It is officially nearing the end of 2019 and the blog is taking a much needed vacation. We are off to Austria for Christmas with family and so I leave you with one final post, a 2019 Wrap Up of all that has happened this year.
Winter 2019 Wrap Up
The year opened with me deciding I should get off the pot and turn this blog into a business so I did all the necessary paperwork and started consulting for Beautycounter until I can start making revenue in other ways.
Uncle Sam only lets business not make money for so long before you get shut down and I wanted to start out on the right foot. So if you have any interest in safer skin care products let me know. You can also support this effort by buying prints of my travel photos or my packing guide on my shop page. Below is one such photo which I took in January 2019 in Seaside Oregon during an unexpected snow storm.
Spring 2019 Wrap Up
In March In March 2019 we visited Silverton Oregon for a quick little local adventure to break up the winter blues. We tried to go hiking at Silver Falls but we were bested by the late snow fall.
We instead toured the Gordon House which is the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in Oregon. And while it was unseasonably cold we did manage to keep our selves warm at the Oregon Garden Hotel.
In April we took a short trip down to Ojai California for a family event and got to stay at the gorgeous Ojai Valley Inn. We wound up going back to Ojai in October to visit family and spend a more relaxed time there. One goal in 2020 is to do a full round up of all our favorite spots in Ojai.
The big trip for the year up until this point was a week in England. We had grand plans that had to be paired down since we were only there for a week. But we go to explore a good deal and I entirely fell in love in England.
For all the BBC shows I watch and historical fiction I read England had never been at the top of my list but it took no less than 3 hours for me to be entirely smitten and I was extremely sad to leave. We spent the majority of our time in Bath, where I finally got to see the Royal Crescent.
We toured the Costwolds and it was every bit as gorgeous as is shown in shows. I could have scooped up any one of the small cottages in any random village out there and been perfectly happy. And perfectly poor, it is incredibly expensive to live in England.
We also visited Bristol for a day, and I got to see a Banksy Mural in the place that the man is allegedly from.
We made a cross country train trek to Dover and while it is a little rough around the edges I very much loved that town too, the castle was incredible and walking the White Cliffs of Dover was a dream come true.
Our last day in England was spent at the Kew Gardens, a must see when in England and also a perfect location for our last night as the taxi ride to the airport is cheap and quick. No missing planes for us, though I wouldn’t have been too sad to have stayed another night or two.
Summer 2019 Wrap Up
Summer was a bit slower after a very busy spring. We visited family in Southern Oregon and I finally got to visit and shop at the darling town of Jacksonville.
In June I celebrated by birthday with a live showing of my favorite podcast and a overnight shopping trip in downtown Portland.
I went on a quick road trip to South Eastern Oregon to finally experience some of the more remote features of this rather large state I live in. The high desert in Eastern Oregon is truly stunning and towns like Burns the heart and soul of rural Oregon. Due to the late snow we didn’t get to hike the Steens Mountain as planed but we did get to stay at the Frenchglen Hotel and see the Alvord Desert.
On the same trip we drove up into the Owyhee Mountains and spent the night entirely off grid in a ghost town. The drive was entirely worth the experience and going back for more than one night is the top of the list for next year.
Fall 2019 Wrap Up
The only trip we took in the fall of 2019 was back down to California to Visit family. We mostly spent the week relaxing in Ojai or hiking in the hills. Which as I mentioned will be a post coming next year. We did get visit Disneyland while we were down there which is always a family favorite.
I hope you enjoyed this 2019 Wrap Up. And with that I wish you and yours a very merry holiday season. I will be back next year with updates from our time off.
Where Sasha Went 