sister trip – The Impatient Traveler

Grand Teton National Park

February 13, 2021February 13, 2021 by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Italy

My sister, Jules, wanted to drive down from San Fransisco to Texas to stay for four months over the holidays. A road trip seemed like a much less Covid risky way to spend time with our parents than flying. I didn’t want Jules to drive all the way from San Francisco to Dallas by herself and, since our annual sister trip was canceled this year, it was the perfect excuse to make this our actual sister trip. We decided to spend a little bit more time exploring the US on our way back from San Francisco so, instead of driving south and then east to explore Arizona and New Mexico like we had done previously, we decided to go straight east through Nevada and Wyoming and down through Colorado and New Mexico into Texas.

A few days before we were going to leave, Jules noticed that the weather was going to be freezing! While it was 70 in Dallas, Yellowstone National Park was predicted to be between 0 to 15°! Thankfully we had time to prepare and fully pack with extra-warm, cozy clothes to bundle up with during our time in Wyoming.

I flew over to San Francisco after work on a Friday night. This was my first flight during Covid and I was a little bit worried. Thankfully everyone on the flight was wearing a mask and it wasn’t too full. I watched a few movies and had a very uneventful flight even though we were delayed by an hour and a half. The delay was problematic because Julia and I had a six hour drive to do after I landed in San Francisco! To prepare for the drive, Jules bought me a banh mi sandwich dinner before my delay. By the time I got to SFO around 8 PM, my dinner of was stone cold and the spring rolls Jules got were a really strange and texture. It was still delicious though because I was starving!

We took off in the dark to a little town in Nevada. We hadn’t seen each other in so long that we talked the entire drive! We didn’t arrive until 4:30 AM Dallas time, 2:30 AM San Francisco time and were exhausted and looked a bit rough.

We lugged everything into the hotel and quickly fell asleep. We had quite an early morning the next day to make the rest of the 10 hour drive to Wyoming. It was supposed to snow in Wyoming, so we got up a bit early to try and beat the snow! Jules had a all-wheel-drive Subaru (the “boobaroo”), which can handle this snow, but it’s still better to be safe than sorry.

Before we took off we went to the local coffee shop to get some extra tall coffee’s because we had such a short amount of sleep and a long day ahead of us. Fortunately for us, the view was absolutely beautiful and we had a scenic drive to our destination, Jackson Hole. We talked most of the way, with a few hours dedicated to listening to a audiobook. My job had been very stressful lately, so we had long conversations about how to distress, take deep breath‘s, and incorporate meditation into daily life. It was very refreshing to talk about those topics because I definitely need to find ways to destress and my sister had some wonderful recommendations.

We stopped a few times for gas and for some vegetarian jackfruit tacos for lunch. They were absolutely delicious. Because of our stops and the time change, we arrived at Jackson Hole around 6:30 PM. It was a very long day! Before we got to our Airbnb, we went to the local grocery store to stock up for the week since we were going to cooke most of our meals to save some money while we worked from our Airbnb. When we pulled up in the parking lot of the grocery store it started snowing!

It was a quick drive from the grocery store to Teton Village which is at the bottom of Jackson Hole ski slopes. It was a bit icy and we definitely used the traction control on the car to make sure we didn’t drive off the road. Eventually made it safely to the Airbnb. There was 4 feet of snow on the ground so it took a bit of effort to lug everything up to our adorable Airbnb. It was the perfect space to working over the next couple of days. We unpacked quickly, made a quick dinner, and then relaxed after such a long day of driving.

We had a really early morning for our tour of Grand Teton. Originally, we were supposed to be touring Yellowstone National Park today but, because of all the snow, the roads were too dangerous and the park shut down. We are a bit disappointed, but we also came without any expectations, so we let our disappointment go and were ready to explore and started the day with an amazing view of Teton Village.

The road down to Jackson Hole was foggy but not enough to hide the moose crossing the road! It was our first animal siding of the trip and we were very excited! We drove into Jackson and found a parking lot to meet our guide Mike. Mike was referred to me by a good friend that I used to work with who had absolutely raving reviews about his tour with Mike. Mike was really nice, wore a mask, and drove us so we could enjoy the views. He had a fascinating story of how he moved from Florida with his family to Wyoming after being so love with the State. Along our drive the mountains weren’t showing because of all of the overcast clouds but it was still a beautiful site with all of the snow. We found the Grand Teton National Park sign and took a photo at the beginning and end of our trip. The difference in visibility was crazy!

Mike told us all about the history of the area and how Rockefeller secretly bought up all of the land in Grand Teton National Park and then donated the land to the government for public use. How awesome is that! Mike also told us about his son Isaac who happens to be a fantastic wildlife photographer. His work was even featured in the Smithsonian Museum. Mike told us about how Isaac waited in a river one early morning to catch three moose right above the water’s steam looking at each other. Such an awesome story and incredible picture.

Mike then drove us to the Mormon Barnes. We had the whole place to our selves because it was so cold and in the off-season for tourism. It was so cool but we got very lucky with the timing of our trip. If it had been a week later the parks would’ve been completely closed! We were able to experience some really neat things without a lot of tourists.

We continue driving and the sun finally started to come out. The Grand Teton started peeping through the clouds and it made for an absolutely incredible view! The landscape looked like a painting, not real life.

We stopped quite a few times to look at scenic views vistas and just taking all the snow on the trees because there was also a unique and if itself. Mike was excited too as he had never driven this route with snow all around as the parks are typically closed by the time it snows.

We stopped at Jenny Lake, named after a Native American woman who married a trapper and had many children but tragically died. While her life was tough and cut too short, her legacy lives on in such a beautiful place.

My favorite viewpoint of the day was Snake River. It was the last stop of the day and we were getting pretty tired but the view made it completely worth it. I FaceTimed my hubby, Ryan, and he told me that the background looked like a painting. I could not agree more. We spent some time taking it all in and then headed back to town after a good eight hours of driving.

After our tour, we said “Goodbye” to Mike and walked around Jackson Hole to do some exploring. There were quite a few cute shops around the town square and we looked at all of the gadgets, gizmos, clothes, and jewelry that was on display. We even went to visit Isaac, Mike’s son, at the camera store to look at some of his pictures. The were are amazing and we followed him on Instagram to keep up with his work.

After looking at all the options for food we decided to go to a Italian place on the way back. We actually saw it while we were driving in the night before and it had really cute lights and a great set up so we were already leaning towards going there without even looking at the menu. When we saw that it was pizza we were sold! We enjoyed some yummy pizza, a charcuterie board, and some brussels sprouts that had a lot of potential but too much sauce. After dinner, we went back to the Airbnb, turned on a movie, and got ready for our next few days of working from the Airbnb.

Mt. Rainier

January 10, 2019January 10, 2019 by The Impatient Traveler, posted in Seattle, Washington

I opened up my computer one day in July and read the best email I had ever received. It was from my sister, Julia, who requested a long-weekend sister trip to one of three national parks! I couldn’t be happier to respond “YESSSS!!!” We decided to take a long weekend in October to hike around Mt. Rainier which is outside of Seattle, Washington.

Thursday –

We flew in from different cities but landed within minutes of each other and had quite the exciting, hug-filled reunion in the Seattle airport. We gabbed as we walked to the Uber pick-up area and got lucky that we did not have to split our Uber-Pool Prius with another 3 people – that would have been so cramped!

It only took 20 minutes or so get to the Marriott Seattle Waterfront hotel that had the most beautiful view! The check-in guy asked us if we were twins which made my day since I am 5 years older! I am not sure how my sister feels about the mix-up but I think she lets it slide for my sake.

We got up to the room to clean up before heading out for dinner. We opted for sushi since the seafood in Seattle is so darn fresh and delicious! We opted to try Umi Sake House since it was only a few mintue walk from the hotel. We cheersed to our reunion with some cocktails and split seaweed salad, edamame, and two of the best rolls I’ve ever had in my life! (Unfortunately, I Snapped and didn’t actually save my food-porn worthy photo evidence.. ugh!)

Totally stuffed, we walked back to our room and chatted until late in the night. You’ve got to love an old fashion sister sleepover (except when you get touched by cold feet)!

Friday –

My sister mentioned she had to work a tiny bit when we first planned the trip but the “tiny” turned into 1/2 the day, so I made some solo plans. I had been wanting to try out an out Orange Theory class and there happened to be one about 10 minutes from our hotel! I booked a 10 AM class and my sister and I grabbed a yummy continental breakfast before I started the walk to Orange Theory. The directions had me go up this awesome bridge with a beautiful view of the water way. I then turned into the city for a short tour before arriving at the studio. Unfortunately for my body, it was “National Burpee Day” and the class totally kicked my butt! Maybe wasn’t the best idea with a big hike coming up the next day… (Oh, foreshadowing!)

The day was glorious – 60 degrees and sunny – and I loved walking through the city. Once I got back to the hotel, I freshened up while my sister finished her conference call. Our stomachs were rumbling so we took off to check out Pike Place Market and find a spot for lunch.

Pike Place Market was only a 10 minute walk from our hotel and we had a great time sampling the different products for sale, like questionable moisturizer, and smelling all of the flowers. It took me back to the last time I was in Seattle for our Alaskan cruise.

We came across a little cheese and wine shop and sampled some cheeses. We ended up buying two cheeses and a nice bottle of red to take back to the hotel for snacking later. We also found an Italian place and split a scrumptious pasta dish. (Mmm, carbs!)

Another meeting popped up on my sister’s schedule so we decided to grab some coffee and head down to the wharf. Talk about an amazing view to take a call from, especially since happy hour with wine and oysters at Elliot’s Oyster House was to follow.

Feeling good after our wine, we went back to the Marriott to get ready for our exciting comedic evening. We were going to dinner at Local 360 before seeing Iliza Shlesinger live! I watched her Netflix special, “Elder Millennial”, a few months before our trip and could not believe she was premiering in Seattle the night we were there! I was beyond excited.

Dinner was probably an 7 out of 10. We split a weird goat cheese and beet salad, but a delicious squash soup with so, so, so much bread. My hand-made, pesto pasta dish was very good and my sister had a veggie medley over thick-cut toast.

Dinner at Local 360 in Seattle, Washington

We were so stuffed that we were glad for the walk to the Moore Theater. We had every intention of finding a bar to hang at before the 10:30 show, however, while passing by we noticed that the theater was really dark. It looked like there was a big metal gate and that the doors were closed. We walked up and, to my completed sock, we saw the below:

I was SO sad that we could not see Iliza. Instead of going to a bar, we decided to go back to the hotel and get an early night’s sleep since we had an early morning to Mt. Rainier the next day.

Saturday:

We woke up bright and early to check out of the hotel and head to Mt. Rainier! Even though it is a 2 hour drive from the city, you could actually see the mountain from the wharf in Seattle. The drive was absolutely beautiful as all of the trees were changing to the most vibrant colors for fall!

We took a pit stop at a grocery store on the way to grab some food for our hike. I was looking for something quick, prepackaged, and easy to eat and found the perfect lunch – Pizza Lunchables! My 5 year-old self would have been so proud.

We finally started the accent to Mt. Rainier. The mountain kept getting bigger and bolder as we drew closer and we were in awe. We took a quick stop to take some photos at a lookout point and finally made it to the hike area. The weather was perfect and the trail was up, up, and more up. Oh, my butt was burning from those burpees!

The views and the hike got us talking about everything – wanting to move from Texas so I could hike more, previous hikes with our parents (like when we accidentally hiked through a nudist beach *cringe*), quirky family songs that we used to sing when we hiked with family, dating and relationships, and how we were going to make these sister trips an annual tradition. I have to say, I am so incredibly lucky to have Julia as my sister and built-in best friend / travel buddy. We are quite the quirky pair:

The view from the top of the hike made all of the climb worth it. We decided to post up on an out cropping for some relaxation and Lunchables.

Eventually, we had to make the trek down the path back to the car. It was pretty steep with shale rock everywhere. It was a bitter-sweet decent as I could have stayed by the mountain for ages.

Our spirits were lifted though as we were staying the night in a tiny cabin! It was only 800 or so square feet and the bed was in a lofted area up-stairs. We were so excited!

We were going to celebrate our day with the wine and cheese we bought in Seattle, but someone left the cheese in the hotel fridge (I finally forgive you Jules) so we “nommed” on some chocolate and went to watch the sunset in the National Park. Unfortunately, the trees were too tall and we couldn’t get a great sunset view. We were starving so we decided to try out the local Sherpa-Himalayan Cuisine at the Wildberry restaurant. It was beyond our expectations and so good!

With full bellies and very tired bodies, we went back to our little cabin in the woods to sleep.

Sunday:

Another early morning for our last day in Washington. We made some toast for breakfast, packed our bags, and drove the 2 hours to Seattle. We had a few hours before our flights, so we parked the car with our bags hidden and took off around the city. The first stop was a Vietnamese restaurant called Green Leaf with the best vermicelli and pork I’ve ever eaten in my entire life (and I’ve eaten A LOT of vermicelli). I would go back there in a heart beat!

After lunch, we walked through the park under the Space Needle to the Museum of Pop Culture. I had been there once before and had to share it with my sister. It has awesome exhibits all about various artists and movie genres. If you are in Seattle, I highly recommend a stop.

The weather was perfect and we spent the rest of our time on the lawn of the Museum watching kids play in giant bubbles being carried by the wind. It was the perfect end to our trip before our journey home.

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