/do a lot of things while having plenty of time to hang out and relax.

What I Packed

Over the course of a lot of trips and travelling I’ve improved my packing skills by quite a bit; however, I’m still pretty terrible at it. Deciding what to bring, buying last-minute things, getting everything into the suitcase – it’s such a process! I found that making lists helps a ton.

I knew the weather was not going to be awesome (40s, rainy) and that we were going to be in the car a lot, so I decided to bring a versatile mix of casual/workout/comfortable/dressy clothing.

Here’s what I packed:

I also brought a dress, a leather jacket, and running clothes that I didn’t end up touching.

Considering that food is really expensive in Iceland and that we were going to be driving around the majority of the day, we also packed a lot of snacks: ProBars, Bobo’s Oat Bars, instant coffee, 3 types of trail mix (tex mex, gorp, and mixed nuts), fruit leather, and chocolate covered almonds. It was more than enough.

Everything fit into my small roller suitcase, Osprey pack, and a large purse. I definitely could have packed a little lighter, but I had the room, so why not?!

Sooo… that’s all kind of the background and boring stuff about the trip. More of the fun things to come! But here is a preview…

iceland planning

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Guilt-Free Tahini Brownie Bites (v, gf-o)

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I was in Seattle this past weekend visiting my best friend. We celebrated her birthday, explored the city, and were so happy to be reunited after a crazy 2.5 months of not seeing each other.

The great thing about a best friend (or any really good friend for that matter) is that you can pick up right where you left off and 2.5 months can seem like it had only been 2.5 hours. We all need people like this. People who get you when you don’t make sense, who support you when you’re feeling a little unstable, who laugh with you at stupid things that no one else things is funny, and who make you amazing Powerpoint weekend itineraries. It’s just the best.

Amiright?

tahini brownie bites

Alongside of having a best friend and group of people you can forever count on, it’s also good to have chocolate.

And chocolate gets even better when it comes in this guilt-free tahini brownie bite form.

tahini brownie bites

These little friends are made of a chia seed egg, oats, salt, cocoa powder, tahini, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and almond milk. This is why we can call them friends; no bad influences in sight.

I know that chocolate and peanut butter is like the ultimate BFF combo, but the mix of chocolate and tahini is pretty dern good too. Plus, they are vegan and can easily be made gluten-free, if that is what you need.

These bites will be there for you when you need a mid-afternoon snack or a post-dinner dessert. They are perfect for moments when you aren’t quite ready to indulge, but are craving a sweet treat that won’t wreck your week.

This is a good friendship to have.

tahini brownie bites

Plus, they are easy to make! You just throw everything into a food processor and let it whiz away for a bit. Divide the batter into a 24-cup mini muffin tin and bake for 8ish minutes. Then eat, enjoy, and go meet up with your friends.

They will stay fresh in an air tight container for a few days, but you can also store them in the freezer. I love topping mine with a little bit of tahini, but almond and sunflower butter tastes great too.

So yeah, these tahini brownie bites are guilt-free and good friends to have!

And now some Seattle pictures.

Seattle weekend

We kicked off our Saturday with brunch at Tallulah’s and then went on a hike around Rattlesnake Lake. From there we belted out some karaoke at Rock Box, ate dinner at Tin Table, and had ice cream at Molly Moon’s.

On Sunday we grabbed coffee at Stumptown (!!), walked around Pike Place Market, ate some chowder, and enjoyed a beer at Fremont Brewing. Then it was time to part ways and go back to Denver. Weekend over. Sigh.

Seattle weekend

But you know what? It was exciting to fly back into Denver. I’m still getting used to the fact that I live here now, not Minneapolis. So strange! I like it 🙂

Guilt-Free Tahini Brownie Bites
 
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These tahini brownie bites are easy to make, delicious, and totally guilt-free!
Serves: 24 bites
Ingredients
  • 3 tablespoon water
  • 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds
  • 1 cup old fashioned oats (gluten-free if needed)
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ⅓ cup tahini
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup
  • ⅓ cup tablespoon coconut oil
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2-3 tablespoons almond milk
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a mini muffin tin.
  2. In a small bowl, stir together the water and chia seed meal. Set aside for at least 5 minutes.
  3. Add the oats and salt into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the oats reach a flour-like consistency, but there can still be some bigger pieces.
  4. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth, 2-3 minutes. Add 2-3 tablespoons of almond milk if the batter seems thick.
  5. Divide the batter evenly between the mini muffin cups, about a heaping teaspoon.
  6. Bake for 8-9 minutes, then let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
You can substitute the chia seed egg for a flax egg if you prefer. A real egg would probably work as well!

tahini brownie bites

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