Weekend Getaway: Walla Walla & the Tri-Cities

This past weekend, Ben and I took a short trip to Eastern Washington. We spent Saturday exploring West Richland/ Red Mountain Wineries and Sunday we saw a huge hot air balloon stampede, ate amazing gelato, and took a scenic bike ride down trails in Walla Walla.

Saturday:
we took a drive over to Red Mountain area for a quick visit to some wineries. We were so impressed with most of the wine offered - really fantastic & locally grown too.

   - Stops - 

1) Terra Blanca - stellar wines, ate delicious lunch. 

2) Cooper - good reds 

3) Kiona - tasted probably 15 wines, they were rather unremarkable, and the tastings were very small. I would have rather liked 5 tastings of the good wines, than 15+ sips. 

4) Fidelitas - quick stop, great decor (wood + industrial), tasty wines.

5) Tapteil - the lady behind the counter wasn't very interactive, always spoils the mood.

6) Hightower - My favorite stop - top to bottom great wines. With about 8 tastings, we bought 4 of them!

7) Hedges - Gorgeous estate and tasting room, i highly suggest walking around. oh, the wines were very nice too!

8) Finally, we found a fantastic dinner at Fox and Bear.

Sunday:
We started our day super early to get over to Walla Walla fairgrounds by 6am (the launch was set for 6:30). There was a little hesitation in the air as the wind was picking up, with a threat of a storm somewhere on the horizon. Luckily, it calmed down enough for 80% of the balloons to launch. It was amazing, and I highly recommend  seeing a hot air balloon rally or stampede if you get the chance.

We followed it up with a 6.5 mile trip through the fields, parks, and water in Walla Walla. I think we quoted it as a "nature-gasm." It was so beautiful!!

Pre Iceland: Packing & Cold Weather Essentials

1. Tuesday Scarves, made by a local Seattle artisan, were a life saver in the often windy, chilly Iceland weather. Besides the flannel one below I also wore a similar, faux fur one too. Highly recommend buying them! They were easy to pull up and over my ears too. Two of my favorites in her Etsy Store now: Flannel Cowl Scarf and the Faux Fur Cowl Scarf.

2. Pack Layers. it was great to be able to mix and match items too, so pack and buy in the same color families. This Athleta top was a big favorite to wear underneath a thermal or with my vest. Also, this top is pretty cute (and practical!) too. Don't forget your gloves too! No need for huge skiing gloves, it's not that cold or snowy out there.
3. Camera and underwater camera too. Having a fancy pants camera to capture the northern lights was key. hands down, absolutely necessary. We also were able to grab some landscape and scenery pictures that we plan on blowing up and framing. If you plan on snorkeling or going in the blue lagoon, I recommend buying the underwater camera before your trip... it cost us about $20 to buy the $7 camera. Also, buy an (european/ two prong) electrical outlet adapter... we got ours at Radioshack, but they're cheaper online (Grounded Europe Adapter) if you plan ahead! Remember you can only plug things in there that are rated at 220-240 volts - most modern/new laptops and chargers are.
4. The travel basics: leave your big bag at home, and invest in a small purse and a backpack. Our backpack came in very useful: kept papers from getting folded or lost, had lots of room to pack extra scarves and the camera, my purse even fit in there too!

Ben, the official backpack wearer

5. Phone Info: once on the airplane, set your smart phone to airplane mode and keep it there the entire trip. Your carrier will probably charge you for any text or call made or received during your international roaming. Airplane mode will prevent this. The cool thing is that there is a ton of free Wi-Fi in Iceland (hotels to coffee shops). So turn on your wi-fi and do internet from there. If you don't have a smart phone, just keep the phone at home or off the entire trip. Side note, the GPS/ maps feature was useless in iceland unless we were connected to the internet (I still have no idea why it didn't function well). So it leads me to my last pre-trip advice: 
6. Buy a Travel Mapand one of those touristy Travel Guidebooks. Then cross check all the restaurants to the internet to verify they still exist - because sometimes even a year old book is outdated!

There, I said it.

1) Keep log of my food choices and time/events/feelings that make me choose poorly. Use the reflections notebook/blog/app. Keep track of food and water intake AND exercise successes. 

2) Schedule: a long run (3mi +) outside each week. Gym at least 2-3 times a week. 

3) Read or Create each day 

don't call it a resolution

It's a lifestyle refinement

Easter Day - Whidbey Island Scenic Tour

Yesterday Ben and I took another scenic drive through Whidbey Island... this time we let Yogi tag along and focused on dog-friendly events! 


First, a nice short trip on the Mukilteo-Clinton Ferry followed with with some Whidbey Island coffee!


Next we hit up Patmore Pit Dog park, a 40 acre park with trails and woods. http://www.fetchparks.org/patmore.html


Afterwards we ventured over to Ft. Ebey and took 4 miles of trails to successfully tire Yogi and ourselves out! Pictures below :)

We finished the trip by continuing north through Deception Pass and Mt. Vernon.