sarah cass

bad weather california

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:32:00 +0000

this makes me really miss colorado.

ice cube ♥'s eames

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 04:28:00 +0000

weekend trip to vashon island

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 00:52:00 +0000

One of my favorite things about living in Washington is getting to live close to our friends Tyrel and Sophia. They don't live super far away, but it takes a little longer simply because you have to take a ferry to Vashon Island (an island!)! Since I grew up in Colorado, taking a ferry (or being on any boat in general) is SUPER FUN and exciting to me. It's seriously one of my favorite things ever . . . especially when you have a view of Mount Rainier like the picture above, the chance of seeing orcas (Tyrel was late to work one day because the ferry had to stop to let the orcas cross!), and a billion giant jellyfish to count from the deck. I love this place!

On this particular weekend that we went to visit, I had kayaking on my mind and Tyrel's family is lucky enough to live on a gorgeous beach, and happens to have access to a few kayaks and tons of animals. We made friends (obviously) with all of the chickens, pigs, and goats (the donkey was scared of us!), and headed down there. We also got to see little baby peacocks (only a couple of days old!), tadpoles (above), and lots of wild guinea pigs. TOO CUTE!

Ty's family had a couple of paddles stolen, so Joel and him went out first while Sophia and I hung out on the beach until they got back.

One of my long-term goals is to save up enough to buy a kayak of our own because I really feel like I could be out on the water every single day of my life. I feel so lucky to have the kind of friends who are so down to do whatever and to be so adventurous. I love these guys!

Goat and pig buddies!

After our day in the sun, we went back to their new house (It's too cute!) for a bbq in the backyard and to hang out around the fire pit. Island life is too nice!

The next day we went out for breakfast in preparation for a hike right after . . . and it kicked my butt!

It was seriously SO beautiful, but the trails literally went straight up and down the hills (you can kind of see it above), and it finally led us an hour or so later to a really beautiful beach . . .and the tide was out! My favorite!

We found lots of shells and crabs, starfish and weird sea worms (I'm sure there's got to be a better word for them), and scattered all over the beach were these crazy looking "clay pots," which were what some creature makes as a home . . . or something. I can't actually remember, and googling didn't do me much good. Maybe if you're reading this and you know you could comment and fill me in? TOTALLY COOL, though, and unfortunately, we didn't find any baby octopus. One of these days!

My shoes were SOAKED for the walk home, but totally worth it!

After a bit of exploring under the walks, we took the same hike back, and I swear it about killed me (the ups and downs!). At one point, I could literally feel my heartbeat in my teeth (!), and had to sit down . . . turns out, we were only about 50 feet from the top! Ha! Three hours later, and we were back at the car. Visiting Vashon is the best!

Thanks for the amazing trips, Sophia and Ty!

Love,

Sarah

k potlucks

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:35:00 +0000

Pretty often, I feel like I really have the best job ever, and as the weather warms up during the year, we have more potlucks and bbqs during our lunch breaks and it gets even more fun! These pictures were from our wonderful co-worker, Jill Puccarelli's going away party, followed by Calvin's birthday this year!

Joel had a tough time opening the pickle jar . . . and then Mar comes through like it's NBD!

My favorite part about this day was that CJ tried to blow out his candle from the other side of the room, couldn't do it, and tapped out the flame with a knife! Ha!

Love,

Sarah

the hive dwellers, tender forever, and meowtain

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:42:00 +0000

Meowtain added!

the whale

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:19:00 +0000

I went to see a movie by myself for the first time ever tonight, which also happened to be my first time seeing a movie at the Capitol Theater. I had tears in my eyes and goosebumps for the majority of The Whale. So, so, so good. It just makes me want to see an orca in the wild that much more.

Go see it!

Love,

Sarah

mount rainier: part two

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 06:12:00 +0000

We made it! Once we got up to where we thought was the top, everyone else was taking picture of themselves "jumping off of the mountain." I'm pretty sure this one of Joel is the best! We went a little further, turned the corner, and were hit with harsh wind, mega cold air, and way more snow. We decided it was too cold for the baby, and while everyone else went on, Beth, Ryer, and I took our time heading back down the hill. It was seriously so beautiful -- I probably stopped every few feet to take a picture!

Lava rock! It is a volcano, you know . . .

All of the flowers and plants at the top were covered with dew.

When we made it to the bottom, we made some new deer friends, checked out the visitor's center, and did what was really important . . . drink hot chocolate! ;)

We can't wait to go back this winter for some major sledding! Woohoo!

Love,

Sarah

mount rainier: part one

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:28:00 +0000

Sometime at the end of August/September, Joel, Beth, Ryer and I got up early on our day off to take off to Mount Rainier and check out Paradise! Apparently, the snow only melts away for a couple of weeks out of the year, and we'd just heard from a few other friends that the wildflowers were in bloom. Of course we had to go! We made plans to meet up with another group of friends along the way, but upon entering the park, we realized that there was absolutely no cell phone service. We had to take our chances!

Before we actually made it into the park, we stopped to check out the CUTEST hotel ever (I want to stay here!) and the littlest church in Washington while Beth fed Ryer. What an awesome place, right?

Can you see the tip of the top of the mountain in the clouds?

We stopped at pretty much every stop that you could to take pictures and check it out, and this waterfall was at the bottom of a rest stop. So pretty and worth the short walk!

Once we hit the stop of the mountain and pulled into the parking lot, we literally turned in RIGHT BEHIND our friends! Talk about perfect timing! It took us only a minute or two to get out things together, put warmer clothes on, and start the trail up the mountain. I'm pretty sure that if we hadn't run into them, we wouldn't have even gone that way, but it seriously took you directly to the top, and I'm so, so, so glad that we did it!

Lunch stop!

We made so many marmot friends! They were totally not phased by people and got up close and personal to pose for photos. So cute!

Every time we reached a point that we thought was the top, it totally kept going, and I was pretty sure I wasn't going to physically be able to make it to the top. Beth and I took it slow, and it was totally no problem. I've got to have more faith in myself and challenge myself with this sort of thing more often. You know?

This post is a little lengthy, so I'm splitting it into two parts! Please view part two here!

Love,

Sarah

french quarter

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:16:00 +0000

French Quarter feels like my summer/fall/winter jam. Their new album is just so, so good and it honestly feels like the soundtrack of my year. Luckily, they've been in the Pacific Northwest a few times this year, and after finally meeting in May at one of the best shows I've been to since I have lived in Olympia, we finally got together in July at What the Heck Fest in Anacortes to do a quick photo shoot. SO GOOD.

My apologies for the sound quality on the videos . . . this is the first time that we had ever tried to use the video portion of my camera, and even though Joel did a great job using it, it just sounds horrible! Listen to the real stuff here! It was recorded at my work by the wonderful Bob Schwinkler, so I've got even more warm feelings after listening to the songs again and again through the floor while they recording.

I love this band!

Love,

Sarah

weird al at the puyallup fair

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 04:47:00 +0000

A couple of months ago, Joel, Judy, and I met Mike and Beth at the Puyallup Fair for the first time. I hadn't been to a big fair since I was 11 or 12 and my mom took me to see Bryan White at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo six times in a row! It was THE BEST. We weren't there to see BW this time, but we did have tickets to see someone who I also listened to when I was little . . . WEIRD AL!

We showed up a bit early, snacked on gyros, and made our way to our seats. He seriously played every single song you could imagine him playing, a few I hadn't heard before, and of course, all of the hits -- medleys from the Food Album, Nirvana and Miley Cyrus covers, EAT IT! And between almost every song, he changed his outfit to fit the next song and medley. I would see him again in a heartbeat. So amazing!

After the show, we walked around the fair for a bit and Mike bought two large elephant ears for us to try. Pretty good, but I'm glad that it's not an everyday food! On our way back to the car, we ran into a small group of (sorry!) nerdy kids waiting to meet Weird Al outside of the fence where his busses were, so what did we do? We waited with them! For almost an hour! Around midnight (even after the fair had closed for the night), we decided to call it a night and finally head home. I wonder if he ever came out, though?

I totally need to see more big shows! I'm so glad that my friends are so awesome! What a blast!

Love,

Sarah

port townsend, washington: day trip

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:13:00 +0000

A couple of Fridays ago, my sweet friend, Judy, invited along on a drive. We thought that maybe we would go to Aberdeen, or the beach, but we ended up driving along the Hood Canal to Port Townsend. I had my fingers crossed to somehow see an orca, and even though we didn't, we still had a really great time.

We stopped for lunch at Siren's, where I had a veggie burger with a side of clam chowder . . . SO GOOD. I would go back any day, especially since the view is totally what you see above, AND there was a fireplace!

Cutie Judy!

We walked around the main street downtown and stopped into a bunch of stores. One of the ladies inside one of the stores suggested that we stop into The Palace Hotel to check it out. The guy who was working was incredibly nice and totally looked like someone you would see in a movie working in a creepy hotel (meaning, he had on the outfit to match). It was amazing! He went above and beyond and gave us a tour, taking us into all of the rooms that were open and talking about the history of the building.

The room above is supposedly haunted by the woman in the painting at the top of the stairs . . .

Before the building was a hotel, it was a brothel that was raided in the mid-1930s, and they named all of the rooms after the ladies. I thought that it was a cute touch!

After we had seen enough of the downtown area, we took a short trip to Fort Worden, an old military base, to see the water and couldn't help but walk around the lighthouse.

I thought that the moss on all of the logs was the prettiest color . . .

Look! It's CASS STREET!

On the way back home, we stopped for seasonal treats (candy corn!), took a wrong turn, and ended up crossing a bridge onto an island! Ha! It turned out just fine though and we came back by way of Tacoma. Such a lovely way to get out of town!

Luckily, Judy and I are taking another day trip this Thursday for Thanksgiving! I can't wait! :)

Love,

Sarah

happy halloween (a little late)!

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 09:06:00 +0000

On the Saturday before Halloween, Joel finally agreed to go to the pumpkin patch with me! I hadn't been since I was in kindergarten and I really wanted to start a tradition for us to pick out our pumpkins to carve every year. Since we were so late to go, there were some gnarly pumpkins hanging around the fields, but it was still fun to walk around and look for the perfect one, not to mention watching all of the pony rides, kids on hay rides, and apple guns!

Joel was a good sport and we ended up with two small Cinderella pumpkins (coming in at under $4 for both of them!), with warts and all!

Check out those leaves!

After stopping for some pumpkin ale and pizza, we made our way over to Mike and Beth's house to carve pumpkins with them and baby Ryer. Turns out, Cinderella pumpkins are NOT GOOD CARVING PUMPKINS. What took Mike five minutes (literally!) to carve took Joel and I about two hours, but we powered through and totally finished them! Worth it!

Joel's old man!

Mike's scary pumpkin face!

My kitty cat!

And Beth's Happy Halloween!

On the actual Halloween, Joel and I stayed home and waited for trick-or-treaters, but didn't even get ONE! I hope that your Halloween was just as wonderful though . . . and since we're so close (and I'm so behind!), I hope that you have a great Thanksgiving as well! :)

Love,

Sarah

P.S. While my pumpkin was in front of our house this month, every few days I would come home and an ear would be missing, and then the top! One night when I was going to pick up Joel from school, I opened the door to a raccoon on our front porch . . . I'm pretty sure I know where the missing kitty ears went! :)

the maxines!

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 05:06:00 +0000

The Maxines were interviewed by Nardwuar (!) last week, and were absolutely adorable! They said some sweet things about people I love and myself, played tons of great 7 inches, and talked a bunch about Olympia! It was totally awesome - I love these guys!

You can listen to it here!

Love,

Sarah

P.S. I love Nardwuar!

a sweet wedding present

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:46:00 +0000

I decided to make the whole wheat pizza dough that was sitting in our refrigerator last night and got to try out the rolling pin that I brought home from Colorado this summer. For as long as I can remember, it was sitting in my grandma/great-grandmother's kitchen wrapped up in plastic with a bow on it. While digging through drawers in my parents' dining room, I found it and my mom told me that it was meant as a wedding present that was set aside for when I finally got married. So awesome and sweet!

While my dude co-workers and husband were out for cheap eats and drinks, I invited my best Oly gf over with her sweet little baby girl and we played Wii bowling, ate our veggie pizza, watched Roseanne and Drive Me Crazy, and had lots of girl talk. I want to make it a weekly event!

Beth, you're the best!

Love,

Sarah

the hive dwellers 7" release party!

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:12:00 +0000

woohoo!

june in colorado: glade park

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:47:00 +0000

GLADE PARK

Even though the Monument is right behind our house, I still REALLY love to go up there. We actually changed our plans though and made our way up Glade Park with both of the dogs.

Of course we stopped at every lake! They were STOKED!

My main mission was to pick a ton of wildflowers to take back to turn into bouquets for my parents/grandma/aunt and uncles, and to pick a bit of sage and indian paintbrush as a bouquet for me (like my wedding bouquet, but smaller!).

My dad thought it would be really fun to make the rocks in the stream look like boulders. He took this one! I should also mention that my mom most likely took a large majority of the really vivid pictures here. Her camera is a super saturater!

Of course she made me pose by the fence . . . but it was a pretty sweet fence, right? And we HAD to stop in the field of yellow flowers! Packer LOVED them!

Before we left, we stopped by the spot that Joel and I got married. My dad knew exactly where it was (I wouldn't have remembered!), and there was a huge campsite in the middle of it. After we got married, we carved our names in one of the nearby aspen trees and I was determined to find it. We wandered around that campsite for about five minutes looking for it, and the tree was in the very middle of all of the campers -- good thing no one was home! I made my mom walk over to take a few pictures (at the very top of this post!), but boy, we sure felt like creeps! It's still there, though!! :)

As soon as we headed off of the hill, we went over to my Grandma's for an early 4th of July bbq on the porch. The perfect way to end the weekend, and pretty much the end of my photos from Colorado. Two days later, I drove back to Washington by myself. So excited to be back soon, but this time, I'm flying! Woohoo!

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Sarah

june in colorado: the grand mesa and country jam

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:40:00 +0000

THE GRAND MESA

Since my mom was at Country Jam, a four-day country music festival in Mack, Colorado that weekend, my dad and I stuck our dog, Packer, in the car with us and got out of town. We ended up driving over the Grand Mesa to check out the lakes and look for moose. We still didn't see any, but there was a close-call and I made my dad turn around -- turns out, it was a moose-size cut-out across the hill. I guess it doesn't count . . .

We spotted a bunch of marmots (that are ADORABLE!) and stopped at the general store to buy choke cherry jam for Calvin and Mariella. What better thing to take back to Washington? So perfect!

Peacock!

And Mount Garfield from the car window. SO PRETTY!

That same weekend (on Saturday), my mom had gotten me a ticket to Country Jam so that I could go with her for at least one day. IT WAS SO AWESOME. The ticket that I had was for literally the farthest chair away from the stage (seriously!), but for the entire day, I ended up being able to sit in the second row near the center with my mom. It was seriously so good!

I didn't know who the first guy was, but I guess Charley Jenkins was on an American Idol-type-show for country stars. He was actually really good and it was totally a great way to start the day, especially being Military Day.

Brett Eldredge was a total dreamboat and a great entertainer. He did a great medley towards the end of his show also (below!). Apologies for the lousy sound quality. Turns out, my SLR videos sound REALLY HORRIBLE. Now I know, I guess. It was my first time to actually play with it, which was kind of fun, even though I don't think I was supposed to be filming. Whoops!

Sawyer Brown was one of the two people that I was REALLY excited to see. I've probably seen them 10 times before, but they NEVER disappoint, especially in the middle of the day in 100 degree heat, they are ALWAYS on. I could see them again and again and always have fun. Did you know they were discovered on Star Search 25 years ago? I love it!

Dinner Break! We walked around for a bit afterward to the giant rodeo statue. Turns out, it was Chris Ledoux. It made us a little sad, but it was totally awesome.

I'd never heard Rodney Atkins (at least, I thought I hadn't), but it turns out that I knew a lot of his songs from the radio. He was hard to follow after Sawyer Brown had everyone on their feet dancing, but he was still pretty good (even if he seemed really grumpy -- I guess he was sick?). I'm sure he's a great guy, though.

After Rodney Atkins, the CJ staff were really hyping up a big event that would happen before Alan Jackson. A bunch of young (18-years-old-young) were sworn in (is that what you would call it?) to the Army. I actually recognized two kids that I went to school with, and it was a really weird and slightly emotional thing to see.

The real big event though was a video that had been made (days after Osama Bin Laden had been killed) with videos of soldiers in action, footage from the World Trade Center, and heavy patriotic messages. I'm not usually political at all, but it was hard not to have any emotion when there is literally thousands of people cheering/silenced/whatever watching this stuff after some big events had gone down not too long before. I got a little choked up and felt it collectively weighing on everyone else around me. It was a weird vibe, but also kind of a special few minutes. After the video, a couple of soldiers marched onto the stage, and then a few more after them to give another soldier a flag for what he had done. He then presented the flag to a few other people to display somewhere around Grand Junction. I was a little lost at what was going on at that point, but again, being Military Day, it was a cool thing to witness.

Excited mom!

And of course the main reason I wanted to be at Country Jam for Saturday (other than Sawyer Brown, of course!) was to see ALAN JACKSON! I had seen him once years ago, but I was really young, far away, and I FELL ASLEEP! He even had an inflatable jukebox -- I think it was when "Don't Rock the Jukebox" was popular. That would make sense, right? This time though, I was really close (still second row!) and it just felt really special. He seriously played every song that I could have dreamed of hearing, plus a bunch I didn't even realize I wanted to hear but that I definitely knew. He had his videos playing behind him, videos of the crowd, and videos that they had recorded all over Grand Junction. He's obviously great, but when he's on stage, you really can't take your eyes off of him -- he's just huge, handsome, and really takes control of the stage. After the military stuff earlier, the song below felt pretty real. It really was just the best day.

These cute kids got a set list, and we got an Alan Jackson guitar pick and our pictures taken! :)

What night is complete without a stretch truck limo? HA!

Week four is next!

Love,

Sarah

june in colorado: oregon, utah, the uncompahgre, and denver

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:35:00 +0000

For almost the entire month of June, I was given some time off from my amazingly awesome job to visit my family in Colorado and spend a lot of time with my Grandma since she was diagnosed with cancer a few months earlier (which is totally bogus). I spent literally every day with her during the day, and every night with my parents (and then when they went to bed, I spent every night scanning old photographs from my grandma's house . . . two huge plastic tubs down, about three more to go!). It was a totally awesome vacation, and luckily, I get to be back there for Christmas -- I seriously can't wait!

OREGON AND UTAH

Joel drove with me on the way there, and of course we had to stop in Pendleton and Multnomah Falls. I can't tell you how many times we've actually driven by the falls and never stopped, so we figured we had better do it this time since it was beautiful and warm out! Turns out, it's way bigger when you stop to get out and actually look at it. Super pretty and super worth our stop. Next time, maybe we'll do a little hiking in the area!

THE UNCOMPAHGRE

When we finally made it to Grand Junction, we hung out for the week until my parents were off on the weekend and took a short day trip up onto the Uncompahgre. My dad stopped at the old granite mine (it's not really a mine, but that's where they used to get it from -- the side of the cliff!) so that we could walk around and explore. It was SO PRETTY that I made everyone take some "family pictures." We had to, you know?

This was an old house nestled up against the rocks -- unfortunately, they had put a fence around the field, otherwise we would have gone to check it out. Can you see the waterfall below?

When we got back that night, my dad pulled me into the garage to show me his rock collection, especially the amethysts (he had coffee cans full!) that had come from the mine that was in that same canyon. I guess when he was my age (ish), he knew someone who worked in the mine and was able to go in and pick them out. I picked out a small mason jar full to take home. If you ran them under water, you could really see them sparkle. So pretty and fun!

DENVER

We spent a week of our trip in Denver so that I could do a few photo shoots (eleven!) and see Joel's family. Sadly, this is the only photo that wasn't from one of the shoots. Joel's one-eyed pug, Smokie! This was the same week that we saw the bear and Jens Lekman, though, so Denver was TOTALLY eventful! I dropped Joel off at the airport at the end of the week to fly home for work and headed back to GJ.

Week Three Soon!

Love,

Sarah

see the salmon

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 04:32:00 +0000

A few weeks ago we were invited to a BBQ at a friend's house where Joel snapped the picture above (from their attic room). On our way there though, we saw the "See the Salmon" sign between Capitol Lake and where the Budd Inlet ends and stopped because, well, why not?

When we stopped last year, there were people there to tell you everything that you could possibly want to know about the salmon and they even gave you special glasses so that you could see through the water and see them better. This year though, you didn't even need them since it was REALLY obvious where the salmon were and super easy to see them. Those guys are HUGE!

Lurkin'.

You know what brings the Orcas in? THESE GUYS. Fingers crossed we finally see one this year!

Love,

Sarah

oregon coast: day 3

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:57:00 +0000

Newport was BEAUTIFUL! We were pleasantly surprised when we woke up to find the marina was right next to a huge and beautiful bridge and park, complete with the most awesome lighthouse that we visited!

While we were walking towards all of the shops, we spotted a seal, and then another one, and then heard what sounded like hundreds of dogs . . . see that rock above? FILLED WITH SEA LIONS. LOVE IT!

These guys were catching fish, and the birds were trying to steal it away and grab any scraps they could find. Monster jelly below:

We made our way towards the downtown shops and found mural after mural (my favorite!), as well as the RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT MUSEUM! I wanted to go, but just didn't have it in me to put the money up for it. Cheap, I know, but I would rather check out the ocean.

And then we found even MORE sea lions, literally less than ten feet below us! I could have watched them for hours, but we probably spent a good 30-or-so minutes there. Dogs of the sea!

We showed up a few minutes before this lighthouse opened and waited at the gate to get in. I guess the family that lived here only occupied the house for four years before another lighthouse was built at another point not far from this one, which closed this one down. The family left, but most of their things (I'm pretty sure) stayed behind, and what didn't, they made up for in period-appropriate furniture. It was kind of fun to see, and felt a little spooky, like someone was still around!

The lighthouse's light!

We kept going down towards Florence (and more lighthouses), to try to make it to the Sea Lion caves (and did!), but they weren't actually in the caves that day, and we would have been paying $15/person to see them 200 yards away. Since we had seen a bunch earlier, we kept on going and stopped for window shopping and lunch (clam chowder!) at Moe's in Lincoln City.

Along the way, we spotted a huge hill of sand, and knowing that we were close to the sand dunes, we totally stopped to climb it! It was hard, but totally awesome and seemed to go on forever, as you can see above.

Another whale watching spot and lighthouse. Check out that whale bone!

And our final destination, Coos Bay. My dad spent a lot of time out here a years ago opening up a DHL location and had convinced my mom that we needed to go here! It was pretty, but we didn't see what the big fuss was about until we got to the rocks and the sunset . . .

Filled with sea lions!

We found a comfy and cheap Motel 6, got a couple of sandwiches and crashed for the night. I loved their bedspreads!

We hit the beach up in the morning (one last time!), and made our way back home, stopping in Portland for my mom's first time visiting and checking out the Saturday Market.

It didn't really blow any of our minds, so instead of staying for dinner, we decided to stop in Centralia for dinner at La Tarasca! Aside from the traffic, it was a great idea since we were STARVING by the time we arrived.

When we arrived back in Olympia, my mom couldn't say goodbye to the water yet, so we drove down to see it one last time and were surprised to find the remains of a sandcastle competition that had happened earlier in the day. Some jerky kids were ruining it them, so my mom snapped a few photos to remember them before going home to pack her back up to fly out the next morning. One of the best trips ever!

Love you, Mom!

Love,

Sarah

oregon coast: day 2

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 05:25:00 +0000

We woke up in our cute little beach house and walked to Rockaway Beach since it was about a block from where we were staying. Joel and I couldn't get the Herman Dune or Ramones songs about the beach out of our heads, ha!

Once Joel heard that the Tillamook Cheese factory was along the way, he was pretty stoked. Turns out, they give free tours and cheese samples! We took advantage of the cheap ice cream and photo ops!

More driving and stopping . . .

And our first lighthouse of the trip at Cape Meares!

Our next stop, and one of my FAVORITES was in Depoe Bay. It's the Whale Watching Capital of the Oregon Coast! Of course it was my favorite. And we even saw a gray whale way out in the distance (you could tell from the spouts of water that would come up!). LOVE IT! They also advertise their town as being the World's Smallest Harbor. We walked around, ate some taffy, and watched the fishermen feed their fish scraps to seals. THE BEST PLACE EVER!

Sunset at the water again . . . this is where the whale was!

We kept going as it got dark and made our way to Newport to for the evening.

Day three soon!

Love,

Sarah

oregon coast: day 1

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:17:00 +0000

After our trip to Forks, we grabbed Joel and hopped back in the car, this time heading South towards Oregon. Joel and I had made this trip before, but hadn't made it past Cannon Beach, so we were feeling pretty excited to check it out!

Our first stop was at the Astoria Column. From their website, "The Astoria Column commemorates the westward sweep of discovery and migration. Built in 1926, it is 125 feet high and has 164 steps winding to the top." Of course we had to climb it and check out the view!

Worth it, right?

A trip to Astoria isn't complete without stopping at the Custard King! Yum!

We made our way straight to the beach (duh!) and wandered around Cannon Beach while the tide was out. This is BY FAR the best way to experience this beach. The rocks were COVERED with starfish!

We decided that we were ready to check out the rest of what was along the way and made our way down, stopping at literally every single stop so that my mom could get out and take pictures (we got out at most of the stops, too). :)

Another beach at sunset . . . so perfect.

We made it to Rockaway Beach and found the cutest little motel home for the night. We ended up stopping at the grocery store and fixing dinner in our kitchen for the night, watching Degrassi, and crashing early.

The next day will be up soon!

Love,

Sarah

forks and la push: day 1 and 2

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:00:00 +0000

Every time my mom comes to visit, we pretty much head directly to the beach, and this last visit was no different. We packed up my car, reserved a cabin in La Push, Washington, and made our way around the Olympic Peninsula. We had been there before, but this was the first time that my mom had come to visit since reading the Twilight books . . . which she has already read a few times over!

After we unloaded our car, we headed directly to the beach, which was right in front of us. This was the path!

This was a giant tree (driftwood!) that had washed up on the shore. Can you imagine?

The first starfish of the trip!

Doesn't my mom look happy?

Our cabin!

We made a couple of sandwiches for dinner and drove around to see what we could find. We ended up where all of the boats were docked to take about a million photos. La Push at sunset is SO PRETTY!

The next day, we started out exactly where we had left off the night before -- doesn't it look totally different? We wandered around a little bit, took a few photos, and decided to take a hike to (I think?) Second Beach, which we hadn't checked out before. The year before, Joel and I tried to do it right as it was getting dark (thinking it wasn't far away), got a little ways in, and gave up since it was getting hard to see. Turns out, it's kind of far, but TOTALLY worth it!

I wish you could tell how foggy it was in the forrest -- it felt super Twilight!

These dogs kept scaring up all of the birds, which made the beach feel even more special.

Can you spot the pelican? The first one that I've ever seen!

A tree full of treasures (and slugs)!

The happiest leaf I've ever seen . . .

And Jacob's hanging out in the window to say goodbye on your way out of town. I love it!

A trip to Forks wouldn't be complete without following the Twilight driving tour! When you stop at the information center, they have printed our directions ready for you. It was super geeky and really fun to find! The locals must deal with a whole bunch of lost tourists everyday, because as soon as we stopped at a stop sign, we were directed by tons of people to turn left! Ha! The truck above is a replication of Bella's truck from the movie, and the house below belongs to the Cullens!

In the hospital parking lot!

Bella's house . . .

Ha!

After stopping at the local pizza place for lunch, we walked around downtown Forks and stopped in every Twilight store the we could. It sounds so silly, but I really do love how much the town plays it up. The best store, hands down, is the official Twilight store.

We decided that we weren't going to spend another night in Forks and made our way back down the coast, stopping at literally every pull-out and beach along the way. The Washington coast sure is pretty . . .

And as an added bonus to our drive home, the moon was HUGE! We had to stop to take a picture, but we totally had the wrong lenses on and the pictures turned out like the one you can see above. Just for fun though, I threw it in (along with another man who had stopped for photos) so that you could see how massive this thing was! It felt very epic, and I can only imagine how many werewolves were around us . . . ;)

I'll post the next few days of our trip in a bit . . .

Love,

Sarah

happy 25th birthday, joel davenport!!!

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 05:24:00 +0000

Tomorrow is Joel's 25th birthday, so continuing on our Twin Peaks themed birthday presents (I will try to scan Joel's present to me soon!), I tried my hand at making a cherry pie (his absolute favorite!) for the first time ever! My first pie, if you don't count my favorite crustless pumpkin pie, and it was a total success! Obviously, my favorite part was embellishing it with Joel's name, but the other best part was when Joel walked in the door and the first thing he said was, "What did you burn?" Nice. For the record, I totally didn't burn it, and as you can see by the photos that follow, he totally enjoyed it. I have a feeling that it's going to be even better the next day. I'm saving my piece for tomorrow for his actual birthday!

Yum!

Sarah

P.S. We met our kitties on Joel's birthday two years ago. Does that mean we should have a kitty cat birthday party too (complete with kitty party hats and toys)? I'm thinking we should!

a handy tip for the easily distracted

noreply@blogger.com (sarahcass) — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 03:55:00 +0000