This is so beyond late, but you knew this post was coming eventually. It was only a matter of late nights + cups of coffee (and bullying myself in the mirror for not finishing this post until almost a year later).

Joanie’s backyard. Can you imagine waking up to this every morning?

So. Sarah and I. Washington. One week. All we had were our plane tickets, the address of where we were staying, and a headful of ideas.

DAY 1 // “The worst is behind us”:

We woke up at 6AM, got to the airport, ate chinese food at 7AM (breakfast of champions), and caught our 8:30 flight out of Houston. We flew Spirit, and I just want to say that people who survive the landings on these flights deserve medals of honor. Anyways, we had a layover in Las Vegas where there were slot machines as soon as you exited the gate, and we met the lady in our aisle who was a single mom from Seattle that was visiting her daughter who was a *get this* stripper that broke her leg hopping a fence trying to get away from the cops.

We landed in Seattle and while waiting in baggage claim, Sarah looked at me all wide eyed and said, “I left my phone on the plane.” After convincing me to wait at baggage claim for our suitcases while she went back to try and get it, I told her if she wasn’t back in 20 minutes I was going to freak out. So, naturally, it had been 25 minutes and I was freaked. I immediately started thinking the worst, and was in tears when 35 minutes rolled around and saw Sarah running back, equally as emotional, explaining that she got sent to the wrong place and got lost and th- anyways, basically it was a mess and we were stuck in the airport for a couple more hours. When Sarah finally got her phone back, you guessed it, it was also broken! What a way to kick off the trip. We were good sports about it; we took a couple deep breaths, decided the worst was behind us, and headed outside to figure out the bus schedule. Once we paid our fare and heaved our luggage onto the bus, we settled in for the two hour ride to Sarah’s cousin’s house. So, here’s the thing about Sarah’s cousin, Joanie: she’s the sweetest woman I’ve ever met. She pulled into their GORGEOUS house, popped open a bottle of champagne, and took us on a “tour of the grounds”. Nestled in some beautiful lodge pines, we stayed in her and her boyfriend’s apartment garage. That night Sarah and I sat on the couch and watched the sunset and we couldn’t stop telling each other that we couldn’t believe we were actually “doing the damn thing”.

The smile might look genuine, but it really says, “snap the picture already, i’m hungry.”

DAY 2 // The 4th of July:

We woke up bright + early for our trip to Seattle. Fueled by coffee and armed with our cameras, we drove to the city, found overpriced parking, and walked down to the Public Market Center. This place was BUSTLING (ugh I love any excuse to use that word). It took us about 30 minutes to find somewhere to eat breakfast that either didn't charge $15 for a slice of toast or have a line wrapped around the street corner, but booooy when we bit into the bagels we found at this little food stand, we knew it had been worth it.

Flower market. We bought a bouquet for Joanie, and a couple sunflowers for a couple of sunflowers ;)

After breakfast, we walked through the market which consisted of booth after booth of homemade goods, fruits, vegetables, fresh flowers (that were SO cheap!! like $10 for a super nice bouquet!! HEB COULD N E V E R), and even a meat market. It was so crowded, but there was so much energy and so many free samples. After going to the first Starbucks (and by going, I mean paying our respects to those who actually waited in that long line…couldn’t be me, sis), we checked out the gum wall, which is just as gnarly as it sounds. Since we were already in Seattle, we decided to do some more touristy things like check out the Fremont Bridge troll and watch a homeless man smoking a blunt and screaming at everyone that “the time is coming”.

That night, we decided to take a drive having absolutely no idea where we were going. We took random roads and highways, watching the fireworks with the windows rolled down and music blasting through the speakers. Something about screaming Elton John’s, “Rocket Man”, as fireworks are exploding off Seattle’s skyline just…hits different. I remember feeling so free and happy and so full of life as we sped down the highway, smiling at each other as our hair whipped across our faces. An absolutely golden moment.

Pike Place Market! Seen this picture all over, and wanted the chance to capture it myself.

These trees do a better ombre than most hairstylists.

Day 3 // Mount Rainier:

If there's a word for someone obsessed with breakfast in every way, Sarah and I are guilty as charged. Every trip we go on, we make sure to hit up the local grocery story to make sure we have ingredients to make at least one homemade breakfast. Between my morning spotify playlist, the soft sunlight, and the smell of coffee, breakfast is arguably the best meal of the day and i’ll fight anyone who disagrees. We wanted to make sure we had at LEAST one day of hiking, so we ate breakfast and drove to Mount Rainier National Park. Ya’ll. YA’LL!!! I have never been more in awe over a physical place in my entire life. I can’t even put into words how it feels to be driving around the edge of a mountain way up high, and looking out at the surrounding mountains and the endless trees. It’s the kind of beauty that’s so impossible it makes you believe in a god.

We drove to the peak hike, listening to nothing but the Eagles, John Denver, and every classic rock-folk crossover we could find, and ate probably the worst sandwiches we’ve ever had in our entire lives (which is saying something because we used to eat these soggy Subway sandwiches in high school before going to football games) at the trailhead. We definitely underestimated the difficulty of this hike because about five minutes in we ended up having to pull to the side and take a break as little kids with their parents passed us up, but it was so worth it when we got to the top and turned around and *queue landslide by fleetwood mac*. We sat on this little log on the edge of the mountain, isolated from the trail, and looked out at all the surrounding mountains and yep, you guessed it, I started crying a little bit. I’m a sucker for moments like that; when your heart is just so full and everything is so beautiful and you’re with your best friend sharing a private moment like that. It’s all too much for my poor, little emotional heart to take. We sat up there talking about all of the trips we’ve taken together and how much we wished we could go back and tell our 14-year-old-selves that one day we’d be up on the peak of the tallest mountain in Washington, trying to decide if we should go to Canada or the pacific coast tomorrow. Wild.

After a couple snowball fights and several falls, we slipped down the trail and back into the car. It was then that we realized we’re in the mountains and have no service (shocker!) to use maps on our phones, so we went old school and dug a map out of the glove compartment and (somehow) found our way back to Tacoma. Honestly, Lewis + Clark walked so we could run. It was late in the afternoon and realized we hadn’t eaten since breakfast (other than that sorry excuse for a veggie wrap), so we stopped by this pizza place and sat in the parking lot with our pizza boxes and ate in the car. It was arguably the best meal we had that week. Then, like any normal women, we went home and got wine drunk and flipped on Twilight because when in Washington…

DAY 4 // Forks:

What’s ACTUALLY at the end of the rainbow: two girls willing to stop on the side of a road and hang out of the window for the sake of a good picture.

Sarah: a stunner on AND behind the camera

Ahhh I’m already smiling, I loved day 4. Sarah and I went to the promised land: Forks, the birthplace of a literary classic…Twilight. We had a lazy start to the day and stopped at this adorable little cafe called Elmer’s before beginning our trek out to the coast. The thing I realized very quickly about Washington is the scenery is so diverse. You could drive 20 minutes from a big city and find yourself in a foggy little forest 20 degrees cooler, just like that. We ended up being in the car for roughly 7-8 hours that day, so naturally we exhausted just about every playlist we had. We rapped along with Kanye, cried with Adele, and made strangers in the cars next to us uncomfortable with The Lonely Island. We got creative with what we should listen to and at some point we went back and forth only listening to songs that reminded us of our dads until we had tears rolling down our cheeks. When we finally saw the legendary “Welcome to Forks” sign, we instantly became the 12 year old girls we still were (deep down). Okay, so Stephanie Meyer was not kidding around; this place really is covered with nearly constant rainfall. We drove to the town center that had Bella’s truck parked out front, drove past the high school, and, most importantly, visited the tacky souvenir shop that had Twilight gear that had no doubt been made in 2011 and was run by an old man and his morbidly obese Labrador. The town itself wasn’t all that special, but we drove to La Push (It’s - La Push -) and they have this big wooden sign on the way there that says “No Vampires past this point” to really feed into the tourists, so obviously we stopped to sign our names on the “Team Jacob” and “Team Edward” boards. Sarah and I had a very deep intellectual conversation about how we were both team Jacob as little girls, but, “then I became a woman and turned team Edward, obviously”. We drove down to the beach, and stumbled upon a “tree graveyard” which consisted of some of the biggest fallen trees I have ever seen stacked along the coast. We had only walked along the water for maybe ten minutes before the sea sent in rain and we were forced to retreat back to the car, bangs soaked and looking like an absolute mess.

The day was winding down, so we drove to Port Angeles and ate dinner at that Italian place Bella went to in the movie. Even at the little restaurant nestled in the town’s side-street, there was an option on the menu for “Bella’s mushroom ravioli”. Bellies full and minds nostalgic with love triangles and questionable bestiality, we walked down to the port and watched the sunset, the Canadian border and flag flying visible in the distance. There was one moment I remember very specifically here: as we walked back to the car, we broke into “My Girl” by the Temptations and ended up skipping, arm in arm, down the street, singing at the top of our lungs. One of those moments I can remember like it was yesterday.

DAY 5 // A poet’s dream

Beginning the day with mimosas and a surprise breakfast Sarah and I made for Joanie, the three of us sat in her little kitchen getting tipsy before noon and talking for hours: about life in Washington, what it was like moving from Texas, and further proving that I have to get to the Pacific Northwest ASAP. Sarah and I decided to make one last trip to Seattle, but instead we explored the outskirts of the city, discovering a part of town that was similar to Montrose in Houston. There were bookstores, coffeeshops, and tattoo parlors on every corner. It was a dream. We found a little bookstore called Open Books that was a poetry book emporium. Run by a soft-spoken man who knew everything there was to know about poetry, this place was like stepping into heaven. There were books on linguistics, craft, literary criticisms, anthologies, and books by even the most obscure of writers. I even found a section of books that my poetry professor all the way from Texas State had written. I left with full arms and a lighter wallet. That night, we sat up reading each other poems and drinking wine, and then eventually caved and ordered Papa Johns. We greeted our deliver driver wrapped in blankets and sporting our baggiest pajamas, and after realizing we didn’t know how to open the gate, had the poor man slip the pizza boxes in sideways through the gate like we were in jail.

DAY 6 // “Are we there yet?”

Joanie’s boyfriend came home Saturday night, so we decided to spend Sunday with them, letting them show us around and give us a taste of their Washington. We road-tripped down to Mount St. Helens and hiked around a little bit there, and then drove back over to Mount Rainier again to do a little site seeing and have one more snowball fight.

Driving consumed most of this day, and we ended up not eating until dinner, but they took us to this little sports bar they always go to for dinner. We ended up alternating between popping fries in our mouths and having heated debates about which American and British authors were the best.

It being our last night in Washington, Sarah and I went out with a bang. And by bang I mean we picked up two huge bottles of wine and spent the whole night sitting on the couch watching the sun set, laughing, crying, and reliving the past week. Around 3AM we were hungry enough to make a drunken attempt to cook pancakes. That was interesting to say the least…

DAY 7 // Last but not least

The saddest of days, but the happiest of days. We ended up going to this little hole in the wall diner for breakfast in Tacoma, and it ended up being our favorite restaurant from the whole trip. We sat in a big booth next to an even bigger window and watched the waitresses talk to customers that you just knew were regulars. It was such a cozy little place with an even cozier vibe, and we vowed that if for whatever reason we ended up living in Tacoma at the same time, we would make this our spot.

So, it isn’t a real “Sarah and Emily” trip unless one or both of us make (at least) one decision that would disappoint our parents, so, of course, I got a tattoo. sorry mom.

Sunshine in the cloudy state. Inspired by beginnings, ends, and the lyrics “keep me where the light is”.

When it was finally time for us to head to the airport, Joanie and her boyfriend drove us to save us from the bus, and we spent the whole trip in silence looking out the window , trying to savor everything one last time.

The airport experience was much smoother than it was the first time around, thankfully. When the wheels of the plane eventually touched ground in Houston, I couldn’t help but feel sad. I missed the whole trip, Washington itself, so much already. We hadn’t even made it to baggage claim before Sarah and I began plotting a way to go again.

That trip was good to me. When Sarah and I are together, we thrive. I can’t explain it, we just even each other out so well. We think and act so much alike that we can somehow get through any and every curveball we’re thrown without it turning into a disaster. We keep each other sane. I miss those late nights when we couldn’t stop telling each other how we couldn’t believe we were actually here, the car rides we talked about our plans for a zombie apocalypse and what we would do with our lives if we could do absolutely anything, and all the times we stopped on the side of the road to marvel at the beauty around us. I think we spent most of that trip looking up than we did ahead.

It was a dream, and I still haven’t woken up from it.