I ran up the trail chasing the light, the fog was moving in and out of the trees and every so often the sun would hit it just right and the most beautiful rays shone down on the forest floor. I reached the turn and looked back to see if Peter was behind me and for a minute, I was all alone. I slowly looked around, there wasn’t a sound and the air was still. Ancient contrasts of shadows and light with the subtle whisper from these knowing trees that we were made to listen here. Peter came around the corner and I ran up to him and grabbed his hand so he would walk faster. We found a little clearing and I grabbed the camera as Peter took in the moment and I stepped back. We walked the trail hand in hand for a while after that, just listening to the silence and in awe of the giants around us. The Redwoods were more enchanting than I even imagined.

We started in Portland where we met up with our good friends Andy and Josi who came all the way from Austria (we photographed their wedding last year in Europe… check it out here!) and as soon as we all got our vans from our GoCamp rental hosts we headed to Cannons Beach. The city is nice, but Peter and I are ocean people and we were so anxious to get to the sand. We ate countless oysters, seafood, fish and chips, and drank more micro-brewed IPA beer than I could keep track of and we watched a beautiful sunset over Haystack Rock.

The following days were filled of much of the same, slowly making our way down the Pacific Coast Highway, stopping at every turn out and setting up camp when we were tired of driving. We sat by a campfire under the stars most evenings, with good music and good company, and of course, all the camping snacks and cups of noodles ;). We woke up to Andy and Josi making coffee and more mornings than not, bacon (yes!!!), and then we would pick a random destination in a general direction on the map and see what happened from there. After we made it down the coast into the Redwoods we headed inland to Crater Lake, where the forest fire smoke miraculously cleared out as soon as we found a little vista spot. We went from there to Bend, where Peter and I spent our 1st anniversary trying as many breweries, restaurants and cocktail bars that we could find. Bend was such a cute, clean and hipster little town. That afternoon we laid in the sunshine in the park, and read the letters we wrote to each other on our wedding day for the first time. We didn’t exactly *mean* to save them for an entire year, but we forgot to read them that day, and every day since, so we thought what a good thing to do on your anniversary and it was super special. From Bend, we headed to Columbia River Gorge after much debate of whether we should skip it and go back to the coast, or continue adventuring places we hadn’t been yet seen. The curiosity got the best of us and we decided to check out the Gorge and I’m so glad we did. The fall colors were just starting to change and it was soo beautiful at the waterfalls. Peter’s 31st birthday fell on our last full day camping, and while checking out one of the falls he wandered down to a little rock as I took photographs… I saw him tighten up his shorts and I just knew he was going to jump in, and sure enough, he did his annual birthday belly flop right into the bottom of the freezing cold falls, haha! And then, he did it 3 more times so we could take more photos haha! He’s the best.

It was an awesome trip and as always we are happy to be home with Mya Dog and sleeping in a real bed and showering in our own shower, (who are we kidding, those who know me well know I went that whole camping trip without washing my hair hahaha). Our experience with GoCamp was amazing and we’ll definitely be looking them up again on our next mainland adventure! It’s like Airbnb for campervans, how cool is that!? We didn’t even know about it until my assistant Megan found them for us and they lived up to every epic review. Oregon is sure a beautiful state, here are a few highlight photographs of our trip!

**Make sure to scroll to the bottom to see the film Peter and I created together, I think this one is my favorites yet❤️

xo

**thanks so much for being here and if you have any questions about our trip feel free to leave them below in the comments section and I’ll get back you asap! have a beautiful day!
xox