We took a vacation last month, which you probably didn’t know unless you follow me on Instagram or Twitter because I seem to be on an extended vacation from this blog. But we took one. And it was perfect. And it was our first real vacation since our honeymoon, so we were totally, completely 110% pumped to get away for a couple of days.

We left on a Sunday afternoon and flew into Baltimore, where we stayed over night. The next morning we took the AMTRAK down to D.C. and stayed there until the following Sunday. That morning we woke up before the sun, headed to Union Station and took the AMTRAK to NYC. On Tuesday afternoon we flew out of Newark and finally returned back to Texas. It was a great nine days and I thought I would start our vacation posts off with a collection of Instagrams from our trip.

1.  Waiting on the AMTRAK to take us to the capital! 2. Waiting in line at the National Archives. It was kinda hot.

3. Ryan’s dreaming of our future home…   4. My physical therapy for the day consisted of the Lincoln Memorial steps.   5. Biggest. Dollhouse. Ever. At the American History museum.

6. Snoopy is definitely and important part of history.   7. Greetings from the Capitol!   8. Even in DC. No meal is a good meal unless it involves Mexican food.

9. Known but to God…   10. I would love to never drive again if it meant I could just hop om the metro.   11. Gorgeous day for a walk around the memorials and monuments.

12. My night at the Nationals ballpark.   13. Yankees vs. Nationals game in DC.   14. Arriving in NYC. It felt like home.

15. Never forget.   16. Top of the Rock tour… so worth the price!   17. Dylan’s Candy Bar!

18. Ryan’s favorite part of the trip…   19. I was “that girl” that ducked at every ball hit down the 1st base line.   20. Our last night of vacation was spend at Times Square just taking it all in!

I’ll post more about our vacation and what we did and saw and all the details next week.

*PICTURE OVERLOAD…. you’ve been warned!*

Two months later, I am finally posting the last of our California vacation pictures. We started in San Francisco, then traveled up to the Muir Woods and did a little wine tasting in Napa Valley… but the last two days of our California trip were spent in South Lake Tahoe. This was the relaxing, nature-inspired portion of the trip.

Our family vacations aren’t so much “vacations” as they are cram-as-much-sight-seeing-as-you-can-into-a-few-days trips. We are travelers. We love to go new places. And that means revisiting previous vacation locations doesn’t really appeal to us, because that time/money can be spend going someplace we’ve never been before. That’s not to say we don’t enjoy our jam-packed vacations; we actually always feel like we did and saw everything we wanted and enjoy staying busy and experiencing everything we can.

But now, for the pictures. Let me just say, a camera can not capture the beauty of South Lake Tahoe. It’s just impossible. You have to really go there to appreciate everything it has to offer. But I’ll attempt to give you just a taste of how wonderful this little slice of Heaven on Earth really is!

at the lookout halfway up the tram ride

it was sooooo cold and windy here!

at the top of the ski area… we were so lucky to get to the top since we got on it literally 2 hours before they closed down to prepare for winter

gorgeous views, even on the tram

mom and I at the beach

sunset

sunrise… even on vacation we wake up early!

inside the Taylor Creek Park

the salmon were spawning while we were there

marshlands

the one Aspen tree that didn’t look like it was dying

Emerald Bay

one of the “smaller” lakes around Lake Tahoe

no family vacation is complete without a little hiking

pinecones that were a foot long

we spent two days looking for the California/Nevada state line, and we happened to drive over it as we were leaving the park to head to Sacramento… lucky encounter!

Cave Rock, you can drive through it on the far right

Bridal Veil Falls on the drive out of the national park

I hope you guys enjoyed seeing some pictures from our mother-daughter trip. I am sure glad I finally finished posting them, sorry it took so long! I am one lucky daughter and can not thank my mom enough for taking me on this trip. It was just what I needed after a long 6 months on our crazy roller coaster and I will forever treasure the memories we made on this trip together. Love you mom, and thanks for always being there for me no matter how much hell I give you!