mountain roads & waterfalls

Fun fact: after hiking down to this secluded waterfall in the middle of nowhere, Oregon, we stumbled upon a pile of fresh bear poop about twenty feet up the trail. So the hike up was pretty fun (I believe we began to sing out loud, in case anyone else in the woods wanted to be alerted of our obnoxious presence). 

From mountain roads to waterfalls to beautiful hills at sunset, minus one soggy night on the coast, Oregon was good to us this trip. It was good for the soul to be back in the woods and rain--I felt a small sense of disappointment when we crossed back in to California. We'll be back. 

Americana

When it's golden hour, and you're in the middle of nowhere, and you see a huge American Flag emblazoned on the side of a hay-filled barn...yeah, you pull over. Life's pretty stunning. 

p.s. one of these photos was featured on the Levi's Instagram for Memorial Day. That was fun!

green, green oregon + blog facelift

Oregon is just so green. I could not stop saying that as we drove through central Oregon, along the Columbia River. Literally, every 100 yards there was another waterfall. I wanted to fill every camping container we had with it, to bring back to the poor dry state of California. How can neighboring states be so very different?

Neither of us had ever driven through central Oregon before, which made for a blissfully stormy, happy drive from Portland to The Dalles. It was shadowy and foggy in the way only the Pacific Northwest is, and we stopped several times. We made lunch out of the back of the Subaru in the parking lot below Multnomah Falls and basked in the outright northwest-ness of it all. I'm so glad we decided to interrupt our coastal route with an excursion to see our friends in Sisters, OR, so we could see all of this. The lush green really did refresh my soul.

By the way, you may have noticed this little blog got a facelift! The design and name haven't matched my style or subject in a long while, so West Coast Whimsy is now nest + venture and is sporting a simpler, cleaner look. the name came from my equal love for staying in and going out, for both seeing the world and curating my own at home. A little adventure, a little nesting--welcome to nest + venture!

Rails in the sky

Evan has a special knack for choosing the best random turns to take while roadtripping. After a night of camping on the Oregon coast in a torrential downpour, a night in which we discovered that our tent's weather-proof guarantee was not very true at all, we were soggy, hungry, and a little bit grumpy on our way to Portland when he took a random turn off the freeway and we ended up on this abandoned railroad above the road. Ferns grew through the wood & steel and it curved into the fog, disappearing beyond us into the green. After a rough night and morning, it was a spontaneous reminder of why we drive up and down the coast, why we sleep on the ground and skip showers: to see new things with new eyes. Besides, a little rain never hurt anybody. 

Shirt: Indy Brand Clothing

two years coasting // c r a t e r l a k e

i lost count of the moments during our trip where we turned a corner and i breathed "woah". honestly, it is at least a hundred. so many of our stops were places that we'd seen photos of, researched, heard all about; yet they still surprised us again and again with their beauty and intensity. crater lake was one of those places. 

we added several hours to our first day by driving east to see crater lake, and as i realized how late we would be arriving to our first camping spot, i hoped it would be worth it. we drove up winding mountain roads, craning our necks for the first look of the famed lake, and were breathless when it finally came into view. evan immediately pulled over and we jumped out into the coldest air we've felt in over a year (we've definitely acclimated to southern california "winters") to stare at the insanely still, blue, deep waters. after living in a state of drought for a year, we couldn't get enough. not 10 minutes later, we watched the clouds roll in and were suddenly inside their fog, and a cold mountain rain came down on us. even that was beautiful. so very worth it.

sweatshirts by Indy Brand Clothing.

post-adventure blues

I've got those post-adventure blues. Like, big time. 

We returned from our anniversary west coast road trip just a few days ago and I've been in mourning ever since--it was such a wondrous, beautiful week and I can't stop thinking about everything we saw. Softening the blow is the memory card full of photos that I get to edit and look through over, and over, and over again. We saw so many sights we'd never seen before, places that filled us with awe and become ours. What a special thing, to see a piece of the world for the first time with someone you love...it forms a bond that is forever yours, a place you have only been together. The place and that person are permanently entwined in your memory, perfectly preserved. I'm so grateful. 

Here are a few photos from the first few days of the trip in Portland & Eugene, where Evan was performing in a play called The Ghosts of Tonkin. I was so happy to be in Portland for a day, a city with which I will always have a love affair. We drank Stumptown coffee, visited Powell's books, drank freshly brewed beer and prohibition-era cocktails, strolled around the gorgeous Portland State campus, and both got to spend time with our mothers--altogether, the best day. After Sunday brunch the next morning, we drove to Springfield, a tiny town outside of Eugene where they had their second performance and we watched the sun set over this bridge. The next day, the adventure truly began--more photos to come.