From the Studio

From the Studio: Portland, Crater Lake, the Redwoods and Hwy 1

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Cargo in Portland via personal collection

After Mt. Rainer we drove south to Portland. I was already pretty excited about it, but I had no clue exactly how much we were going to love Portland. (Hint, we loved it a lot. Like loved loved, which we all know is way bigger than regular love.) We stayed in the Northwest Downtown area which was extremely walkable and full of boutiques and restaurants, and spent a ton of time just walking up and down the streets and exploring the shops and restaurants. Speaking of the restaurants, we ate at Besaw's the first night and it was fabulous.

Northwest Portland via personal collection

We were only staying for 2 days so the next day was jam packed. First, we met Chelsea for breakfast at Broder where both the company and the food was amazing. (Seriously, Chelsea is such a great person. I'm so happy we finally got to meet!) After a two hour breakfast (sorry for keeping the table so long Broder!) J. and I made our way around town dropping into places like Ink & Peat (such a beautiful store and the owner Pam was so nice to talk with) Powell's Books (holy cow it was massive. Almost overwhelming with how many books are there!) and Cargo (such a fun store) as well as many fantastic boutiques and vintage stores on 26th. After dinner at a really cute Mexican restaurant, we pushed on and were able to meet up with one of our friends from Glacier for a few drinks before turning in for the night.

trying to figure out where we were via personal collection

Crater Lake via personal collection

We woke up early the next morning and drove to Crater Lake. We'd heard such good things about it, but we think we stayed one day too long. While the lake is stunning (absolutely breathtaking. I've never seen water that blue before!) there aren't really many hikes to go on that aren't paved and even those are few and far between, but we did find one that took us to a beautiful waterfall and another that took us to these amazing other worldly ash formations called the Pinnacles. It's definitely something you should see, but I wouldn't advise staying for a super long time if you want to have a lot to do. Now, if you want to lounge around and read all day, it's perfect. And our campground store had the best strawberry slushie/smoothie things ever so if you're there, you need to get one. Or three.

The Redwoods via courtney khail

Beautiful whale via courtney khail

After Crater Lake we drove to the Redwoods, which isn't so much one park as many different spread around parks and national forests. It was incredibly beautiful though and while we were hiking through one of the forests, I couldn't help but think at any second E.T. was going to fly over us in a bike. We also were able to see a gray whale that had made it's home under a popular bridge, which was really moving. She was so ethereal and graceful and it was such a treat to see her, but I couldn't help but feel a little sad given that she probably really wanted to find her way back to the ocean, but couldn't figure out how to get there.  Hopefully the rangers have helped her by now. On our way to Highway 1 the next morning, we were also able to see part of the area Jurassic Park was filmed and got to drive through the Avenue of the Giants to see some of the oldest, giant redwoods, which for science nerds like us, was awesome!

Pacific Coastline via courtney khail

Pacific Ocean via courtney khail

Speaking of Highway 1, we decided to take that down to San Francisco instead of the main interstate and I'm so happy we did. J. had already been down in before so he drove and let me stare of the window/point/gasp. What a breathtaking scenery! The coastline is just so gorgeous and I couldn't stop taking photos. It was like everywhere you looked was worthy of a new shot! We made sure to stop every so often to take it all in (and of course I ran and played in the water because I'm a 2 year old) and even picked up lunch to eat over looking the water. And can I just go ahead and say that I now know why "cows are happier" in California? They live on the most beautiful oceanfront property! Only place you'll see cows grazing on a multimillion piece of land. Of course after 7 hours of winding roads, we hopped off Hwy 1, got on the main interstate and were soon crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco...

road trip part 3: Glacier, Seattle, and Mt. Rainer

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view from above the Going to the Sun Highway via courtney khail

Oh, Glacier. By far one of my favorite parks; it’s just so gorgeous! We arrived early so we checked out campgrounds and then drove Going to the Sun highway. It’s only open for an incredibly short window (otherwise it’s too dangerous to travel on because of snow and ice) but if you can drive on it, do it. The views are absolutely breathtaking! If you’re a little scared of heights (or can’t drive and look at the same time) there is also a shuttle which is super helpful. We actually took the shuttle a few times for further away hikes, which works out well since you can then sleep the 1.5 hrs it takes to get back down to camp. And after a 10 mile hike, that’s a huge selling point.

We ended up getting a campsite right on Lake McDonald (thanks to another super early morning of site stalking) and were lucky enough to have amazing views and meet some great people while we were there. We actually met up two weeks later with one of our “neighbors” when we were in Portland. Because we were spending a decent chunk of time in the park we were able to really explore all of it. We took the boat ride at Many Glacier (that took us to the trailhead of the hike where we got to see 3 grizzlies playing in the snow,) drove through the aspen forests via the (incredibly long and curvy) outer roads of the park, hiked to one of the most beautiful lakes I’ve ever seen, saw tons of wildlife (goats, bears, elk, etc,) hiked across a glacier, and got to swim in a glacial lake (which was crystal clear and beyond freezing cold.)

hiking through the snow via courtney khail

A really cool “hidden” jewel of the park is that it actually goes into Canada as well. Of course, we didn’t think to bring our passports, but we heard about this little town called Polebridge (population 25) that you hit right before the Canadian border. It was rumored to have one bar and one mercantile store that is home to the best huckleberry pastries ever. They weren’t lying. I could have eaten the huckleberry turnovers ever single morning. Can’t say much about the bear claws though because they never made it into our bag. The drive out there takes a really long time, but it’s super secluded and incredibly beautiful. In addition to a black bear and a wolverine (which you never get to see) we were also greeted with the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen.

sunset on the road from polebridge via courtney khail

After Glacier, we drove to Spokane, WA for the night (strangely empty on a Saturday afternoon, but then really busy- like 5 bachelorette parties kind of busy- at night.) If you end up there, stop by the Peacock Room for dinner or a drink and take in the view. In addition to two stuffed peacocks on the bar, the bar houses an impressive stain glass ceiling featuring a peacock feather motif. The next morning we drove to Seattle. Of course, we didn’t realize that it was Sea Fare that weekend so the bridge we were taking to the city was closed. We ended up off the interstate and lost in a residential area while the Blue Angels flew over us. Really cool to see, but kind of frustrating since we really wanted out of the car. Thanks to a random volunteer (who laughed when we said where we were trying to go) we found our way to another interstate that took us into the city. After checking into the hotel (The Maxwell which was be yond amazing and I would recommend to anyone) we walked the city, strolled in and out of shops and had an amazing dinner at Peso’s in Queen Anne.

space needle via courtney khail

pikes place market via courtney khail

If you find yourself in Seattle here are a few things I wouldn’t miss:  stopping by Fran’s Chocolates at the Four Seasons and having a salted caramel (holy goodness) seeing the city from Columbia Center (not the Space Needle) wandering around Pike’s Place Market and having breakfast at Three Girls Bakery (we stopped there every time we could for the ham and cheese croissants,) having lunch at Potbelly (the best sandwiches ever. I still think about them) and if you don’t mind driving a little bit- the Tacoma Glass Museum.

view from the columbia center via courtney khail

glass ceiling at the Glass Museum

After spending a few days in Seattle, we drove out to Mt. Rainer National Park. Once again, we lucked out and got a super private site right on a river. It also happened to be a really clear day (not common) so we were greeted with wonderful clear views of Mt Rainer. As for the park, it was completely different than any other one we’d seen by then. It was super lush, almost rainforest-y, and magical in a fairy tale kind of way. That may seem like a weird way to describe it, but that is exactly how it felt- almost Midsummer’s Night Dream-ish. The color of the plants were almost unreal how bright they were, there weren’t a lot of people so it felt like you had the park to yourself, the views were breathtaking, the vegetation would be super thick and then would open up to spectacular waterfalls or lakes- it was just so beautiful. If you haven’t been, you should definitely check it out.

mt rainer via courtney khail

hiking in mt rainer via courtney khail (see what I mean about the colors?)

the water is actually 10 stories down from where I took the photo via courtney khail

And now that I’ve already written more than planned, I’ll hold off on telling more until next week.  Hope you enjoyed!

road trip recap part two

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As promised, I'm going to start with the first national park of our trip- The Grand Teton National Park. To say it's beautiful is an understatement, but as I would soon come to figure out that goes for all of the national parks.

Sunrise at Grand Teton National Park via courtney khail

We woke up before the crack of dawn (literally- it was pitch black outside and there was absolutely no one around) ate a quick breakfast and set off for our campsite. You may be wondering why we woke up so early to drive no more than 25 minutes away. Well, long story short, the campground we wanted to stay at is super popular and is first come first serve. According to everyone, you really want to get there just as people are waking up and start asking when they are leaving. If you luck out (which we did on our first try) you politely ask if you could put your check in slip behind their slip (to reserve your spot) and then just kind of hang out to make sure no one comes in behind you and replaces your ticket with theirs (which does unfortunately happen.) We had roughly 3 hours to kill so we watched the sunrise over the Grand Tetons, ate granola bars and fruit, and explored the area- which like I said earlier-was absolutely beautiful. From canoeing on Jenny Lake, napping in hammocks on the lake shore, hiking Cascade Canyon (and getting within 10 feet of 3 moose!), climbing higher than I ever thought possible, and the most exhilarating moment- having a stampede of elk dash in front of our car just barely missing us, it was an absolutely amazing start to the trip.

Grand Tetons via courtney khail

A stormy Yellowstone via courtney khail

It started to rain on our last day (which led to a very entertaining hour of us running around trying to set up tarps so we could stay dry while cooking and eating) and continued to drizzle on and off as we drove to Yellowstone. Because it seemed like the weather wasn't on our side, we canceled our campsite reservation and just spent the rest of the day exploring the park. It was absolutely amazing to me how many different type of landscapes were in that one park. From plains to mountains, geysers to canyons, thermal pools to salt like limestone mountains, it seemed like whatever you wanted to see and experience was in this park. The best part was that thanks to the rain a lot of the crowds cleared out and we could actually see everything up close. From watching Old Faithful erupt (with hot chocolate in hand), to walking right up to the thermal pools (which are made up of the most fabulous colors I'd ever seen) to taking pictures in front of the falls, when we finally hit the open roads of Wyoming and Montana, we couldn't help but feel as though we'd had the park to ourselves almost all day.

The Falls at Yosemite via courtney khail

aren't these awesome? Mammoth Hot Springs via courtney khail

After Yellowstone we drove north to Helena, Montana. I wasn't sure just what I was expecting, but it was friendlier than I imagined. Like super friendly. Even the waitresses at the little pizza place we slide into right before closing were super sweet! Of course that could have something to do with the fact I asked them what the easiest thing for them to make was and then after ordering that item, I offered to have it to go so they could go home. Apparently they appreciated that last part the most! I can't really give much more info on Helena (except that it is indeed pronounced Helen-a as opposed to He-lane-a) because we weren't even planning on stopping there until 7 hours earlier, but I can attest that the Holiday Inn Express there is super comfortable and that they don't judge when an obviously fresh from camping couple comes in at 9p with a last minute reservation. They even gave us water and snacks.

From there we went even further north the Glacier National Park, but that will have to wait until next week. Hope you've enjoyed the recap so far!

sunset in Montana via courtney khail

A side note for anyone driving in Montana during the summer: Apparently the summer means road construction (and A LOT of it.) I would time most of your driving to occur long before the sun begins to set. (I would have said at night, but then you'd miss the beauty that is Montana and that would be really unfortunate.) Anyhow, you want to have most of your driving done BEFORE sunset because once it starts setting, the dust from the never ending construction turns into a sun filled, blinding dust shield and you pretty much end up completely relying on faith that you are a) still on the road, b) won't hit a cow, and c) won't drive into the other lane and hit another car/semi. To be honest, it was a little terrifying at times, but there aren't really many options for roads out there so you just had to go with it and assume the drivers coming the other way stayed clear.

road trip recap part one

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on the road again (all photos via courtney khail)

Now that we've been back a little while, I figured it was about time to tell you all about our trip. Although I consider myself pretty well traveled (travel means a lot to both of us so we do our best to take at least one trip a year) I'd never actually seen the United States as a whole. Instead, I'd normally just fly out to a city, spend a few days and fly back. The back roads, the landscapes surrounding that specific city, the random places that make up the country that aren't really destination cities- well I had missed out on those parts and I wanted determined to change that.

I think I mentioned this earlier, but J. and one of his best friends took a 3 month road trip back in college and J. has wanted to do a similar one ever since. Luckily, after two years of planning, we were able to mesh together 6 weeks of vacation time as well as all of the equipment (since we would be camping too) and decided it was now or never. Of course we went with now. As for the recap, I'm going to break it down into different parts and I'll do my best not to ramble, but as we should all know by now- I'm not very good at that.

We left pretty much at the crack of dawn- hoping to cover as much ground as possible before the morning rush hour as well as make it to our hotel in Kansas before it was too dark. I can't say I remember too much of the first few hours (I was sleeping thanks to getting zero sleep the night before) but woke up roughly around Kentucky. I'd never been to Kentucky before and really wasn't expected too much, but holy cow it was beautiful. You know the paintings of lush green meadows and perfectly painted red barns? That my friends, is Kentucky.  It also happened to be in Kentucky where we saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.  I may have felt like a five year old, but I simply could not stop my excitement over this one. I believe we actually called a few people...

A few (record breaking) hours later, we were in St. Louis. Once again, never really thought much of St. Louis. To be honest, I just know it as where the Cardinals play and as an Atlanta Braves fan that didn't really get my too pumped up. The architecture though? It was beautiful. And the arch? Kind of breath taking. As in, we almost turned around just to stare at it. Only seeing it in photos, I figured there was just some fancy camera angles going on and that it wasn't really going to be all that huge. I was wrong. Apologies to St. Louis; you all have a really cool arch. J. and I kept trying to figure out how the elevator works- since there was no way it could just go at an angle all Willy Wonka/ Glass Elevator style- but as we were informed later, that is indeed exactly what it does.

We made it into Kansas some 12-14 hours after we initially left and from the moment we walked into the lobby of the hotel we knew it was a little different. Have any of you seen Cedar Rapids? Well the hotel was almost EXACTLY like that. (Well, minus the prostitute outside.) I could almost hear Ed Helms running around talking about it being "so lush." No lie, we had a water slide in the middle of the lobby surrounded by potted palm trees. It was hilarious. (Even more so after our 99 cent margaritas and cheap Mexican food from next door. Apparently it was "the place to go.") Note about Kansas- by far some of the nicest drivers in the country. It seems once you cross over the Mississippi River no one (and I mean no one) likes to go the speed limit let alone above it, but everyone in Kansas followed the "stay in the right lane and let people pass on the left" rule. It was marvelous.

The second day we made it to Fort Collins, Colorado and completely fell in love with the city. After spending some time looking at real estate, eating (wonderful) Italian food, and just walking around the downtown we felt pretty much at home (which is good, given that's the area we are planning to live in just a few months.) Everything is so beautiful out there and relaxed.

after taking the easy way up

After Fort Collins, we drove north to Jackson Hole. I know most people won't make this drive since you can fly directly into the city, but I would do it again in a heart beat. J. and I were in a constant state of awe thanks to all of the beauty surrounding us. And between the evergreens, the steep, green mountains, and the crystal clear rivers, it reminded us a lot of Switzerland and Germany. There were even little Swiss styled chalets that popped up every few miles! Once we arrived in the city, we decided to take the aerial tram to the top of Rendezvous Mountain and then the gondola lift to a mountain side bar. I'm not sure we'd do either again (we actually would summit a mountain so it's not exactly necessary) but if you are not like us and want to see the views without having to climb, I'd definitely suggest it. The views are mind blowing and in case you'd like to do a little hiking, there are two or three trailheads that start at the top. Just remember to bring a jacket because even in the summit it's barely 52 degrees and incredibly windy. As for the gondola ride to the bar- the views are beautiful, but it's really touristy. I'd suggest going to dinner at  Couloir instead if it's open (it wasn't when we were there.) Random fact, the town square has 4 entrances all framed with elk antler archways. They were so perfect I figured they were fake, but thanks to reading the handy plaques everywhere we found out they are actually collected each year.

don't they look a little too perfect?

The next morning we left for our first national park visit of the trip, but seeing that this post is already longer than planned- that will have to wait until next week!

studio sneak peek: commemorative road trip map

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both images via courtney khail stationery and design

Before I start recapping everything, I wanted to show you a little something I painted to commemorate our trip. I love the whole putting pins into a large map thing, but since this was more about the journey than the specific places, I thought it deserved something a little more special. Plus, I have a soft spot for maps so I figured why not bring in a fun colorful one?

Studio Sneak Peek: blackberries and wildflowers

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"Blackberries & Wildflowers" via courtney khail stationery and design (feel free to share but please credit my work and link back to my site.)

This is the last week of my new designs- I hope you've enjoyed getting to see them and learn a little more about how they came about!

While I love all of the new designs (like love love), there is something special about this one. Maybe it's because it's hand written, or maybe because it's so unique and colorful. Either way, I'm very pleased with it. Called "Blackberries & Wildflowers" it's the only design that incorporates fruit into the illustration. I have fond childhood memories of picking strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries, so when I started thinking of an entirely wildflower based, summery design, I knew I wanted to incorporate berries somehow. Their rich colors, their lip staining juices, their sweetness, their smells- they perfectly represent summer to me. I also wanted a the bouquet of flowers to seem like you just collected whatever looked pretty to you as you walked through a field.Similar to the bouquets you'd pick for your mom when you were out playing. (I'm not the only one who did that right?) One of each flower- maybe two, but a very loose and colorful assortment. After researching and drawing out tons of wildflowers, I put those sketches away and drew this one entirely from memory. I didn't want anything to look too specific because I wanted my illustration to remind everyone of some flower they've seen growing on the side of a road. (Looking back though, I can tell I was greatly influenced by the Cherokee rose, wild plum blossoms, lilacs, and wild violets- just in case anyone was curious.) Grouping them so closely allowed me to create a "thicket" of sorts- almost an imaginary berry bush of my own. Because it feels very homey to me (and not in a rustic, weathered way because I think this could be just as beautiful if done formally too- but in more of a comfortable, embracing kind of way) I decided the sample invitation should be hand penned. That way, when you received the invitation it would be just as though you were opening a letter from a good friend.

I hope you enjoy this one as much as I do and thank you again for letting me share my new designs with you! I hope you had as much fun as I did. In case you happened to miss any, here is the complete list:

Modern Daisy

Wild Peony

Lilac & Rose

Sweet peas & Peonies

Blackberries and Wildflowers

Studio Sneak Peek: Sweet peas and Peonies

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"Sweet peas & Peonies" via courtney khail stationery and design (feel free to share, but please give me credit and link back to my site.)

This is week four of my new design intros and this week the featured design is "Sweet peas & Peonies."

Okay so technically it's a ranunculus crossed with a peony, but one of the best things about being an artist is creative license and "sweetpeas & ranunculus" just doesn't roll off the tongue as well. Either way, I wanted a really dominant and sturdy center flower that would be framed and layered with more delicate blooms. After approximately 10-15 different takes, this is the one I finally decided upon. I love how the little blooms peak around the bigger "peony" and how one single stem branches out behind it creating both depth and height. Because it has a slight wave like feeling, I wanted to juxtapose that with an angular, graphic layout for the wording. By using different sans serif fonts and tweaking the spacing, I was able to create a save the date where both the information and the painting stood out without either part over shadowing the other.

Studio Sneak Peek: Lilac and Rose

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"Lilac & Rose" copyright courtney khail stationery and design (feel free to share, but please give me credit and link back to my site.)

Week three of my new design introductions is the design "Lilac & Rose." I love how unique the lilac is- the color gradients, the shapes, the "petite-ness" of them. While they all follow the same basic design (petal numbers, growth patterns, etc) there are such beautiful nuances in them. I wanted to balance those nuances with the familiarity of a common everyday rose. By playing with scale and deconstructing the plant, I was able to bring focus on the individual lilac blooms as opposed to the entire plant. Once I did that, I arranged them in an almost dance-like pattern around the rose in order to keep your eye bouncing around the composition instead of getting stuck in any particular section. And given that I'd already taken a lot of artistic leeway with the lilacs size and shape, I decided to go ahead and play with color as well- morphing the normal purple into a warmer magenta, then a purple-ish orange and finally into a yellow.

Since the design itself has a lot going on, I opted for a simpler, clean layout that focused on the names of the couple and utilized a lot of white space so your eyes wouldn't get overwhelmed.

Studio Sneak Peek: Wild Peony

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"Wild Peony" copyright courtney khail stationery and design (feel free to share, but please give credit and link back to my site)

This week's new design is the Wild Peony. Often I think people view peonies as a more luxurious, delicate flower (probably due to it's super short growing season and therefore they aren't locally available year round) but for this design I wanted to give it a more wild, "freshly picked from a garden" feeling. Kind of a mixed bouquet of sorts- with small delicate blooms combined with the lush peony and then juxtaposed against the hardness of the berries. I really enjoy seeing when different textures and unique pieces are combined in arrangements and decided to bring that into this design. (This is a common theme throughout my new designs so you may here that a lot over the new few weeks.) Not only does it bring visual interest, but it also creates more depth to the piece.

As for the invitation, one of my best friends got married at Boone Hall Plantation in South Carolina and I loved the entire feeling of the place. (There were gardens, tree lined drives, and huge green fields all on the water.) It had such a beautiful balance of the wild and the traditional so when I was designing thinking of where to take the invitation to showcase the "Wild Peony" design I knew I wanted to pull inspiration from that experience. Hope you enjoy it!

Studio Sneak Peek: Modern Daisy

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copyright courtney khail stationery and design (feel free to share, but please give credit and link back to this page or my site)

Like I promised last week, I will be debuting my new designs each Monday that we're away. First up is the Modern Daisy. I've loved Gerber daisies for forever and knew I wanted to create a design inspired by them. Only problem is that daisies can sometimes seem boring or childish if done wrong. So, instead of going to traditional route of illustrating from above so you would see all of the petals (you know, like how you first learned to draw a flower in elementary school) I decided to draw it from a upper left hand view. This way it's still recognizable, but combines both a side view and a view from above. Given that it's a more modern and artsy design, I decided to paint the gallery view of it using a calming cool palette instead of something more expected like red or yellow and paired it with two different very thin sans serif fonts. (Of course, as is the case with all of my designs, this can be painted in whatever color you prefer and if you are ordering invitations and would like a different font choice I'd be happy to do that as well.) What do you think?