A Tour of Portugal

September 06, 2024 by Nicole Harrison in Portugal

I hope you’re excited to see a lot of pictures of beautiful Portuguese architecture, because that’s much of what this blog is going to be. When our friend Bella planned a birthday celebration in southern Portugal, we took the opportunity to add on a few days in Lisbon and Porto as well.

We arrived in Lisbon several hours late due to a flight delay and a missed connection (thanks, Condor), so we spent a single day in Lisbon (for the second time - we had been here for about 24 hours at the end of 2019). We took the opportunity to go to some adorable coffee shops, eat good food, and walk up some of Lisbon’s many steep hills.

Picturesque churches and trolleys are everywhere in Portugal (photo/Jason Rafal)

A patient dog sitting beside an excellent example of how patios must be built on hills in Lisbon (photo/Jason Rafal)

Lisbon was just as I remembered - colorful, beautiful, absurdly clean, and constantly hilly.

A steep pedestrian street (photo/Jason Rafal)

A person sits on a railing halfway up a set of stairs between two buildings. — Classic Lisbon (photo/Jason Rafal)

A don't even know what's happening here (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fado mural in one of the pedestrian stairwells (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole sitting on a bench partway up a stairway between two buildings with tassels hanging overhead. — Resting partway up the stairs (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the nice things about cities with lots of steep hills is that they tend to have lots of great viewpoints.

A view over the rooftops of Lisbon, with a bridge and waterway in the background. — The beautiful view from Miradouro da Graça (photo/Jason Rafal)

A retro blue car following a yellow trolley up the street. — Antiquated-looking transit in front of the Arco da Rua Augusta (photo/Jason Rafal)

People walking across a plaza, with stately buildings and a statue of a person on a horse on one side. — The Praça do Comércio (photo/Jason Rafal)

A huge, brutalist concrete building jutting out against the blue sky. — A big brutalist building among the colorful houses (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tiled building with tons of plants coming out of the first floor balcony. — A beautiful building facade (photo/Jason Rafal)

A large tree with massive roots snaking on top of the ground in a park. — A giant tree at the lovely Jardim da Estrela (photo/Jason Rafal)

A wide panorama of Lisbon from a viewpoint. — Sunset views from Miradouro da São Pedro de Alcântara (photo/Jason Rafal)

An ornate fountain with people sitting on the edge in the evening sun, with a church in the background. — Evening views (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two trolleys side by side on a very steep street. — Trolleys hanging out on an incredibly steep street (photo/Jason Rafal)

From Lisbon, we drove down to Alvor, where we met up with some of our favorite people to celebrate our friend Bella’s 30th birthday. It was three wonderful days of eating and drinking and laughing and we have very few photos (and most of the ones we do have are ridiculous).

Bella's birthday bash (photo/random person on the beach)

On our last day in Alvor, we took a boat trip from Lagos to Luz, along some of the stunning southern Portuguese coastline. It was a lovely afternoon spent cruising in a catamaran and swimming in the Atlantic with friends, and we ended the weekend tired and with full hearts.

A stone bridge between two rocky land masses over the ocean. — Natural and manmade rock formations (photo/Jason Rafal)

View of layers of rocky land masses in front of a plant-covered cliff face with a staircase going down to the water.. — More beautiful coastline (photo/Jason Rafal)

Boats and kayaks in the water in front of large rocks jutting out of the water. — A good day to be on a boat (photo/Jason Rafal)

After a wonderful weekend with friends, we flew to Porto, in the northern part of the country. Jason and I have been wanting to go to Porto for years, and we fell in love with the city immediately. It’s beautiful, interesting, welcoming, covered in tiles, and a little run down. It has so many tiny, amazing restaurants, coffee shops, and antique shops.

People walking up a narrow cobblestoned street. — Colorful buildings and cobbled streets (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of a spire through an open passageway between two rows of stores. — I loved this green roof/garden on top of an outdoor mall area (photo/Jason Rafal)

We booked a free walking tour for our first morning in Porto, which is something I always recommend (though they’re not actually free, because you do need to be a good person and tip the guide who is showing you around). Our guide, an Italian expat, walked us around some of the churches and government buildings and gave us context about the city. While it was never the capital of Portugal, Porto was the center of merchant power in the country. They’ve always been anti-authority, whether it’s the authority of the church, or the king, or the guidelines presented by UNESCO (apparently they’re constantly putting their status and funding at risk by building new, non-historic things in the historical center).

Looking up at the front of a church. — Looking up at the Igreja do Carmo (photo/Jason Rafal)

A row of tiled houses next to a church spire. — A very narrow church at the edge of the old walled city (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view looking out over the rooftops of Porto toward the river. — The view from the Miradouro da Vitória (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two modern tiled rowhomes in yellow and orange. — Even the more modern buildings are colorful - I wish we would go that direction in the U.S. (photo/Jason Rafal)

A corner of a building, half concrete and half covered with old-looking rock. — I don't even know what's happening here...seems like art, or a metaphor (photo/Jason Rafal)

Porto is famous for its iconic blue tile buildings, and while I had assumed that blue was tied to the city’s identity from the beginning, our walking tour guide told us that blue is used most frequently because it fades the least in direct sunlight. In the San Bento train station, which you can see below, the walls on the left that never got direct sunlight had many more colors in the tiled scenes.

Looking into a crowded train station with blue tiled walls and a yellow ceiling. — The beautiful Sao Bento train station (photo/Jason Rafal)

The dragon is the symbol of Porto - from what I can find, it symbolizes heroism, resistance, and the city’s invicta (unconquered, invincible) identity. Paired with this dramatic symbolism, I very much enjoyed the statues that featured little cat-sized dragons sitting on people’s heads.

A statue of a man holding a spear with a dragon on his head in front of rooftops. — A statue of a man with a dragon on his head to represent Porto (photo/Jason Rafal)

A row of tiled buildings along a street. — Beautiful tile everywhere (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at a blue-tiled church building with a blue and yellow striped banner. — The Church of Saint Ildefonso (photo/Jason Rafal)

The inside of a coffee shop with a menu that says "C'alma" on the wall. — Our favorite coffee shop of the trip (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent a lovely evening at the dramatic Casa da Música, where we toured the building (highly recommended if you’re a fan of weird brutalist architecture, which I’m not really, but it was still cool) and then saw a fado performance.

Looking up at a set of windows in a concrete wall against a partly cloudy sky. — Brutalist vibes at the Casa da Música (photo/Jason Rafal)

The inside of a concert hall, with metalic tiger stripes through the walls on either side. — The main concert hall (photo/Jason Rafal)

As usual, some of the time we enjoyed the most was just spent wandering around, seeing parks, viewpoints, and buildings along the way.

Looking toward a stadium dome over lawns and flower beds. — The beautiful Jardins do Palácio de Cristal (photo/Jason Rafal)

A peacock looking at the camera with gardens in the background. — One of the many free-ranging birds at the gardens (photo/Jason Rafal)

Groups of people standing or sitting along a rock wall watching the sunset. — The crowd taking in the sunset next to the Parque das Virtudes (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking out at the sunset over rooftops, a terraced park, and the river. — My favorite view in the city (photo/Jason Rafal)

Turquoise paint wearing off and revealing gold paint on a letter slot that says "Cartas". — Some sort of metaphor about layers of paint (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the top attractions in Porto is Livraria Lello, a bookstore that is said to have inspired J.K. Rowling’s description of Flourish and Blott’s in Harry Potter. It’s a really beautiful bookstore, but for me it’s not worth the pain of dealing with the lines and crowds of people trying to get perfect photos. I’m sure it’s better in the offseason, but if you do want to go in the summer, try to reserve the 9 am slot (days in advance) and be there by about 8:30 if you want to get in quickly.

Crowds of people standing in loose lines on the street. — The insane crowd outside of Livraria Lello (photo/Jason Rafal)

A line of people walking toward an ornate staircase up, with a view of the stained glass roof above. — The admittedly beautiful staircase and ceiling in the bookstore (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking over a railing at bookshelves, with the lower ones filled in modern books and the upper ones filled with older books and ceramic busts. — I enjoyed the contrast between the modern books for sale at the bottom and the ones to look old in the upper cases (photo/Jason Rafal)

A house narrowing into a corner with stone walls, a chimney, and graffiti. — Corners (photo/Jason Rafal)

While I was napping, Jason went to explore the Portuguese Photography Center at the Cadeia da Relação, a former prison. The building houses photography exhibits along with an incredibly extensive collection of cameras, mostly from a professor.

Looking into a room with glass cases full of old cameras. — A hallway looking into the prison photography museum (photo/Jason Rafal)

The prison is a key location in Porto’s most famous love story, and the two lovers are immortalized in stone in the courtyard. Camilo Castelo Branco and Ana Plácido were two writers who met at a dance and were friends and then lovers for many years. Eventually, Ana left her husband for Camilo. When the affair became public, Ana was forced into a convent, but then escaped and returned to Camilo. Then, because her bitter husband filed an adultery lawsuit against them, they were both imprisoned in the Cadeia da Relação, where Camilo wrote his most famous novel, Amor de Perdição (Doomed Love). They were eventually released, and much later the prison was turned into a photography museum, but the story and the statue remain.

A statue of a clothed man and a naked woman embracing. — The doomed couple - I'm not sure about why there's such a difference in clothing (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the river over treetops. — Looking out over the river from Torreão do Jardim do Palácio (photo/Jason Rafal)

A clean, modern market with people walking between fruit stalls. — The very clean and modern Mercado do Bolhão (photo/Jason Rafal)

A chapel covered with bright blue tile. — The ornately decorated Chapel of Souls (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two stairways converging between a row of houses and a greenery-covered wall. — I love a green wall (photo/Jason Rafal)

People walk between covered stalls selling goods in front of rows of tiled houses. — Wandering near the waterfront (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our walking tour, our guide told us a joke about how the best thing about Gaia, the city across the river, was its beautiful view of Porto. On our last day in the city, we headed over the pedestrian and transit-only bridge to the Jardim do Morro. It was indeed a beautiful last view of the city.

Looking back toward Porto from the top of a bridge. — The view back across the river from Gaia (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking at Porto over the river, with a gondola and boats in view. — One more view of Porto (photo/Jason Rafal)

We really enjoyed spending more time in Portugal - it’s easy to navigate, beautiful, and has great food. Lisbon, Porto, and the southern coast were all worth the trip (though I am, as usual with European destinations, jealous of the ease with which east coasters can visit - it’s a trek from Seattle). Next time we travel to Portugal, my top priorities are visiting Sintra and spending some time in nature. Until then!

Roadtrip to the Land of Giants

June 10, 2024 by Nicole Harrison in United States

In the first half of 2024, we took a break from international travel and took a road trip closer to home. I had been wanting to drive down to the southern Oregon coast and visit the California redwoods. The trip ended up being about 1400 miles over seven days, and we stopped at eight state parks, two national parks, a national monument, and a state scenic area.

Our first stop was a campsite in Sunset Bay State Park, where we set up camp and then spent some time hiking along the beach.

Sunset Bay beach at low tide (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole standing in front of a culvert to walk under a road. — A giant culvert to the beach (photo/Jason Rafal)

A wooden sign with an image of a route over the northern United States and a hot air balloon that says "From this point on October 4, 1973 Malcom Forbes of New York began the first transcontinental crossing of the United States in a hot air balloon." — There are a lot of interesting transcontinental journeys that began or ended in Oregon (photo/Jason Rafal)

A large, green, shiny leaf. — Giant leaves on the edge of the forest (photo/Jason Rafal)

Action shot of Nicole jumping over part of a muddle trail. — Mud obstacle course (photo/Jason Rafal)

A lighthouse perched on a rocky stretch of land, with ocean and rocks in the foreground. — Cape Arago Lighthouse (photo/Jason Rafal)

In the morning, we hiked down toward Cape Arago, where I had heard we could find some sea lions. The hike started with plants, birds, and a surprise deer on the beach.

An orange flower. — A pretty coastal flower (photo/Jason Rafal)

A deer trotting over a beach. — A deer ran across the beach on our morning hike (photo/Jason Rafal)

A small bird perched on a branch. — A cute Swainson’s Thrush (photo/Jason Rafal)

We heard them before we saw them, and once we got to the Simpson Reef lookout, we could see dozens of sea lions lounging on the beach. We could also see a lot of them swimming around the area.

Dozens of sea lions laying on a beach, surrounded by rocks. — Sea lions lounging on the beach at Simpson Reef (photo/Jason Rafal)

A rocky outcropping in the ocean, with some sea lions on the rocks and some swimming. — Lots of sea lions playing and lounging (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were looking for sea lions, but we also had a great view of lots of birds (we saw a crazy number of bald eagles during this trip) and some very sleepy harbor seals.

A bald eagle flying over the ocean and rocks, with seals asleep below it. — A bald eagle flies over sleeping harbor seals (photo/Jason Rafal)

After our morning hike, we packed up and headed down the coast to a room we rented for the night in Brookings, Oregon. On the way, we made a few stops for short hikes and pretty coastal views.

Looking down at two arches under the cliffs on the coastline. — Afternoon sun at Natural Bridges - you can see a person on top of the left one if you squint (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our VRBO was very close to Harris Beach State Park, which has a beautiful rocky beach.

Nicole on the beach, with a sunstar behind her. — On Harris Beach (photo/Jason Rafal)

The house we were staying at had amazing views of the ocean, and we spent a lot of time that evening watching the orange sunset over the rocks and water.

Jason and Nicole in front of a rocky beach. — Sunset views at our place (photo/Jason Rafal)

The sun setting beyond the ocean, with large rocks in the water in the foreground. — Sunset from our VRBO (photo/Jason Rafal)

Eight pelicans flying over the water. — Watching pelicans from our deck (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent a beautiful morning at the beach before driving to California. The plants and animals that live among the rocks are so fun to watch.

The lovely Secret Beach (photo/Jason Rafal)

Small plants growing on top of a coastal rock, lit up by the morning sun. — Morning light on a very vegetation-covered rock (photo/Jason Rafal)

A dark rock face with black and white birds nesting. — Pigeon guillemots perched on a rock face (photo/Jason Rafal)

By the afternoon, we were hiking among giants in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. I love hanging out with these trees; their sheer size and the amount that has happened during their lifetimes is both amazing and comforting to me. They’re very difficult to photograph, but looking up is a good way to convey the feeling of being so very small.

Looking up at the top of a grove of redwood trees. — Looking up at the giant redwoods (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunstar shining through the leaves of a giant tree. — A very large tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view through the tunnel created next to a redwood that fell over. — A very cool plant tunnel next to a fallen redwood (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent the next couple of nights camping in Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park, with very little service and lots of big trees.

Nicole standing between two large redwood trees. — Very large trees (photo/Jason Rafal)

A small, white, striped flower amidst leaves and a cobweb. — A delicate flower in the forest (photo/Jason Rafal)

A squirrel on a fallen tree. — A cute little squirrel (photo/Jason Rafal)

Ferns and other plants growing out of a fallen redwood tree stump. — I love how many plants a fallen tree in the forest can support (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole hugging a huge redwood tree. — In my happy place (photo/Jason Rafal)

A bright yellow slug. — A banana slug with a leaf hat (photo/Jason Rafal)

When we were driving to the beach to have lunch on the second day, we saw a sign for a skunk cabbage trail. I love skunk cabbage; there’s a ton of it where I grew up in Crested Butte during the summer, and I’ve never seen a large quantity outside of that. We didn’t see as much as we’d hoped for, but it was still a beautiful trail covered with ferns.

Nicole smiling at ferns and skunk cabbage. — Looking at the ferns and skunk cabbage (photo/Jason Rafal)

Plant stalks growing through the leaves of another plant. — A plant growing through the leaves of another plant (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next day, we drove to central Oregon, stopping at Crater Lake on the way. There was still quite a bit of snow, and the Rim Road isn’t open until July, but we drove to Discovery Point and walked around a bit to take some pictures. I didn’t have a lot of expectations, but the lake was really cool, with its absurdly deep blue water and snowy ridges on all sides.

Crater Lake, with snow in the foreground. — A sunny day at a snowy Crater Lake (photo/Jason Rafal)

We kept an eye out for the Clark’s Nutcracker, which lives at Crater Lake, and we saw them pretty quickly. They’re very loud, fluffy birds with big black beaks.

A gray and black bird perched on the edge of a dead branch. — A Clark's nutcracker perched on a dead tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

A gray bird with a large beak perched on an evergreen branch. — The nutcrackers, while larger than I expected, were adorable and fluffy (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our next couple of days were spent in Bend, where Jason worked some and we did some small afternoon hikes at Smith Rock and Newberry National Volcanic Monument.

Looking down at the Crooked River winding through large rock faces. — Dramatic views at Smith Rock State Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

A river and green plants running between tall rock towers. — More beautiful views (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at a steep rock face, with lots of chalk spots from climbers on the rock. — We liked seeing the chalk from climbers on the sides of the rock face (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our last day in central Oregon was also very clear, and we had great views of the snow-capped peaks of the Sisters, Broken Top, and Bachelor. We went out to the Lava Butte lookout, where we hiked around the very apocalyptic-looking lava flow area.

A firetower on the edge of a caldera, with snow-capped mountain peaks in the background. — The view from the trail at the Lava Butte lookout, with the Sisters in the background (photo/Jason Rafal)

The apocalyptic scene from the caldera (photo/Jason Rafal)

A small plant with a flower made of tiny bulbs in the volcanic rock. — Little lava plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

A black lizard sitting on dark lava rock. — A little black lava lizard (photo/Jason Rafal)

Overall it was a great trip, with a variety of beautiful landscapes and a lot of lovely hikes. It was fun to get to explore more of the Pacific Northwest, and to hang out with some very old, very large trees.

2023 in Review

February 08, 2024 by Nicole Harrison in United States, Canada

2023 was perhaps not as balanced as we’d been planning originally - we ended up going to 8 countries, 7 of them in the last 6 months of the year. While it’s been amazing to travel so much, we’ve been missing having more time in Seattle, and it’s been really nice to take a look back at some of our local adventures, especially in the first half of the year.

Classic Puget Sound views - mountains and sailboats (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sailboat sitting on the water in the Puget Sound, with fluffy clouds in the background. — Jason continues lusting after sailboats (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up portrait photo of Caprica's face. — Testing out a new lens on Caprica (photo/Jason Rafal)

In February, we went to San Diego with friends for a long weekend and spent some time soaking in the beautiful sun and eating a lot of Mexican food.

People walking along the beach, with large sand cliffs on the right. — Looking for fun shore things at Torrey Pines (photo/Jason Rafal)

A pelican flying along over a rocky cliff alongside the ocean. — Many shorebirds (photo/Jason Rafal)

Several sea lions sitting on a large rock outcropping. — I always enjoy large piles of sea lions (photo/Jason Rafal)

Silhouettes of children climbing cliff rocks in the setting sun. — Sunset silhouettes (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also were able to fit in some camping over the summer, and we used our little drone to get some amazing pictures of the Washington wilderness. I had fun learning to fly the drone and clumsily edit together footage.

A drone shot looking down on the treetops of a forest. — Looking down at our campsite - see if you can spot us (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunset drone photo of a dirt road winding through a forest, with snowcapped peaks in the background. — I love this wilderness so much (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset drone photo looking over forests and meadows toward snow-capped mountains. — A second view because I couldn’t pick one (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole holding a drone controller and looking up at the sky. — This is what it looks like to learn to fly a drone (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up of Nicole looking at the camera while holding a beer. — More experimentation with a new lens (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole lying in a red hammock in the woods. — The joys of camping (photo/Jason Rafal)

For Fourth of July weekend we drove up to Canada, where we stayed at a lakeside guest house outside of Vancouver and spent a couple of days relaxing and taking in amazing water views.

Dozens of kayakers paddling past two small docks at dusk. — Our relaxing sunset view (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also found some beautiful hikes in the area. British Columbia never ceases to amaze with its beauty.

Sunlight hitting the top of a waterfall and spilling down the side of the mountain. — Dramatic sunlight at Shannon Falls (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking out toward a road winding between a mountain range and a large, turquoise body of water. — Looking south down Howe Sound (photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason got much more into birding this year, and he had fun learning about species of birds and how best to photograph them.

A cormorant sitting on the water with a small fish in its mouth, surrounded by three seagulls who want to take the fish. — Seagulls are always being jerks and trying to steal things (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cormorant floating on the water with a fish in its mouth. — A cormorant with a treat (photo/Jason Rafal)

A bird with beige, yellow, gray, and black feathers perching on a branch. — A beautiful cedar waxwing (photo/Jason Rafal)

A small bird sitting on a reed with its mouth open mid-song. — A very noisy songbird (photo/Jason Rafal)

Four strings of barbed wire, with two birds on the top wire and two on the second wire. — Birds on a line (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up of a small bird sitting on a string of barbed wire and glaring at the camera. — Glaring at the camera (photo/Jason Rafal)

A great blue heron sits on a ledge and releases a feather from its beak. — This heron was preening itself and releasing its feathers into the wind (photo/Jason Rafal)

Dozens of shore birds flying together low over the surf. — A collection of shorebirds (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fluffy owl perched on a branch in dense foliage. — A little owl peering down at us (photo/Jason Rafal)

As always, there were also lots of fun plants and animals.

A fuzzy bee hovering next to purple flowers. — A pastoral bee (photo/Jason Rafal)

A white flower with a bee in the middle, with green leaves and the blue sky in the background. — More flowers and bees (photo/Jason Rafal)

A rat perching on a small tree trunk and looking down at the ground, with its tail wound around the tree. — A rat in a tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

A small branch with yellow and pink flowers. — Weird little flower leaf things (photo/Jason Rafal)

A creek flowing through mossy rocks and logs. — We have so many of these pictures from around Washington and I love them all (photo/Jason Rafal)

A marmot sitting on a rock with a snowy meadow and a mountain in the background. — One of posing marmots in Mt. Rainier National Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

We went camping in Oregon with friends during the Perseid meteor shower, and while we weren’t in the best place to see a ton of meteors, it was incredibly peaceful to just lay on our backs and marvel at the stars.

Looking up between the silhouettes of tree branches at a night sky with shooting stars. — The stars I always miss in Seattle (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole riding a bike on a dirt road through a forest. — Riding a bike through a beautiful Oregon forest (photo/Jason Rafal)

We had friends visit from Colorado, and we showed them around both the wilderness and the city.

Martin opening a wooden box hanging from a log. — Martin opens some sort of geocache (photo/Jason Rafal)

A salmon staring through a glass window as it swims by. — Salmon at the Ballard fish ladder (photo/Jason Rafal)

A man assisting with the lock leans toward a boat to shout instructions. — Watching the sometimes chaos of the Ballard Locks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Martin, Rachel, and Nicole standing on the beach as sunset fades to dusk. — Inviting our friends to sunsets at Golden Gardens (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the Seattle waterfront from behind apartment and public storage buildings. — Moody Seattle waterfront (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were gone for a lot of the second half of the year, but it was an amazing autumn, and we spent much of our time in town on walks and hikes to marvel at the fall colors.

Close up photo of a spider in a web with colorful fall leaves in the background. — Fall mood spider (photo/Jason Rafal)

View looking up at an art installation of small suspended glass pieces made into a net. — An art installation at the Arboretum (photo/Jason Rafal)

View of a turquoise lake through pine trees. — The Cascade lake colors are always amazing (photo/Jason Rafal)

View across a lake to a cliff face with a lookout tower on top. — An alpine lake with a lookout far above (photo/Jason Rafal)

View across an alpine lake with colorful bushes and pine trees on the other side. — If you squint, you can see the side of Mt. Rainier in the background (photo/Jason Rafal)

Autumn light falling between a metal tower and a brick building with an orange-leaf tree behind. — Light (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close up photo of dozens of tiny mushrooms on a tree trunk. — So many tiny mushrooms (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up a large tree trunk covered in ferns. — An incredible tree completely enveloped by other plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

A moss-covered branch with red leaves in the background. — I will forever love all of the moss here (photo/Jason Rafal)

Black and white photo looking out from under a bridge to a beach, with the Olympic mountains in the distance. — Moody beach days (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole walking on a street corner with sunshine shining through yellow leaves. — That autumn sun and those yellow leaves (photo/Jason Rafal)

People sitting on the lawn in front of Green Lake in the afternoon sun with a flock of geese flying overhead. — Green Lake is always a pretty magical place, but fall is an especially special time there (photo/Jason Rafal)

As always, thanks for reading along with our adventures this year, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures. We’re going for more balance in 2024, but as always, we’ll just have to see what life brings us. We feel so lucky to live in this beautiful place and be able to explore so much!

Nicole and Jason standing on a log in front of a lake and forested mountains. — Us on a backpacking trip in 2023 (yes, Jason is wearing a bug suit) (photo/Martin Brandt)

The Anglo-French Holidays

January 17, 2024 by Nicole Harrison in France, England

When our friend Bella got a new job in France, we decided (with a couple of other friends) to visit her for New Year’s. When we got a deal on flights to London, we decided to add a couple of days in London, since Jason knows a lot about England and loves their media but had never been.

It’s always interesting traveling over holidays, and we didn’t expect London to close down quite as much as it did for Christmas. Luckily we had a friend living in the city who had us over for a delicious dinner (thank you, Sam!), and we spent the next couple of days wandering around and enjoying some of the sights (and even a little sunshine). If you have a specific list of things you want to see and restaurants you want to visit, I wouldn’t recommend a Christmas trip, but if you just want to wander and have a generally weird experience (and see where the locals actually hang out then they’re not working), it’s not bad.

Classic telephone booths in an empty Smithfield Market (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Christmas scene at St. Paul’s Cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

A nice collection of architecture (photo/Jason Rafal)

The cathedral dome through the city at night (photo/Jason Rafal)

I wonder if you can monitor depression in London using this box (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Tate Modern, which we don’t love the architecture of (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Millennium Bridge, my personal favorite (photo/Jason Rafal)

A multi-layered tower with a very shiny clock (photo/Jason Rafal)

Black and white photo of a castle wall with a sunstar. — A sunstar at the Tower of London (photo/Jason Rafal)

A crowd of people walking across a bridge, under ornate castle architecture. — The locals were clustered around certain parts of the city, like London Bridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

A large, angular apartment building with a green reflection in the windows. — A weird pointy building with a cool reflection (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tall, ornate, and nearly empty market with a Christmas tree. — An empty Leadenhall Market (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Cannon Street tube station, completely empty. — It was pretty cool to see some of the places so empty (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up portrait of a snowman statue. — There were several of these snowmen around…smiling at us (photo/Jason Rafal)

A crowd of people walking toward the London Eye, bathed in golden hour light. — The London Eye was also very busy, with a pop-up market and lots of strolling (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking across the river at Big Ben and the castle. — Looking over at Westminster (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at the Big Ben clock tower. — The clocktower (photo/Jason Rafal)

A crowd of people walking down a street under red lanterns. — Chinatown in London (photo/Jason Rafal)

On the one day we were in London when attractions were open, we took the train out to Kew Gardens, since we always like to go to a nice garden. It didn’t disappoint. There are two old-school glass greenhouses and one very cool modern one, and lots of beautiful grounds in between. It would be an amazing place to spend a day during the summer when it’s a little warmer, and it could keep you occupied for hours.

A waterfall surrounded by palm trees and other plants in a large glass greenhouse. — An indoor waterfall at the amazing Palm House (photo/Jason Rafal)

An ornate orange flower. — A flower that looks like it was sculpted (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up a walkway alongside a row of plants with a plaque that says Africa. — Scenes from Africa (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking over the top of the tall plants hitting against the ceiling of the glass greenhouse. — We took the stairs up to the greenhouse catwalk, where we could look down onto the greenery below (photo/Jason Rafal)

The modern greenhouse was composed of many half levels, and it was a kind of maze to go through it. It was really fun to wander through, and there was always something new around every corner.

A hanging planter with long, white tendrils hanging down toward the floor. — This plant was amazing and completely unlike anything I’ve seen before (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down the tall stalks of a cactus. — Many spikes (photo/Jason Rafal)

A path winding through a glass greenhouse with plants everywhere. — An incredible assortment of plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tank with a lot of plants and a tiny orange shrimp. — A tiny shrimp in its tank habitat (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole looking at a tree with an orange flower in the foreground. — This is a Brugmansia, and I love them (photo/Jason Rafal)

The other attraction we decided to visit was the Victoria and Albert Museum, which was even more enjoyable than I expected. It’s composed of everything that wouldn’t necessarily go into another collection; it’s a museum of chaos, and we loved it. We wandered around between rooms of jewelry, metalwork, statues, glasswork, paintings, and all sorts of other things.

An old globe that fades out in the northwest of the United States and Canada. — A globe that had not yet discovered the Pacific Northwest (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down into a room full of statues, including a statue of David, with art hanging on the walls. — A chaotic room - David, Greek goddesses, religious paintings…and a balcony? (photo/Jason Rafal)

A statue of a white and black dog stepping on a snake. — A dog that is very proud of itself (and maybe still in danger?) (photo/Jason Rafal)

A person under a large statue in a tall, dark, brick room. — A very moody room (photo/Jason Rafal)

After our days in London, we headed to Toulouse to see Bella in her new home. We met Ian and Kelly there for a few days of eating, drinking, walking, partying, and very little sleeping.

Nicole and Belly holding hands on a train. — Reunited and holding hands on the train (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our first day in Toulouse, we actually went to Carcassonne, a medieval town and fortress a short train ride away. Its name has a fantastic potential origin story in which Charlemagne was besieging the city for years, and when food and water were running out, Dame Carcas took the last wheat and fed it to the last pig, and then threw the pig over the wall at Charlemagne. Seeing that the city still had enough food to waste both wheat and pigs, he lifted the siege, and the city was free. Dame Carcas was clearly a master of game theory and deserves to have a city named after her.

A street and lightly colored buildings with the castle in the background. — Looking up at the Cité de Carcassonne from the bridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

A stone wall with turrets with green grass on the ground and a town in the distance. — The outer wall and a good example of the choice to replace the traditionally terra cotta roofs with slate, a decision Jason hates (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the castle towers from under a bridge. — Looking up from the drawbridge (photo/Jason Rafal)

A window display of pillows printed with cats in medieval dress. — An intensely dedicated window display (photo/Jason Rafal)

A castle wall across from old buildings with a lightly cloudy sky and sunstar in the background. — Inside the city walls (photo/Jason Rafal)

View looking down at children passing through a door in a stone wall with the town in the background. — From atop the castle walls (photo/Jason Rafal)

View from above a stone wall with regular towers, with a town in the background. — The cars in the yards in the medieval driveways were a bit odd (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view down a walking street with old buildings on either side and holiday lights hanging over the street. — Walking through the lower town of Carcassonne (photo/Jason Rafal)

Over the next few days, we explored Toulouse, which is lovely. It’s known as the Pink City because of the brick color used in much of its architecture, which contrasts beautifully with the sky. It’s also the center of the aerospace industry in Europe. The city is transected by rivers and canals, so there’s always some lovely water nearby to walk along.

People shopping for fruit at an open-air market on the street. — One of the street markets (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunny street with people cleaning up from the market. — The aftermath of the street market (photo/Jason Rafal)

A Japanese garden with a building, carefully shaped bushes, and a red bridge. — The Japanese Garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

Black and white photo of a street with a small car and ivy-covered building through a tunnel. — A photo from our trip, or from a moody noir film (photo/Jason Rafal)

A group of people on the street watching a firetruck lift two people up to the side of a building. — While shopping we walked by…something happening with one of the buildings (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Toulouse capitol building, lit up by late afternoon light, with a stall selling baskets in the foreground. — A market and the capitol building (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunset view over a river with old buildings, a dome, and a bridge. — A gorgeous sunset from the river (photo/Jason Rafal)

The inside of a church with lots of colored stone and stained glass. — The inside of the Couvent des Jacobins, which was quite beautiful (photo/Jason Rafal)

View looking up from under an arch in a church, with colorful stonework and stained glass. — During the French Revolution, this stone was white washed over, and it’s now partially restored (photo/Jason Rafal)

Bella and Ian sitting in a pew and looking toward the front of a church. — Bella and Ian in Saint Stephen's Cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went inside the capitol building, where Bella had heard good things about the art. There was an incredible amount of painting on the walls and ceiling, and lots of statues as well.

Painting of a person with a coral-colored full length body suit and cape sitting with pen to paper and staring into space. — A very moody person (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down an ornate room with colorful paintings on either side. — The happy, pastoral wedding room (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking through a long, ornate room with statues on either side and detailed paintings on the ceiling. — A long room of art (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up at a ceiling painted with a scene of a woman in a chariot pulled by lions being pursued by a dark army. — Some of the amazing ceiling (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down a mostly empty street with closed shops on either side. — Quiet mornings in Toulouse (photo/Jason Rafal)

A pink building with an art piece of a model train driving off the roof. — Train crash art? (photo/Jason Rafal)

A rounded tower with blue sky behind it, flanked by walls. — More lovely pink architecture (photo/Jason Rafal)

It was a whirlwind trip, and it was so nice to see friends and explore new places. I’m sure we’ll be back to both London and Toulouse, and next time we’ll probably see some more tourists there.