SEATTLE, WASHINGTON
Visited: Jul 21st 2023
This weekend was a fever dream. I got absolutely no sleep, but had one of the best weekends of my life. My cup feels so full and I’m so freaking thankful for the life I get to live & the humans I get to share it with. Wow. Just wow. That’s all.
Monica scooped me from the airport and we boogied over to the Seattle Center for a watch party of the US vs. Vietnam soccer match in the women’s world cup. We met up with Meg, Gab, and my beloved Hopey for soccer and dinner vibes. I won an Ol Reign Scarf in a random raffle- it was rad. Monton and I then bopped over to a nearby beach for the sunset & then got some soft serve. She sure does know the way to my heart.
My Saturday started quite early with Mon Ton, Gab, and I getting a sunrise hike in. I honestly think my favorite hikes are sunrise hikes, but I don’t do them as much as I did when I lived in New York just due to my general fear of what is lurking in the woods in Montana. I really didn’t know how much I missed them so huuuuuuge shoutout to Monica and mother nature for coming in clutch with this beauty. The hiking girlies then made our way to a sorta divey breakfast place, Chace’s Pancake Corral, and I think I had some of the best pancakes of my entire life.
After a much needed shower & nap, I made my way to Gasworks Park to make some friendship bracelets (duh) with the TSwift squad!!! Gasworks is actually where they filmed the infamous paintball scene from the rom com "10 Things I Hate About You". It was so much fun making bracelets & it was good to catch up with the girlies.
Post bracelet making the girlies made our way back to Megs to get ready to see the Queen Mother. We ordered some take out & put on some glitter & temporary tattoos- the vibes were immaculate.
TSwift was a blur. I've never seen a line longer than the merch line or been around that much feminine energy in my entire life. HAIM was one of the openers and I melted. I wish the girlies got to play longer, but TSwift brought them out during her 3 HOUR SET to play No Body No Crime for the first time live. Anyway. we did in fact trade bracelets with strangers and I did cry during one song. We also got these cool light up bracelets that coordinated based on the song and where you were in the arena. Hecka cool.
Transportation home from the concert was chaotic af, but Mon Ton actually picked the girlies up. I then promptly went to bed at Monica's and got up at the ass crack of dawn to venture out with Monica & Gabs to Rainier National Park.
I was straight up delirious and slept for most of the drive to the park. Once we got there I felt more alive & the girlies ventured out on a lil loop in the Paradise Trail area. It was one of the most stunning hikes I've ever been on. It was so incredibly clear out- we could see Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, & Mt. St Helens. Flowers were blooming, marmots were chirping, and Rainier itself felt alive. What a magical place.
Post hike we got our junior ranger badges (duh) and bopped on home to Seattle. We then met up with some of the girlies for a lil grill out before shipping out to the airport. Hopey moved her flight until later in the day so we could be airport buddies and it was magical.
Visited: May 6th, 2023
For better or worse Bozeman winters can be incredibly long. Unfortunately for me, my spring restlessness hit particularly hard this year. I was in desperate need of taking out some energy and shaking out of a funk, but the trails in Bozo weren't super accommodating with some mud and snow pack being too stubborn to leave this May. I ended up planning a few trips outside my beloved home base to cope with my extreme twitterpation. One of these trips was to visit someone that makes me feel at home: Trader Joes my sister Monica.
One of Seattle’s newest residents, Gab, happens to be one of the incredible humans I’ve met in Bozeman. Gab hosted Monica, Meg, and I for tacos & margs in celebration of cinco de mayo when I arrived Friday eve. Saturday morning Gab, Monton, and I decided to brave a lil rain and check out a waterfall hike! I found the rainy vibes in combination with the mossy green landscape to be so freaking magical. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had the opportunity to be in a place so green- it was a literal dream.
Post hike the girlies regrouped with Meg Meg in Fremont because I really wanted to see the Fremont Troll. What is the Fremont Troll? It’s an 18ft tall concrete troll that is crushing a VW car in the freeway underpass. The car is an actual VW Beetle encased in concrete that used to be red and bearing a California license plate (I guess even people from Washington like to hate on Cali too). The troll was constructed in 1990 after it won an arts competition in hopes of adding art to the underpass in order to prevent people from using it as a dumping ground. I’m not sure when I learned about the troll, but as soon as I heard there was a random troll statue under a bridge I knew I had to see it.
The girlies then got some incredible ramen and bopped around to a few shops in Fremont. Fremont is definitely a quirky lil vibe with its sign to the center of the earth, a giant rocketship, and a statue of Lenin. Meg showed us this really cool vintage mall in the basement of one of the buildings. I thought the vintage mall was super fun and would definitely recommend it to visitors in the area.
We then made our way to Lumen field to watch some soccer (visiting Monica in Seattle? You know soccer had to be involved). We got our picture up on the main screen and got to see Ol Reign’s 100th win!! The rain held out for us and it was incredible vibes. It was my first time visiting a NFL stadium and I really liked the architecture of the stadium. I might’ve been a little biased in my stoke for the stadium because I knew I’d be back there in a few months to see Tswift. However, a cool Lumen field fact is that 97% of the Kingdome concrete was recycled.
Sunday morning Monica and I got some bomb pastries from a lil place near her apartment in Northern Seattle. We then stopped by Trader Joes (duh) before taking the light rail to meet up with the girlies. The plan for the day was to ferry over to Bainbridge Island for some wine tasting. We started the wine grind a lil early by getting some tall pours on the ferry itself. Some of the wineries on Bainbridge were closed on Sunday, but we were able to check two places out. We also checked out a book store wine tipsy- kinda the dream. My fav winery to check out was a place called Eleven that sourced all its grapes from various places in Eastern Washington. Fun fact: Bainbridge’s greatest claim to fame is not it’s wineries. It actually holds the title for the birthplace of America’s fastest growing sport: Pickleball. Long live pickle!!!
We experienced a delay waiting for the ferry back to Seattle and I was feeling a ~little~ stressed about making my flight home. However, we were able to make the mad dash to the airport and I was able to skip some of the long security line with the Seattle airport’s spot saver. Seattle offers an opportunity to book a spot in the security line ahead of getting to the airport and it was hecka clutch. I got on the plane feeling incredibly thankful for a weekend packed filled with fun vibes and wonderful people. Shout out to the homies and my beloved sister for an awesome weekend.
References: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/fremont-troll , https://stadium.org/lumen-field/stadium-features-facts/
Visited: Oct 31st, 2021
One of the many incredible people I had the opportunity to meet in college, Meeegs, recently moved to Seattle from the East Coast for some nerd job. I lowkey invited myself to her place for Halloween weekend and we had a blast going around to all of the different touristy things Seattle had to offer. I I think Meg was happy to have me because she also understands the struggle of trying to make friends in a new town as an adult & we had an ABSOLUTE BLAST making meg do some tourist that every Seattle resident needs to do at some point. I'm not sure if I truly got the full Seattle experience because it was seriously nothing but sunshine the entire time I was there (oops). Anyway Meg if you're reading this I appreciate you and thank you for having me :))
Meg & I at the Pike Place Market
The Pike Place Market is a staple of Seattle and is actually the oldest continuously-running public farmers market in the US. It's literally been running for 114 years and pre-pandemic the market would have more than 15 million people visit annually. Meg and I got the cutest lil lattes from just outside the entrance of the market and strolled through the market. It quite literally has everything; a crazy variety of produce, tons of different types of art, dried flowers, a gum wall, music buskers, and yes people throwing massive fish around.
References: https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/seattle/pike-place-market-seattle-fun-facts/281-70958c1e-919b-49f7-9c2f-639458251f2e , https://experi.com/journal/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-seattles-pike-place-market/
Amazon Spheres
The amazon building offers free parking on the weekends and is not only super close to the Pikes Place market, but has an attraction of its own to view. The headquarters has an indoor rainforest in the middle of the city designed in some very unique interlocking spheres! Meg and I didn't get a chance to go in the spheres, but they were super neat to look at even from the outside.
Conveniently the spheres are also walking distance from two other major attractions: the Space Needle and the Chihuly Art Museum. The city offers a dual ticket to see both of the attractions because they are right next to each other!
Space Needle from Chihuly
The Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair whose theme was "The Age of Space" which conveniently aligned with the Space Race era of the world that started in 1955. The top of the needle offers an incredible 360 view of the city, a restaurant, beverages, and a rotating glass floor. As a civil I probably pointed out one too many cross braces to Megan, but I think I ended up geeking out more on the bolts. My fav bolt facts about the Space Needle? There are 74,000 bolts keeping it together and 72 of those are 30 feet long anchor bolts.
References: https://www.spaceneedle.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Fact-Sheet-History.pdf
Peep Mt. Rainer
Glass Floor
Meg & I
1/72 Anchor Bolts
If there is one thing everyone should do when visiting Seattle- my vote is a trip to the Chihuly Art Museum. The museum is a celebration of an incredible glass artist and Washington native, Dale Chihuly. Chihuly was born in Tacoma and studied glass art in various places around the United States that ultimately earned him a scholarship to study in a Venini glass factory in Venice. His work is included in 200 museum collections across the globe and this museum is an incredible place to see varieties of his beautiful art.
References: https://www.chihulygardenandglass.com/about/dale-chihuly
On my last day in Seattle Meg took me on a different route into the city- the ferry. Parking for the ferry was a little hectic because we happened to ride over with a ton of Seahawks fans headed to the game that day, but even with the football rush I think it would be a great alternative to the stress of finding parking in the city. I think the ferry ride is the perfect summary of the variety this area has to offer with a beautiful view of the not only the skyline, but also the various national parks just outside of the city.
Visited: November 17th, 2022
This November I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to visit with some of my college besties in the warm and sunny San Diego for the weekend (I'm writing this currently on my way to SD and would like to point out that Bozeman's current temp is literally -1 °F). A few of us are getting together to check out the Wonderfront Music festival & enjoy a lil So-Cal time.
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA
At the moment I'm not sure how much exploring we'll get to do, but I will bless you with some of my fav fun facts I've learned about SD in the past 5 minutes.
The Torrey Pine Tree is the rarest pine tree in the United States and it can only be found in San Diego county. Apparently they are pretty in a tortured kinda way, but they make some edible pine nuts. There are about 3,000 of them in the natural reserve so maybe I can convince the gals to go check them out.
Tony Hawk (one of the sponsors for the music festival we are going to) was OG from San Diego and even has his own Holiday on May 29th properly known as Tony Hawk Day.
Bonus: Shaun White is also from SD. Wow what a breeding ground for absolute rippers.
San Diego was originally named San Miguel in 1542, but was renamed for a Spanish monk in 1602.
90% of the USA's avocados are grown in California, but 60% of these are from San Diego County- do you think they'll have cheaper avocado toast here?
While SD is known for a hecka cool zoo that even has its own TV show (shout out to coworker Jared for informing me of this) SD is also home to the largest oceanographic museum in the USA, the Birch Aquarium at Scripps.
References: https://www.sandiegohomefinder.com/blog/san-diego-fun-facts/ , https://www.britannica.com/place/San-Diego-California , https://www.trolleytours.com/san-diego/facts
Nov. 23rd Post Trip Update:
San Diego aesthetic is exactly what you think it would be: crazy good food, super accessible beaches, teslas at every turn, cactus & palm trees lining the streets, warm sunny weather (oh how I needed it), murals everywhere, etc.
Activities Update:
Diana took us over to this lil beach area near La Jolla / Children's Pool and we were able to just spend a lil time in the sun & on the beach.
We were able to watch WILD Sea Lions among some other really cool birds. (Phone pictures simply do not do these creatures worthy)
There were a lot of really cool vendor booths and shops in this area and I can definitely see how easy it would be to spend the whole afternoon here. I'd definitely recommend the chill vibes to anyone that finds themselves in the area.
What is the difference between a Sea Lion & a Seal? Sea Lions are generally noisier, walk on land using large flippers, visible ear flaps. Seals are smaller & more aquadynamic, generally quieter, wriggle on their bellies to move around on land, and lack visible ears. Sea Lions are also more social than their seal counterparts. Seals generally only congregate on land once a year to meet & mate.
Nov. 23rd Post Trip Update:
Diana also took us over to an area called Balboa Park- which was simply stunning and adjacent to the San Diego Zoo. We didn't make it to the zoo because of how much awesome stuff there is to check out- 17 museums and countless gardens.
The park has a lot of cool history and architecture being that it received a lot of development for the Panama-California Exhibition in 1915-1916 and the California Pacific International Exposition of 1935-1936.
The most wild fact I learned? There was a nudist colony from Indiana that resided in the park from 1935-1936 as an exhibit- charging up to 75 cents for unlimited observation time.
One museum we checked out was the free admittance, Timken Museum of Art. The museum was created by The Putnam Sisters and the Timken family and has a wide variety of exhibits from multiple different time periods and cultures. One of my favorite painting of the exhibit was of Yosemite Falls, which I recognized almost instantly.
We checked out a ton of the Spanish style architecture, a huuuuuuuuuge Fig tree (one of the three largest Moreton Fig Trees in the entire state of California), and the largest organ I've ever seen (The Spreckles Organ in Balboa Park is the largest outdoor Organ in the world).
References: https://www.sandiego.gov/digitalarchives/organ-pavilion#:~:text=The%20Spreckels%20Organ%20Pavilion%20in,7.5%20inches%20to%2032%20feet. , https://balboapark.org/attractions-experiences/moreton-bay-fig-tree/#:~:text=The%20tree%20was%20officially%20measured,a%20native%20of%20east%20Australia.
Wonderfront Update:
Wonderfront was the BOMB. To no one's surprise I knew every Quinn XCII song & Gwen Stefani absolutely popped off (literally everyone we saw was so good my dudes it was insane).
They had a lot of really cute photo spots and people giving out free merch! A few people took our photos, but no one has been able to track them down yet... #staytuned #sponsored #maybefamousoneday
The food & drinks were a lil expensive, but its a festival so kinda expected.
All around 10/10 experience shout out Wonderfront for a killer weekend!
In general the vibes of San Diego were just unmatched and I can't wait to check more of this city out some day. Shout out to the homies for an incredible trip- can't wait to see where we end up next! Until next time <3
WALL DRUG, SOUTH DAKOTA
Visited: May 29th, 2022
Anyone driving across the country via I-90 has heard of Wall Drug. Never heard of Wall Drug? Well it's a town with a population of 876, sometimes referred to as the "geographical center of nowhere", and it receives up to 20,000 visitors in a single day during peak tourist season [1]. In 2019 Wall Drug even beat out Mt. Rushmore and both of the National Parks in South Dakota in its number of annual visitors [2].
How does a drug store in a small little town become South Dakota's largest tourist attraction? Billboards.
I first learned about Wall Drug during my brother's road trip home to NY from AK. He had stopped at the infamous Wall Drug 80ft tall dinosaur and facetimed me to break up his trip and somehow we were still chatting 3 hours later. At the time I remember my brother mentioning a crazy amount of billboards for the store, but honestly neither of us really questioned those or even why there was an 80ft tall dino in the middle of nowhere SD. It wasn't on my mind to visit this bad boy myself and I certainly had no idea that we'd be finding ourselves on a road trip out west for my move to MT a few months later, but hey life changes and you gotta seize a full circle moment when it appears. The dino became a mandatory stop for us out of pure irony.
But boy oh boy we couldn't of forgot about Wall Drug and its dinosaur even if we wanted to. Wall Drug manages approximately 300 billboards in SD and a majority of them are on I-90- meaning anyone traveling across the country via the interstate will be asking themselves what the heck is a Wall Drug at some point during their travels. There are so many signs it is frankly impossible not to start wondering what the deal is. All of the billboards are so unique as well- all of them are hand-painted with a variety of fun attention grabbing phrases such as 5 cent coffee, free ice water, home-made pies/ice-cream, and just pretty much anything you can imagine. They're quite literally impossible to ignore and if you're anything like me you'll start getting excited for the next billboard sighting.
My brother and I ended up passing through Wall Drug later at night when the store was closed, but we stopped at the dino to take our pics and I vowed to stop at the store another day. On my sister's road trip across the country she had heard how obsessed we were with this store, was drawn in by the amount of billboards she saw, and made the stop in. She left us nothing but raving reviews this past January and I knew it wouldn't be long until I adventured my way out there. When I recently found myself in South Dakota adventuring with my college friend Lindsey in May, I yet again had to seize an opportunity and made it priority #1 to finally visit the store and learn a little bit more about its history.
A husband and wife decided to establish a convenience store in the town of Wall in 1931. The couple knew that odds of success were slim being that the town was in the middle of nowhere and with a population of 326 people. They made the decision to give the store a try for 5 years and if it wasn't successful they would move on to a different project. As the 5 year commitment approached, business was still slim, but inspiration came to the wife when she realized the problem wasn't lack of people coming through- it was lack of knowledge or interest to stop (there were people driving by on I-90 all day). Dorothy put up a sign for free ice water if they stopped in at the store and rather quickly visitors increased. Seeing the effect of what one creative billboard could do- the couple soon placed up more and the visitors continued to flow. Advertising at its finest.
Some people have placed Wall Drug signs all over the world including Amsterdam, London, Africa, and even Antarctica. The London advertisement claimed that anyone who wrote a letter would receive free information about South Dakota and letters started flooding in. the popularity if the London sign even caught the eyes of BBC and demanded an interview.
I just think Wall Drug is the coolest. Especially after a loooooooong road trip cross country. Long live Wall Drug.
510 miles from Bozeman, what about you?
References: References: [1] https://www.walldrug.com/about-us/city-of-wall , [2] https://adage.com/article/advertising/how-hand-painted-billboard-ads-turned-wall-drug-tourist-hotspot/2283026 , [3] https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2021/12/09/south-dakota-wall-drug-billboard-signs-where-farthest-sign-world/8837022002/
BUTTE, MONTANA
Visited: Mar 17th, 2022
An hour away from Bozeman sits a quaint little mining town once known as the "Richest Hill on Earth". I've heard a few people in Bozeman refer to it as "the closest thing to the wild wild west" in regards to its reputation for being a bit rowdy- so lets talk a bit about Butte (pronounced beaut).
In the late 1800s Butte was established as a gold and silver mining camp. The town later became known for its copper production and flourished at the height of the copper boom in America in the importance of the mineral in the development of electricity and industrialization. At its height, Butte produced 50% of America's copper supply and 25% of the entire world's supply. Miners from all over flocked to the town with a record population number of 100,000 people (today it stands at just below 40,000). For such a small town Butte has a pretty incredible melting pot of food culture- it is even home to the oldest Chinese restaurant in the United States.
References: https://www.co.silverbow.mt.us/481/History-Culture#:~:text=Butte%20began%20in%20the%20late,copper%20boom%2C%20and%20Butte%20flourished. , https://montanaconnectionspark.com/2020/08/18/10-quick-facts-about-butte-montana/
However, the Irish influence in Butte is what it is known for today in Montana- which subsequently means it has a pretty infamous St. Patricks Day celebration. Many of the streets are shut down and FILLED with people dressed in green. A celebratory parade is held and a bar crawl is found on the streets. Butte draws in about 30,000 people annually for its Irish celebration with even some people traveling from Ireland to attend.
My friends and I had heard so much about Butte's Irish influence that we had to go check it out for ourselves this St. Patty's Day. We were able to attend the parade that included Irish step dancers, bag pipes, and even smokey the bear. After the parade, we caught part of a Hurling match (an Irish sporting event) on Montana Tech's campus. Later we joined the bar crawlers through the streets and had some incredibly delicious corn beef and cabbage, Ruebens, and of course- green beer. The most memorable moment for me was talking to an older group of Butte natives, including a nice gentleman named Mike, that were just handing out shots of Jameson and other Irish liquors to random people on the street.
I am looking forward to coming back to Butte in the future. I can't wait to spend a little more time to check out the Historic Uptown district, marvel at the beautiful old-style architecture, and visit the World's Mining Museum.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Jessie & Hopey on an Atlanta Rooftop
Visited: Feb 12th, 2022
I could think of no better way to spend Valentines weekend other than visiting with two loves of my life: Jessie & Hopey. Jess and I have been pretty close since high school- partly due to the fact we grew up exactly a mile down the road from each other. We both ended up moving pretty far away from our hometown in Upstate NY, but were able to reconnect more this past September when Jess took a trip out to Bozeman. We hit it off as if no time had passed at all and as soon as she left Montana I knew it wouldn't be long at all until I would find myself visiting her current city of residence: Atlanta, Georgia.
The opportunity to visit Jess sorta fell in my lap when my darling Hopey reached out to me about seeing one of the loves of her life in concert: Dua Lipa. Hope and I grew incredibly close in college being big & little in our sorority, rugby teammates, and honestly just two people on the same wavelength about life. Hope also made a pretty big move from a lil town in NY and ended up in the beautiful state of South Carolina. When I realized Dua was performing in Atlanta and that Hope didn't live too far away from Jess, it became the perfect opportunity to spend some time with two wonderful people.
How was Dua Lipa? Wow. Just Wow. The woman is quite simply a goddess and can definitely put on a show. The entire time the girls and I were in awe we were even in her presence. I was incredibly stoked to be a witness to her first tour in the United States, but some of my excitement was coupled with the fact she performed in a stadium adjacent to the infamous Mercedez Benz Stadium.
*nerd warning: civil word vomit to follow*
The Mercedez Benz stadium is known for its incredible 4,000 ton retractable roof and its unique architectural design, but I found myself excited for another reason when I saw the structure: its use of ETFE. One of my grad classes focused on the integration of structural components into being key parts of architectural design and a material extremely useful for this concept is ETFE. ETFE, Ethylene Tetrafluoroethylene, is basically a lightweight industrial-strength plastic that offers a lot of variety and option to glass. Structurally it is convenient to have a strong lightweight material and architecturally it provides a lot of adaptability. ETFE ranges in clear to colorful, thin to bubble like panels, and even variety in its desired sun ray control.
In fact Atlanta is kind of a great example for the growing use of this material. The relatively new canopy at the airport in the passenger pickup and drop off area also utilized steel and ETFE. The canopy is a textbook example of how structural components can become key components of the architectural design. The use of the translucent ETFE provided shelter from the elements while maintaining a welcoming openness of sunshine being able to shine through. The lightweight ETFE blending with the blue sky also allowed for the the unique steel pattern to steal more of the focus while maintaining structural stability.
Besides some dope uses of ETFE, Atlanta continued to surprise me in how much it had to offer in the civil engineering realm. I honestly did not go out of my way to find cool projects- they seemed to just present themselves to me. A lil drive around the city allowed for me to see architecturally visible steel cross braces, a 3-story financial building above a highway, and so much more. I couldn't help but notice a lot more construction projects going on in the growing city that left me extremely excited to see what will be coming to Atlanta next. *civil rant over*
While the main priority for the trip was to just spend time with people I had been dying to see, I still was curious to explore more of the bustling city Jess talks so much about. According to the briefest google search known to mankind, some of the biggest things to do in Atlanta included visits to the Aquarium, Coca Cola Factory, Olympic Centennial Park, and Mercedes Benz Stadium. As an avid lover of animal facts I made it priority #1 to visit the Atlanta Aquarium and was certainly not disappointed. Spending multiple hours here honestly was barely enough to the point where I am already dying to go back. I can promise you that I will be making a return to this place at some point in the future. It was so. freaking. cool.
Some of my friends can attest to my ~little~ obsession with sharks. For example, I've had a shark tracking app on my phone for years now (it also has some turtles and seals!!). To my immense excitement, the Atlanta Aquarium's newest exhibit was a 1.2 million gallon shark tank. My favorite fact I learned on the aquarium trip was at this very tank: Hammerhead sharks swim sideways (as pictured here) in order to use their pectoral fins to reduce their energy expenditure.
While we had the opportunity to visit the Aquarium, our lovely host Jess decided we needed to see a few things in the city that definitely won't show up on your typical travel websites. We had a blast checking out a restaurant with flowers lining the entire roof, a live band karaoke bar, the fast food of the future (ponko), delicious lechee martinis, tipsy bull riding (sorry mom), ufc fights on the big screen, and in true Atlanta fashion: a dead stop in five lane traffic.
Thank you Jess for having us <3
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA
Visited: Jan 8th, 2022
I'm sure whenever anyone thinks of Las Vegas they immediately think of the Hoover Dam. Wait... that could just be me.
Okay beside the point I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Hoover Dam with some of my homies: Sam, Ereena, and Meegs while we were in Vegas. The Dam sits a mere 45 minutes away from the bustling city and was simply something I could not do without seeing... simply put it is one of the most impressive civil engineering projects in the world. It received recognition from the American Society of Civil Engineers, ASCE, for being a Civil Engineering project of the millennium- so basically it is pretty badass.
References: https://www.history.com/news/7-things-you-might-not-know-about-the-hoover-dam , https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hoover-Dam, https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/67916/14-powerful-facts-about-hoover-dam , https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/23416#:~:text=Not%20far%20from%20Las%20Vegas,structure%20engineered%20for%20the%20Ages.
The Hoover Dam was constructed on the Nevada and Arizona border in 1935 with design intention of controlling the Colorado River's flooding to protect Southern California and Arizona, mass production of hydroelectric power to recoup its $165 million dollar cost, and a source of water for both an increased number of people settling west and irrigation of farm fields.
The Hoover Dam is an amazing feat of civil engineering due to its shear size alone. The dam is 726 feet tall, and 1,224 feet long. It is quite literally the same height as a 60-story building with its base as thick as two football fields long. To give a little more perspective: the amount of concrete used in building it is enough to pave a road stretching from San Francisco to New York City.
At the time of its finished construction, it was the tallest dam in the world and its reservoir, Lake Mead, still holds the title for the world's largest reservoir. It was an incredible feeling to be standing in this place knowing its history. However, my favorite part was looking over the edge of the dam and experiencing a bit of vertigo. It definitely feels as big as it is.
From explosives to diversion tunnels, the Hoover Dam's construction was no small feat. The girls and I were certainly in awe of how the dam came to be its final product. The most memorable fact I found in my research about the dam was how engineers were able to cure the immense amount of concrete in a reasonable time frame. To speed up the curing process, engineers designed the world's largest refrigerator that was able to dispense upwards of 1000 tons of ice in a single day. This allowed the concrete to cure significantly faster than the 100+ years it would have taken without any assistance.
I found the stories of the people and animals on site of the construction to be equally as interesting as the construction process itself. The dam being built in the midst of the great depression coupled with dangerous working conditions created a draw for an interesting array of workers- 21,000 total workers to be exact. The influx of people coming to work on the dam resulted in the creation of an entire new town- Boulder, Nevada. Around 3,500 men on site everyday faced deadly challenges in their working conditions. However, many of the workers took enormous pride in the dangerous work. One worker, Louis Fagan, was known as "The Human Pendulum" and "One-Rope-Fagan" for his crazy antics in swinging workers around the site. Another worker, Oliver Cowan, saved his supervisor's life when he lost hold of his safety line at the top of the canyon. As the Reclamation Engineer began to plummet to his demise, Cowan working 25ft below saw the falling man and took action to grab the his leg as he fell past- definitely saving this man's life.
An animal on site pulled at our heart strings as well. The Hoover Dam Dog, appropriately renamed due to its questionable original name, was a bit of a legacy on site. The pup would ride the lift elevators and bark at the people controlling them for when he wanted to get off. The pup also saved many lives in barking to notify supervisors at the first sign of crumbling cement or unstable cranes. Unfortunately the pup lost his life when he was run over after sleeping under a truck on site, but workers honored his memory when they stopped all construction and took time to forever memorialize the pup on site of the dam,.
You might have noticed a pretty cool looking bridge visible from the dam! That fun looking bridge just so happens to be the Hoover Dam bypass bridge put in place to direct traffic off of the dam. The bridge is actually an impressive civil engineering feat of its own being as it is the largest concrete arch bridge in North America with its 1060 feet span.
There were also two pretty cool Bronze statues on site at the top of the dam. The two figures are known as the "Winged Figures of the Republic" and as you can see from the gold color of the toes, many people rub the feet of these figures for good luck. As an avid love of stars, I thought it was extremely cool to see that the figures were surrounded with a celestial chart of the exact position of stars on the day the Hoover Dam was dedicated by Roosevelt.
As for how the rest of Vegas went...
I think I'll have to leave it to your imagination.
...
what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas ;)
...
Happy Birthday Meegs!!
JACKSON HOLE, WYOMING
Visited: Aug 28th, 2021
For my 23rd birthday I was on a mission to see a Moose and one of the best places in the world to see a wild Moose happened to be in one of my new neighboring states: Grand Teton National Park of Wyoming. The bonus to getting to see the incredible views (and yes Moose) of the Grand Tetons was getting to check out the town outside of the park known as Jackson Hole. Jackson Hole is most well known by people into snow sports due to the world famous Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and another ski hill literally blocks away from the town square known as Snow King.
The Jackson Hole town square is marked with four MASSIVE elk antler arches that are super unique and have become a token of Jackson. The cool part about the antlers is that each one contains almost 2,000 antlers and weigh almost up to 12,000 pounds. How on earth did they come across this many antlers? The National Elk Refuge is wedged right between the entrance to the National Park and the town. In the winter the refuge is the final destination of the second largest elk migration in the continental United States with almost 9,000 elk migrating for the winter annually.
Moose Mural
Antler Arch
Snow Hill Resort from Town Square
My first impression of Jackson was definitely that it was a bit over touristy. I had mixed feelings on how the Jackson Hole Airport is the only airport in the world entirely in a National Park. I'm sure the views of the Tetons from a plane landing parallel to them are incredibly breathtaking and how convenient it must be to have that level of accessibility to such a beautiful place, but I worry it takes away from the experience of nature. However, after spending a little bit of time in the town I grew some appreciation for it. Yes everything was a bit pricey, but it had a charm that only tourist towns can bring to the table with the square bustling with live music and people in awe of the iconic arches. In learning more about the town I was shocked to learn that it was the first town to elect an all female town council in 1920. Wyoming was dubbed the name "Equality State" for being at the forefront of women's suffrage in the United States.
All in all I am hoping to go back to Jackson this winter because I honestly think that this little town could be one of the most charming places to visit when the snow flies. I'll keep you guys updated if I'm lucky enough to find myself out that way this winter!
Sources: https://www.jacksonholewy.com/blog/unbelievable-facts-about-jackson-hole-wy/
PORTLAND, OREGON
Visited: Aug 21st, 2021
"it's a good weird" -Monica on Portland
My wonderful sister Monica LOVES soccer and where else could we honor this passion than a visit to soccer city for the finals of the WIIC. The trip lined up perfectly with Monica's visit out west to visit me around my birthday and we had the amazing opportunity to watch two awesome soccer games. We even Lindsey Horan walking her adorable frenchie Ferguson (who has his own instagram handle @sirfergyhoran), but Monica didn't tell me who we had walked by until we were a block away.
Portland has a lot more to offer other than soccer though! My sister and I adventured a ton before we even made it to the soccer games. We started our morning with a visit to the original Voodoo Doughnuts. The doughnuts were DELICOUS, but they were incredibly filling and we probably didn't need to get four of them... The cool thing about voodoo is that all their doughnuts have spooky themes and crazy decorations like cereal! In the past they've even tried out even wackier doughnuts including ones with jäger, nyquil, pepto bismol, tums, and even oysters.
References: https://www.mashed.com/361682/the-untold-truth-of-voodoo-doughnut/
After voodoo we sought understanding one of Portland's other nicknames, "Rose City", with a trip to the International Rose Test Garden. The rose test garden is MASSIVE with over 10,000 roses and simply one of the most peaceful places I've ever been. The test garden started in 1918 as a safe haven for hybrid roses grown in Europe during World War I and now is one of only six testing areas in the country for the American Rose Society. However, Portland's obsession with roses started prior to the introduction of the test garden. The wife of an Oregonian publisher started the Portland Rose Society in 1889 when she invited some of her friends to view her roses in their garden. A love for roses spread like wildfire in the community and by 1905, Portland decided to honor the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition by lining 20 miles of the streets with roses. After the centennial, the nickname "City of Roses" caught on and continues to be honored with the Festival of Roses that was started in 1907.
References: https://www.travelportland.com/attractions/portland-rose-garden/#:~:text=The%20garden%20was%20conceived%20by,amphitheater%20were%20dedicated%20in%201924. , https://www.simplefloorspdx.com/blog/portland-why-its-the-rose-city/
We didn't have to travel far for the next stop on our Portland tour, we just had to go past a few tennis courts to another garden on the other side of the street. My gratitude goes out to my cousin Jasmine, resident of Portland, for her reccomendation of another serene place for us to check out: the Portland Japanese Garden. One of my favorite stops of my sister and I's San Francisco trip in 2019 was to their Japanese Garden and Portland's did not disappoint. It had beautiful landscaping, well aged bonzai trees, a teahouse, various waterfalls, and a view of Mt. Hood on a clear day. Definitely another wonderful place to visit for finding peace within the city.
You'd think we'd have enough of greenery after spending the whole morning visiting gardens, but seeing how we had a little more time before the soccer games I dragged my sister to one of the most recognizable waterfalls in the Pacific North West, the 300 ft tall Multnomah Falls. The falls is right off the highway just outside of Portland, but does require a time slot reservation from May-September for visitations. We had no problem getting our reservation day of with the Recreation.gov link!
The final major destination of my sister and I's less than 48-hour tour of Portland was the World's Largest Independently Owned bookstore; Powell's Books. Powell's books was started in Chicago by a graduate student named Michael. Michael's dad Walter visited his son's new bookstore and enjoyed his experience so much he was inspired to create his very own branch in Portland upon his return in 1971. Today the business remains owned by a third-generation Powell named Emily. As lover of books, Monica and I had to check out this huge store. It had every book on our lists and if I am ever in Portland again I will be sure to return.
Thank you Portland for being (good) weird :)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Visited: June 5th, 2021
Before I moved to Big Sky country I knew that every time I'd say "I'm from New York" I would be associated with the Big Apple. As much as I'm proud to be from upstate I figured I'd explore a lil more of the city before I shipped out west just because it kinda felt wrong not to know much about it. So just a few days before I ventured out west I found myself in the city with three of my wonderful guy friends I met while at college. I met Shoeler and Tim through civil engineering and later Steve through Rugby.
Our first stop of the day was checking out Hudson Yards. The first location I got to check out with the boys was The Edge. It's a 100ft high observation deck with 360 degree NYC views. It also has a partial glass floor in the shape of a triangle visible from the perspective edge picture.
The second area in Hudson Yards we got to check out were two neighboring structures: the Vessel and the Shed. During my studies at RPI I had the amazing opportunity to receive a presentation from a lead engineer on both of these projects. It was a surreal experience to see two intriguing projects talked about in the classroom up close in personal in real life. My favorite fact? The steel from the vessel was shipped over from Italy!
The Vessel
The Shed (right)
View from the Vessel
The next stop of the day was checking out the Brookyln Bridge. I've always loved bridges, but this particular bridge might just be my favorite. There are far too many wild things about this bridge to include in this blog, but I'll try to hit a few highlights. My school alumna, Washington A. Roebling, served as a chief engineer on the project after his father's John Roebling's passing. However, the real key interest here is that Roebling's wife Emily earned recognition for being a pioneer female engineer due to her involvement with the project after her husband came down with the bends from working on the project. Emily did everything in her husband's name and became an incredible driving force in the bridge's construction. Besides a pioneering female engineer behind one of the world's most iconic bridges, the bridge has some really cool engineering behind it. Essentially the bridge is so well built it can last up to 1,000 years as long as it remains maintained. However, I'll spare you the geekiness of getting into the nitty gritty of the bridge design and I'll leave you with some sillier facts about the bridge.
The first person and animal to cross the bridge was Emily holding a rooster for good luck when the bridge was finished in 1883.
P.T. Barnum marched 21 elephants across the bridge in 1884 to show how sturdy the span was.
Engineers built sizeable vaults into the bridge beneath its anchorages that made PERFECT wine cellars and were even rented out to the public until World War I
References: https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/68463/15-facts-about-brooklyn-bridge-you-wont-fuhgeddaboud , Monica, the novel The Great Bridge by David McCullough
After taking our stroll across the bridge and munching on some delicious pizza under the bridge, we finally headed over to check out the 9/11 memorial. I was incredibly in awe of how beautiful the two memorial pools were and I believe it to be an incredible remembrance to the 2001 acts of terror. Every single name of the 2,983 people killed in the 2001 and 1993 terrorist attacks are inscribed around bronze pallets of the twin pools that sit in the very footprint of the former North and South towers. The twin pools nearly an acre in size each both contain the largest manmade waterfalls in North America. The waterfalls descend 30 feet into a square basin to be dropped another 20 feet to disappear into a smaller central void in which pedestrians can not see the bottom. "According to the architect, Michael Arad, the pools represent "absence made visible." Although water flows into the voids, they can never be filled."-9/11 Memorial I made an emotional walk around both pools to read all of the names inscribed in the Bronze and was moved by flowers and flags being left by families and friends on even this beautiful June day. It is an incredibly moving place and my heart goes out to anyone and everyone affected by the 9/11 attacks.
Looking over the memorial pools was the unmistakable Freedom Tower. While we did not have time to take a tour of the tower I'd like to quickly mention some of the significance of this building. The Freedom Tower, also known as One World Trade Center, was built as a representative to freedom with its spire lit at night to match the Statue of Liberty's torch. Some may know that the Freedom Tower is the tallest building in the United States, but a little known fact is that the building stands tall at 1,776 ft. Doesn't 1776 look familiar?
0References: https://www.911memorial.org/visit/memorial/about-memorial , https://www.travelawaits.com/2478420/visiting-freedom-tower-new-york-city/
Freedom Tower
Memorial Pool
Gonna miss you NY <3
BEACH TOWNS OF MASSACHUSETTS: PLUM ISLAND & CAPE COD
Updated: December 28th, 2021
I really didn't spend much time by the ocean after growing up in Upstate NY. My idea of a beach day was going to the lake of the state park 5 minutes down the road from my house. I've always enjoyed the ocean from just the smell in the air, the dependable tides, and fascinating shells. My habit of picking up every cool rock I see translates quite well to collecting every shell in sight. I almost think my shell collection habit is worse than my rock collecting just because of how rare it is I find myself at the foot of the ocean. Twice in college my some of my gal pals and I took adventure out to two beach towns in Mass. Both times I witnessed incredible views and sunsets and even better company. (thankful for my people I love you gals).
CAPE COD
I think my first time to Cape Cod was with one of my childhood bestfriends, Taylor, to visit her grandparents around Independence day in 2014. I don't remember a ton about the trip other than that we had a lot of good ice cream, it was beautiful, and her mom asked me to spot cops on Waze on the way home. The only other thing I can truly note is that we got these two matching patriotic sweatshirts that look an awfully lot like rugby polos... foreshadowing for me?
^certified high quality beach photo by yours truly in 2014
Grace & Daria holding adorable Salmon
My next visit to the Cape was one of the first places I took my first new car "The Child" otherwise known as "Jr" or "Sparky 2.0" (RIP to Sparky 1.0 who was stolen by a bandit of 13 year old's #iykyk). I had always shared a death trap of a car known as Geezer Mobile with my siblings, but in spring of 2020 I got my own wheels just in time for last minute college graduation road trips. The girl gang was having a tough time graduating in quarantine and some of us decided to make the trip out to one of Daria's beloved places: Cape Cod. Allison, Grace, Daria, and I all decided to take the trip out east for the day and we even scooped up Madison and her insta famous pooch @salmontheredtoypoodle . The day was such a blur, but we were able to drive by Daria's family cabin, dip our toes in the water at Boat Meadow Landing, visit the Nauset Lighthouse on the national seashore, and catch an incredible sunset at Campground beach.
Grace, Daria, Allison, Madison
Me
My fav Cape Cod fun facts:
The county has the most historic lighthouses in the country (14)
30 homes were floated a mile across Provincetown Harbor to the town's West End due to a change in a source of fishing
JFK loved to vacation on the Cape and established the Cape Cod National Seashore of 43,500 acres in August of 1961
References: https://www.greatvaluevacations.com/travel-inspiration/cape-cod-facts
Me, Allison, Daria, Madison
PLUM ISLAND
My second beach town of MA to highlight is Plum Island. One of my wonderful friends grace invited a few of us out to her see family for the weekend. Apparently it is a trend for people to name their beach homes just as if they were naming a boat and we had the pleasure of being welcomed into Grace's family's "Seas the Day". Grace toured us around to relaxing reading days on the beach, a feast of her mother's incredible cooking, unforgettable sun chasing, enabling of my hoarding of shells (including the only sand dollar I own), and even a trip out to the elusive sand bar guarded by the tides.
Me, Grace, Grace, and Megan
Plum Island Lighthouse
Grace sandwich in front of the sandbar
Megan and a LARGE shell
My favorite Plum Island Facts:
Plum Island was named after the beach plums that grew across its dunes.
It is also home to the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge which provides critical habitat for over 300 species of birds both resident and migratory and even the federally protected piping plover.
"Seas the day" is a pun on the popular latin phrase "Carpe Diem" meaning to seize the day
References: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/Parker_River/about.html
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
Visited: May, 2019
My sister and I decided to take a trip to California in the spring of 2019. It was our first big solo trip as sisters and we had the time of our lives. We chose the golden state as our destination because there was simply so much for us to do between exploring the city, checking out various national parks, and even enjoying a bit of the pacific coast.
We spent our first few days in the city checking out everything San Francisco had to offer. We stayed in a hotel near Fisherman's Wharf and were able to navigate the city through walking, the electric trolleys, and the famous cable cars. Cable cars were invented in San Francisco in 1873 and have survived great earthquakes and world wars. Around 40 beautifully crafted cars are still being utilized in San Francisco and offer both standing and sitting seats. Monica and I had a blast riding the cable cars for a mere $6 of transportation.
References: https://www.sfmta.com/getting-around/muni/cable-cars/cable-car-history , https://www.tweentribune.com/article/tween56/7-things-you-might-not-know-about-san-franciscos-cable-cars/
Monica at a bus stop
Transportation Lanes
Monica & I aboard Street Car
Standing on the Car
However we didn't have to travel far from Fisherman's Wharf to find a lot to do. It was so fun to walk the streets to see all of the different attractions at this little square on its own, even a restaurant named Tarantino's with pretty decent food. However, right in Fisherman's Wharf is Ghirardelli Square- an entire block dedicated to everything Ghirardelli chocolate. The block is an ode to the successful chocolate business that was born in San Francisco in 1849. Monica and I enjoyed plenty of sweets and two massive milkshakes. We realized shortly after we had ordered ours that everyone else seemed to be sharing them due to their size, but we feasted on ours nonetheless. Just down the street from Fisherman's Wharf is Pier 39, a popular area for tourists to see wild sea lions basking in the sun. References: https://www.ghirardellisq.com/history
Our next big trip within San Francisco was a trip over to Golden Gate Park. The park is 3 miles in length and offers plenty of activities to check out. Monica and I walked the entire length of the park to see Bison, the Japanese Garden, and the de Young Museum. You might be surprised to learn there are Bison in California (and San Francisco of all places), but a bison herd within the park have been showcased since 1899. The bison herd in the park actually has produced 100 calves to help with the reintroduction of bison into the United States.
I found the Japanese Garden to be one of my favorite stops of the entire California. The Gardens were originally created as a Japanese Village exhibit in 1894 for a California Midwinter International Exposition. Today the garden is about 5 acres an size and was one of the most tranquil places I've ever been. Monica and I enjoyed our time here that we ended up sitting for tea and snacks after exploring the entire garden.
Reference: https://www.japaneseteagardensf.com/about
Our next stop in San Fran doesn't look like something you'd expect to find in a city. The beautiful roman architecturally influenced Palace of Fine Arts was built for the 1915 Panama- Pacific International Exposition. The city outbid other major U.S. cities in 1910 in an attempt to show the world how well it could bounce back from the devastating 1906 earthquake.
References: https://palaceoffinearts.com/info/
Anyone who knows me and frankly anyone who knows of San Francisco can guess the next stop on the tour- the glorious Golden Gate Bridge. Throughout our time in San Francisco my sister and I drove, biked, and walked across the bridge. I think my favorite way to travel across the bridge was via the bikes. We rented bikes for the day from a store in the fisherman wharf area and rode our way to the bridge. The path up to the bridge is simply beautiful and you'll want to stop a few times while on the ride up alone. While the bridge offers multiple lanes for traffic, it also offers two separate lanes for cyclists and pedestrians. If I am remembering correctly, my sister and I had a little confusion on how to get over to the cyclist lane, but I believe we went beneath the bridge to access the west side lane to enjoy our ride without running into those damn tourists. We weren't the only people leisurely biking across the bridge, but I felt as if we did annoy a few people who were on their road bikes wanting to zoom by.
view from the bike ride
view from the bike ferry
view from bike ferry
Golden Gate facts:
The bridge wasn't intentionally designed to be orange, however after a steel primer safety coating was applied to the bridge the architect on the project felt the warn tone fit well with the bridge's location and insisted the color remained
The Golden Gate was not named for the California gold rush, it was named for the Golden Gate Strait whose name predates the start of the gold rush. The strait received its name after John C. Fremont saw the watery trench and was reminded of the Golden Horn of the Bosporus in Constantinople, nicknamed "Golden Gate"
Some ~fun~ numbers:
The cables are 3 feet in diameter
The towers are 746 feet tall (equivalent to 68 stories)
The bridge is 7 miles east of the San Andreas Fault
References: https://www.goldengate.org/bridge/history-research/ , https://www.historyhit.com/1933-construction-golden-gate-bridge/ , https://www.sftravel.com/article/why-golden-gate-history-behind-name
I love the picture from beneath the bridge because it shows off some of the more civil details, however we didn't make it to one of the best view points of the bridge because we were simply having too much fun other places. For anyone interested in where to go to see iconic photo spot of the bridge from a beach, I'd recommend a visit to North Baker Beach.
Alcatraz is one of the most famous prisons in the world due to its famous inescapable claim to fame. The prison was served as one of the most maximum federal security prisons in the US with the added security of its location on an Island in the San Francisco Bay. Even if a prisoner managed to escape from their cell, they still faced a swim to shore of over a mile in cold turbulent water trying to pull them through the Golden Gate strait out to sea. There are no official escapes on record, but a few mysteries to whether or not escapees successfully made it to shore.
When the maintaining and operating the prison became to costly the prison was shut down. However, Native Americans occupied the island for almost 2 years starting in 1969 to bring attention to past injustices contemporary issues confronting Natives. The Island today has remnants of the Indian occupation with some "Welcome Indians" graffiti visible once visitors disembark the boat shuttle.
Today you can visit the island and take an audio tour that walks you through the history of certain rooms and markings throughout the prison's walls. My favorite fact about the prison was that its most famous prisoner, Al Capone, played the banjo in a prison band. However, I also learned that the island received its name "Alcatraz" from the Spanish word "Alcatraces" meaning Pelicans due to the high bird population on the island. Even today there is an abundant number of various types of birds still living and nesting on the island.
Monica and I had the great opportunity to see this incredible piece of history through booking tickets in advance via the Alcatraz Island Day Tour website. For anyone wanting to visit the area there is a limited number of spots everyday so its best to book your tickets minimum a couple weeks ahead of time.
References: https://www.history.com/topics/crime/alcatraz , https://www.thetravel.com/10-eerie-facts-you-didnt-know-about-alcatraz/
Monica and I left San Francisco on a road trip to see some of California's gorgeous natural beauty in some of its national parks. After spending a few days in Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon we started our return to San Fran. On our way back from the parks I insisted we go a little bit out of our way to the Big Sur Area. Honestly the Big Sur area was mostly just a beautiful scenic addition to the drive, but there are many little spots to get out and walk along the fog and admire the rocky coast. Within the Big Sur area there are a few beautiful bridges, but the one that gets the most attention is the Bixby Bridge. It is a relatively simple reinforced concrete design, but I just love how well it matches with the landscape around it. It was my dream last stop for the vacation with an ode to a cool bridge surrounded by gorgeous nature.
