quinn's place

ello!

i have so many photos to share from our short 2 day stop in london! i actually thought i could consolidate allllllllll of the photos from our entire europe trip into one post, but LOLz nope that's a crock. i figure, what's the point of taking all these photos if i don't share them. even if nobody looks at this...it's very cathartic for my brain to release these photo dumps out into the wild.

i'll also be sharing photos from ireland, amsterdam, cologne and nyc! eventually :)

^ i feel like lots of big attractions are under construction when i travel. there's big ben up there, which i did not even notice it because of the construction junkola. same happened in athens when i saw the parthenon.. womp womp.

one of my favorite things we did was go to borough market! this was 3 days before christmas, so it was super festive. there were sooo many amazing eats & treats and vendors and all the mulled wine. it is located under the london bridge which feels so cool and london-y.

i don't think i took a photo of the big filled donuts we got from bread ahead, but they were scrumptious. everything was so beautiful and delicious looking.

there was an a cappella group here singing a mix of christmas songs and beatles songs. loved that. good vibes while enjoying a spicy mulled wine.

so many fresh juices. wowzah i want em all.

^ not a bad happy hour view of the tower bridge. nobody was even at this bar... wha??

^ my favorite travel buddy.

^ we rode the cutie double decker bus to shoreditch to have dinner at dishoom. it was really delicious indian food. our waiter told us that people usually order 3 dishes each, which i thought sounded like a lot but maybe they were small portions? maybe he was tricking us? oh my g we had to eat so much. it was so good, but whoa we did not need to order three items, each! 3 total dishes would have done the trick. i don't think i got a photo of all the food we ordered. luckily our airbnb hosts wanted our leftovers, haha.

we had such fun bopping around to different pubs on this night. there are SO many adorable & cozy pubs around every corner. it's the best.

we were staying at an airbnb pretty far outside of london - a 40 minute train ride - so this day we had explored london from like 9am until after midnight when we left the pubs. it was a long long day and we walked 10 miles and 28,000 steps according to my phone.

^ crazy cool sand castle christmas village!

^ delicious savory pies from pieminister. with gravy & red cabbage slaw. yummmmz.

^ our CUTE ASS airbnb in weybridge! even though weybridge was a substantial train ride from london, we also enjoyed this little town a lot, too. and the train was easy to navigate into the city to the big waterloo station.

^ this coffee shop was so funny to me. all of their cups and sugars and things had goofy sarcastic comments on them. it was just silly and unexpected.

oooooh la la. notting hill!

we rode the tube to notting hill & portobello road - which peter could not remember the name of, so he kept calling it 'mushroom lane.' i was dying.

the chimneys remind me of mary poppins step in time.

^ yikes, brah!

^ here's peter l o v i n g notting hill. lol. he probably couldn't wait to get the hell outta this instagramville.

but you can see why i enjoyed it! it's all so dang charming and cute.

^ i like this.

we were so glad to have spent some time in london and i'm glad i got to be there in all its christmassy glory! :)

this is lake tahoe.

ain't she a beaut!!?!?!?

^^^ one night during our road trip we stayed at this cute airbnb on the north end of lake tahoe! it was like a treehouse/lakehouse wonderland. not really a treehouse, but felt like one. it had SO much character and the big porch and view were just amaHzing.

our trip started out cruising through oregon where we stopped at caldera brewing in ashland.

^^^this photo is the lay of the land around the brewery. loved it.

and their food & beer is delicious!! i definitely recommend stopping there if you're passing through southern oregon.

^ waitress gal said my salad might fly away because it gets really windy out there. lol.

helloooooo mt. shasta!

driving by shasta is so cool...its just RIGHT there.

^ random photos from a place we had breakfast burritos & beermosas, and then sierra nevada brewing company for our second visit. we also stopped here headed home during our road trip down highway 101 a couple years ago.

camping at oroville lake, california. those are "floating campsites" for rent, aka little house boats.

cheddar bus was having a great time on her first big trip of the year.

we thought this was lake tahoe at first.. we were both like hmmmm it must just look reeally far away from up here.....

^ it was actually donner lake. it was pretty!

then we found tahoe for suuuuuure. iss huuuuge!

we got suuuper lucky with a first-come first-served campsite at fallen leaf lake right near tahoe. super lucky. we thought for sure we'd just be sleeping on the side of the road.

i'd tried to book campsites at tahoe like 3 months prior to this trip, and they were ALLLL booked. i reckon people are booking these spots a year in advance.

but fallen leaf lake was gorgeous and the campground was great and we were happy.

see? happy camper pete totally in his element.

tahoe! so blue you are!

seriously gorgeous everywhere you look. it all feels mediterranean.

but the water did not feel mediterranean. it was collllllllld cold cold.

our airbnb at crystal bay! hellooooooooo i could have sat out on that porch for the rest of my life.

lake life perfection.

we went on a really fun kayaking journey that ended up in a not so fun full submersion into the ice cold lake (twice) with all our belongings and cell phones. i won't name the name of the two-time kayak flipper, but lets just say i was veryverymad.

^ is it totally weirdo to take pics of a stranger's shower? i liked her southwest vibes + plant motif.

and suddenly, snow! on the way out of tahoe.

^ weirdass middle of nowhere spooky shoe tree.

^ most of northern california & southern oregon looks something like this. this is the part of the drive where you go straight looney toon and lose yer mind.

so then you stop to let the bus cool down, drink a brewski, and take a whiz on the side of a highway.

^^ this photo is so forrest gump to me and i love it. because pete & forrest are my faves.

the last night we stumbled upon odell lake in oregon, which was a stellar random find and perfect timing as the sun was setting! this was princess creek campground.

as usual, these trips are so so fun but go by so so fast. the cheddar bus did great with no issues this time. busdriver pete did great, too! love ya bof!

previous memorial day weekend volkswagen road trips:

here, to utah!

and here, down the west coast to san francisco!

all photos taken on my iphone 6.