Another family trip in the books! We went to Glacier National Park in Montana and spent a week both exploring and relaxing. The trip was planned by my MIL, so I can’t take any credit for finding the house or for any of it, really! Except packing up 2 small children and flying them across the country, which, TBH, is no small feat. But let’s get into our Glacier National Park Montana trip recap!

Where We Stayed

We flew from Asheville to Kalispell, which is the closest airport to Glacier. The house we stayed in was actually in Bigfork, MT, which is about 45 minutes to an hour away from the West Glacier entrance. Speaking of the house, I’m linking it right here for you since I got several DMs about it.  It was super quiet and peaceful, and the river being right out the back yard was so nice. Craig & his bros fly fished easily and Emma loved playing in the very shallow water with her cousin. It was super helpful in keeping kiddos occupied!

What We Did in Glacier

So before I get into the things we did in Glacier, I want to say you need to buy passes ahead of time as they sell out. From 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., a vehicle reservation is required for four areas of the park: Going-to-the-Sun Road, the North Fork, Two Medicine, and Many Glacier. In addition to a vehicle reservation, a park pass is required to enter the park. A vehicle reservation does not include a park pass, and the park pass does not serve as a vehicle reservation. We booked ours back in April for our August trip and things were selling out. You can book your reservations on this website.  I only did a couple hikes and there’s SO MUCH we didn’t get to see but here’s some of what we did.

Hidden Lake

The first hike we did was Hidden Lake.  It’s an easy-moderate out & back short hike (little under 3 miles round trip) with pretty views and a lake at the end. We saw a mountain goat on this hike (which was our only major wildlife sighting) and sadly it was pretty smoky the day we went, but still had beautiful scenery.  If you’re going to do this hike, you’ll park at Logan Pass parking lot. Plan to get there by 7am at the latest to ensure getting a parking spot. We were there by 7:30 and it was *insane*. We got lucky to find a spot but some people waited and looped for 30 minutes to an hour! Just do yourself a favor and avoid the stress, get there by 7am or earlier.  This is the same parking lot you’ll use if you choose to do the Highline Trail, which I’ll come back to.  You can also take the shuttles to these places, but we read the lines for the shuttles are long and they can take a while, so pick your poison I guess!

Trail of Cedars/Avalanche Lake

I loved this hike! It starts at the Trail of Cedars trailhead and then the Avalanche Lake Trailhead breaks off it of about 0.5 miles in.  From there it’s about 2 miles to Avalanche Lake and overall it’s not too difficult of a trek. I’d still say it’s easy-moderate relative to all the other hikes I’ve done in my life.  Everything is relative I guess Emma even hiked a good bit of it herself.  I carried Tegan in the backpack the entire time and was definitely tired by the end!  It’s worth it to see Avalanche Lake, it is stunning.

After this, we went to the Apgar Village near Lake Macdonald to get lunch.  There were beautiful lake & mountain views here!  You can rent kayaks and go out on the lake, too.

Highline Trail

So I actually did not do the Highline Trail, wah!  Craig & I had planned for months to do it, but since I had kind of hurt my back the first day we were in Montana, I thought maybe I shouldn’t do a 14 miler.  I had majorrrrr FOMO from missing this but Craig did it with his brothers and our SIL. I’m glad he was able to talk them into doing it since I couldn’t go with him. Here are some epic pics.  I’ll be honest, the one part I was relieved about is the narrow bit of trail (that drops off on one side) because I am scared of heights!  There is a rope to hang on to, but I know that part would have been hard for me to get through mentally, lol. I would have done it but it would’ve caused some anxiety! They said it was amazing though, so add it to your list. Note: you don’t have to do the full 14 miles, you can turn around and go back whenever you want if you want to make it an out & back hike.  The 14 mile option is if you hike from Logan Pass down to Loop Trail.  If you do that, you can catch a shuttle back up to your car.

Other Things to Do

I know, it’s weird I only did 2 hikes on a weeklong trip out to Montana, but it gets hard when you have 2 babies and a back injury to get out much more than that, ha. I didn’t mind having some relaxation time at the house in front of the river, and one day we went into Whitefish, which is a little town about 45 minutes away from Bigfork.  My cousin lives there, and so we went to meet her for lunch and we tooled around the town a little bit.  Emma requested some ice cream, so of course we did that too!  We went to Sweet Peaks and it was yummy.

Speaking of cute little towns, Whitefish gets a lot of press amongst the blogger crowds I’ve noticed, but downtown Bigfork is SO freaking cute.  And, my cousin that lives in Whitefish said that Bigfork actually has better restaurants, so there’s that. We ate at a lakefront brewery one night before walking around the town a little bit.

If you’re into fly fishing, there are so many different places to go. Craig and his brothers fished almost every day either at the house or they drove somewhere else.  I didn’t get details on that but if you need them just leave me a comment and I can track them down

In Closing

I think those were the highlights!  Def worth a trip, and I think if you can do it before you have small children, even better!! Lol but seriously, we made it work and I know Emma had an amazing time.  Tegan won’t remember but we have some awesome pics to show her one day!  On the topic of kids, we brought our own backpack carrier but since we only have one, we also rented one from Glacier Outfitters. You’re able to pick up and drop off at the airport which is very convenient. Hope that this Glacier National Park Montana Trip Recap post has been helpful!

If you enjoyed this post, you can also read my blog post from our trip to Utah/Zion National Park/Bryce National Park/Grand Canyon here!

xo,

Bess

The post Glacier National Park Montana Trip Recap appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

I am going to preface this entire blog post by saying that the reason we took this trip in the first place was to go to celebrate the wedding of one of my very best friends. And not only that, but the bride & groom planned basically of the details you’ll see in this post (with the exception of the last day, when we were on our own!) so I can’t take any credit for it!  That being said, we had a great time and they took care of everything so I’m happy to share in case you visit and use some of these ideas!

I’ll also share outfit links at the bottom of the post.

We flew into Palma Mallorca Airport and got in on Friday morning. We ended up renting a car after going back and forth and I think that was the right decision. We were told by someone who visits often that taxis are hit or miss so we got a car and it was nice to have!

The bride & groom rented out the entire Son Julia Country House for the long weekend and it was so beautiful. The rooms are stunning, it’s a very quiet hotel, the food was delicious, and the staff was all so super friendly. I haven’t a single bad thing I could say about it!

So on Friday we just hung around the hotel and had a little pool day, trying to beat the jet lag til we could go to sleep!! There are 3 pools on the property so it’s easy to find a spot to relax. There was a welcome dinner at the hotel that night.

Every morning the hotel had an awesome breakfast buffet and I took the opportunity to eat nutella croissants every day. We did this when we went to Italy so I had to try to recreate it haha. I love it with a cappucino, yum.

Saturday morning we all headed to the marina because the bride & groom rented a huge catamaran to take everyone out on a boat ride to lunch! We anchored for a bit before lunch and some of us took the opportunity to go for a swim in the Balearic Sea. The boat also had a bar…Aperol Spritz yes please!

Lunch was at PuroBeach and it was the best food of the trip and like, also maybe of life?? It was so good. We got basically everything on the menu and every single bite was amazing. Then after lunch we got back on the boat and headed back to the hotel! We had the rehearsal dinner to get ready for that evening!

The rehearsal dinner was at Ribas winery, yet another stunning location! They only do food for private parties of 10 or more, so just fyi on that. But regardless, I highly recommend going for a wine tasting. They absolutely had the best rose I’ve ever had…SO good. We wanted to buy a case to ship home but sadly they don’t do that. You can buy individual bottles but we didn’t have a way to get it back because we didn’t check a bag.

Sunday was wedding day!  Mostly just hung out with the bride in her suite, ate & drank, got ready…then it was showtime!

The wedding was beyond gorgeous, like straight out of a magazine.

Monday we checked out of the Son Julia and headed to Playa de Palma for our last night. We figured we’d change up the scenery a little bit and see the beach before we headed home! After we checked in we tried to go into Palma to see Old Town and the Cathedral, but it was SO SLAMMED packed we couldn’t even find a spot to park. If you want to see this, I recommend getting there early. There are parking garages but they fill up pretty fast.

We drove around trying to find street parking, but while we were (unsuccessfully) trying, it started pouring down rain. So then we pivoted our plans and decided to take a drive up the coast. We headed to Coll de Sa Gramola, which was a gorgeous drive up the mountains but with coastal views towards the top.

We also came across Restaurant Es Grau at the top and ended up having lunch there. The drive through the little towns and back down into Palma was a couple hours but it was so beautiful!

Back in Playa de Palma we took a walk down the boardwalk on the beach before winding down for bed. We ordered room service for dinner because we were so tired from the wedding the night before, & we had a 4am wake up call to get to the airport and head back to NC!

If you have any questions about the trip let me know in the comments!

SHOP THE POST:

xo,

Bess

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We just got back from our week-long Southern Utah vacation and I’m already ready to re-live it!  Judging by the amount of messages I got on Instagram about our trip, y’all are pretty interested in knowing all the details as well, so I am going to put everything we did, where we stayed, and more in this blog post.  I’d also like to state that I can take absolutely zero credit for any of the planning for this trip, ha.  We went with Craig’s family, and I think he and his mom did pretty much all of the planning for everyone…ha thanks y’all! We visited Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon National Park, the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and more.  Let’s get into it!

Travel to Utah

We rented this house in Kanab, Utah.  But before I get into more details about the house, let me tell you briefly about our travel day out to Utah.  From Asheville we flew to Las Vegas (with a layover in Charlotte) and we rented a car in Vegas.  Since we were traveling with a 2-year-old, we thought we should break the trip up for her, so that night we stayed in a hotel in Vegas.  The next morning we drove the 3.5 hour drive to Kanab!  It’s not the easiest to get to but it is worth it.  I’d definitely recommend staying at least a week though to make the haul of getting there more worth it!

The House

It was a gorgeous house and had insane views.  The sunsets were magical.  It was super private and quiet, and really came stocked with just about anything you’d need minus your food.  There’s a grocery store in town just a few miles away though!  At night the stars are UNREAL.  There’s such little light pollution out there that the night sky is so dark and the stars so bright.  You can very clearly see the Milky Way at night which is awesome. The first night there we saw six shooting stars and a meteor!  Each bedroom has its own bathroom, which is really nice.  One (minor) con would be that the rooms didn’t have dressers, so there was nowhere to unpack your clothes.  I like to fully unpack but we did the suitcase life for the week.  Not a huge deal, just a note.  There are a couple closets to hang some clothes if you need!

Our Itinerary

Friday: Flew to Vegas, stayed the night

Saturday: Drove to Kanab, got groceries for the week, & checked into the house!  By the time we did all that it was about 4:30pm, so we fed Emma and got her down early and we just hung out at the house waiting for the rest of the crew to arrive that evening.

Sunday: People were pretty tired from the travels the day before, so on Sunday we stuck close by the house.  We started the day with a hike straight out back of the property.  We did about 2 miles round trip just exploring that area.  Back behind the house is BLM land so it’s public and you can hike wherever you want.  That afternoon we went to a trail a few miles away to see dinosaur tracks.  It’s not a marked trail and it’s behind a weigh station, these Google reviews have better tips but I thought it was a pretty hard, albeit relatively short, hike to the top.  But cool to see actual dinosaur tracks.  After that we drove just a bit further and did the sand caves.  That hike is even shorter, probably a quarter mile, but it’s kind of tricky.  It’s up the side of a steep rock that is angled so I was a little worried about Craig with Emma in the backpack carrier, but if you just take your time you’ll be fine.

Monday: On Monday we drove to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.  It’s about an hour and a half away from Kanab and a beautiful scenic drive.  We packed lunches, ate when we got there, then we did the viewpoints and short 3 mile hike around the lodge there.  We also drove over to Point Imperial overlook which was an AMAZING view and just a short walk from the parking lot.

Tuesday:  On Tuesday the grandparents offered to babysit, so Craig, his brother, Troy, and I went and did the Paria River Canyon hike, which was about 45 minutes from the house.  We learned this is “close” when it comes to relative proximity in Southern Utah!  It’s a 14 miler in total through the canyon.  If you like to challenge yourself, this hike would do the trick.  Note: daily passes are required that you can buy online ahead of time.  It’s pretty flat the whole time, but it is the hardest flat hike I’ve ever done.  You go through a lot of thick mud and water throughout the hike (the amount of which is dependent on the weather and how much rain it’s gotten) so definitely prepare to get those shoes wet and dirty!  I just wore my trail running shoes that I wore to hike all week and they worked fine.  We ended up turning around at the 6 mile mark, so in total we did 12 miles.  Tips: bring a LOT of water for this hike.  You are in the sun 95% of the time and it’s very remote.  We started around 10am and we finished around 4pm.  On the way home, we stopped by Old Paria and you have to add this to your list!  It is beautiful to see!

Wednesday:  Wednesday we went to Zion National Park (about an hour and 15 minutes from the house) and spent the day there.  We did the Riverwalk hike to start (easy 2 miles round trip, paved the whole way) and then had lunch.  Next we did the Emerald Pools hike and saw the Upper, Middle, and Lower pools, which was about 3 miles round trip.  The hike to the upper and middle is more challenging; if you want to make it easy, just do the lower pool route.  It is paved and not difficult.  Note: get to Zion early.  We arrived at 10am and the main parking lot was full.  We found a pay-for-parking lot just outside the park and snagged a spot there before it filled up.  Also, prepare for a lot of people.  Zion is like the Disney World of the National Parks, and it is heavily visited but it is not really that big of a park.

Thursday: Back to Zion!  This time, we started outside the park, but rather booked an East Zion Adventures jeep ride to take us to the trailhead for Observation Point and hiked in.  This was probably my favorite day.  Since we were outside the park, we hardly saw ANY people.  Maybe a total of 15 other people the entire time.  I personally loved this hike, was relatively flat except a slight decline on the way down (so incline coming back up) with pretty forest and mountain views to start that open up into some really amazing canyon views as you get closer to Observation Point.  We had lunch up top (we stayed far back from the edge minus a quick picture opp, I was having major anxiety about my 2 year old being up there so I was basically velcro-ed to her the whole time.  The hike back was tough (it’s 7 miles round trip) and my body was really feeling that 12 miler from Tuesday, but I survived even carrying my toddler on my back Definitely recommend this hike, and it’s the BEST view.  I mean, people do Angel’s Landing (which is way too scary for me) for the view but Observation Point looks down on Angel’s Landing.  It gets my vote for sure!

Friday:  Friday we drove to Bryce (an hour and a half drive) and had planned to just do a few of the scenic overlooks but none of the hikes.  We were all pretty tired from the hikes the rest of the week.  The Park Rangers there said if we only did 2 things, we should do Inspiration Point and Bryce Point overlooks.  They didn’t disappoint!  On the way home we stopped at Bryce Canyon Pines Restaurant for lunch, which is about 3 miles outside the park.  They have really yummy daily homemade pies, so save room for desert!  Craig had the chocolate cream pie and I got the lemon and raspberry cream pie.  Both were delicious!

Saturday:  Travel day home!  Woke up at 4:45am, drove back to Las Vegas, flew back through Charlotte to Asheville and got home around 9:30pm.  Again, long travel day, but it was worth it!

Tips

-Restaurants in Kanab:  We mostly cooked meals at the house each night, but one night we tried to get take out.  Several restaurants were closed (this was on Thursday) and 2 others we called said they didn’t do takeout.  So, just know it might be hit or miss with the restaurants being open and/or doing takeout.

–Buy park passes ahead of time:  You don’t have to do this, but it makes for one less thing you have to do when you’re there.  Since we went into three different National Parks, it made sense to just do it ahead of time.

Outfits

Got several different requests for sharing my hiking outfits/gear, so I’m linking those items below!

There is SO MUCH MORE to see and do than what I’ve listed here, but hopefully this can give you an idea but if you plan on taking a trip out there, definitely do your research about things to do to make sure you’re doing the things that most interest you!

If you have any questions let me know

xo,

Bess

The post Southern Utah Vacation: Zion, Bryce, & More appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

Craig and I have gone to Blowing Rock to celebrate our wedding anniversary for the past 3 years and it’s just a perfect time of year for a little mountain getaway (I mean really when isn’t a good time for a mountain getaway?) but I received a lot of questions on Instagram about our trip so I figured I would compile an anniversary weekend recap and things to do in Blowing Rock, NC so you can reference!  I’ve also grown up going to Blowing Rock basically since I was born so it sorta feels like a second home to me.

Where to Stay in Blowing Rock

We have rented a different cabin every year so I guess you could say we are still in search of the “perfect” one.  We have a lot of requirements in that we want it to have a cabin vibe and decor, we need a fire pit, we would *love* a view, not too far from town and ideally we want it to be budget friendly!  We don’t limit ourselves just to Blowing Rock but are fine looking in surrounding areas like Boone, Banner Elk, & Valle Crucis.  We search Homeaway, VRBO, & Airbnb but my “trick” is to look on there first since their search functionality is best and then see which houses have property management companies running them.  I then go to those property management sites to check out the price there and potentially book.  The property management sites generally don’t have the fees that the sites like Homeaway & Airbnb do, so you can usually shave off a couple hundred dollars.  This past trip we stayed HERE (not on a property management site but was still a good price) and loved it. The only downside to this house is there are no real views (maybe in winter when the leaves are off the trees) but it’s a great location.  On the flip side, if you want incredible views, the cabin we stayed at last year has some of the best I’ve ever seen but it’s a little further out.  We had the most AMAZING sunrise there last year literally above the clouds.

Of course Blowing Rock and Boone both have hotels in town you can check out but we always prefer to get a cabin!

What to Do in Blowing Rock

There are a ton of things to do but I’m going to share what we love to do!  We always find a hike since we love hiking, and then we visit breweries & wineries and also like to just find time to chill out

Hikes in Blowing Rock

There are so many hikes in the Blowing Rock and Boone area but the one we did last weekend was the Daniel Boone Scout Trail.  It’s about 3.5 miles up to the top so over 7 miles round trip.  It’s relatively strenuous but not the hardest ever!  The Profile Trail is another really great hike that is challenging.  A middle of the road hike I like to recommend is the Fire Tower trail…it’s much less technical and about 4 miles round trip.  A shorter hike with great views is Rough Ridge.  It’s also nice to hike around Julian Price lake (more of a walk than a hike though).  Another one we like is the Rich Mountain hike which is another less technical trail but it’s about 6 miles round trip and pretty views at the top.  You can google any of these to find the trailhead location!  But again there are no shortage of hikes.  You’ll spot plenty of trailheads just driving along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Wineries & Breweries in Blowing Rock

Stopping by wineries & breweries in the area is another fun thing to do!  We went to Grandfather Vineyards last weekend and it was so lovely!  You can get a wine flight to try different kinds of wine without having to do the actual tasting, which is what we opted to do.  It’s pretty kid-friendly too which was nice since we had Emma with us!  Banner Elk winery is another one–they have lodging there as well which would make for a nice romantic getaway!

As for Breweries, Boone has a couple and we have been to the Appalachian Mountain Brewery a few times. It’s a fun spot!  You can find others here.

Other Things to See and Do

The Moses Cone Manor is a super popular tourist destination so be prepared for it to be busy, but it’s super pretty up there so I think it’s worth going to!  They have different trails you can walk around also.  It’s also right off the Blue Ridge Parkway so really close to other hikes and also to the Linn Cove Viaduct.  There are a few overlooks you can pull off for views along the parkway too so it’s just fun to drive down and see what you find!

Grandfather Mountain is another great stop and if you’re brave you can cross the swinging bridge!

If you have kids, and maybe even if you don’t, go to Tweetsie!  Here’s a super old picture of me & my grandfather when I was about 6 at Tweetsie.  I think this is one of those mirrors that stretches you out/makes you look all disproportional.  They have real train rides for kids and also in October they do nighttime Halloween Ghost train and do a Christmas ride also.  I haven’t been in many years but I’m thinking next year Emma will be able to enjoy it so we will probably be going again soon!

If you go in the winter you can check out App Ski Mountain, Beech Mountain, or Sugar Mountain for skiing & snowboarding.  You can go horseback riding and I also really like renting a canoe to go out on Julian Price Lake.  So peaceful and beautiful!

Where to Eat in Blowing Rock

Generally, since we are renting a cabin, we usually stop by the grocery store to cook things at home.  But if you’re a meat-eater, I definitely recommend the Game Keeper restaurant.  We ate their for our 1 year anniversary dinner and it’s really good + has great views and a cozy atmosphere.  Both Blowing Rock and Boone have plenty of restaurant options.  Recently we’ve eaten at The Town Tavern and Proper which is really good southern cooking.  Woodlands has really good BBQ.  You can get ice cream & fudge year round at Kilwin’s in Blowing Rock–nothing like an ice cream cone in the middle of winter…no really, everyone does it so no one will look at you like you’re crazy.  Grab a cone and walk across the street to the park!  You can get hot chocolate instead if that’s more your speed. The park is perfect for kiddos BTW.

I think this hits all the high points of things we usually do and things I think you could easily fit into a weekend trip visiting Blowing Rock and Boone!  If you have any questions for me feel free to leave them in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer!

SHOP THE POST:

xo,

Bess

The post Anniversary Weekend Recap & Things to Do in Blowing Rock, NC appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

We arrived around 10pm on Thursday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon.  It was so hard to leave!  We seriously had THE BEST weather imaginable.  Mid 70’s and sunny each day.  We were able to get a couple of workouts in, and we also booked ourselves massages — prenatal massage for me and deep tissue for Craig — which was such a good decision!  We stayed on the resort the entire time and ate our meals from the restaurants on site! The Carolina Room was our fancy dinner one night and we had the BEST shrimp & crab linguine there has ever been.  SO GOOD.

Lots of yummy food, beautiful views, and relaxing beach/pool time.  I was definitely a happy girl!  I wanted to share my pictures from the weekend with you here.  Commence photo dump below

I would definitely recommend this spot for any vacay including a babymoon!  We saw a handful of other expectant couples there this weekend so clearly it’s a good spot.  We are excited to go back one day!

Until then, we are relaxed & ready for miss Emma to join us… (but not *too* early!!)

xo,

Bess

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If you missed the first 3 posts of our Italy trip, you can read them here:

• Part 1: Florence & Tuscany
• Part 2: Rome
• Part 3: Capri, Positano, & the Amalfi Coast

Click here for a PDF of our itinerary.

The last bit of our trip we spent nearby to Naples where we had our “home base” with our friends that currently live there. They had off one day so we all rented a boat and had a fun boat day! We took it out and drove it over to Ischia to float around.  We swam around, floated, had some laughs, practiced our back flips (okay that was just me) and had some fun in the Italian sun.  I wish we had more time we could have spent the night in Ischia, it seems like such a beautiful island!

The next day Craig & I headed over to Pompeii from Naples via a taxi.  It was kind of nice, our sweet taxi driver drove us over there, then just hung out and waited for us to be done, then he took us back! That made getting there easy for sure. It was like a flat rate of 90 euro or something along those lines.  I’m sure there may be cheaper options out there, but this was worth the convenience factor for us on day 11 of traveling in another country.  I know I was definitely getting tired at this point.

One thing that really surprised me about Pompeii was how BIG it was.  I’m not sure why but in my mind’s eye I just pictured this tiny little town.  It was a big city!

The ruins are truly amazing to see.  It’s all still so much in tact for how old it is, you can really get a good idea of what it must have been like in it’s glory.  I think it was probably such a beautiful place.  Which makes sense, since it was a popular vacation spot for ancient Roman citizens.  So we heard that the city was not as populated as it could have been since it wasn’t a full-time home for many of the people.

In that last picture above you can see Mount Vesuvius in the background.  It’s in a few other pictures above as well but you can just see how close it was to the city.

The entire town is like a giant maze.  We only were able to see a small portion of it on foot in 2 hours.  I mean it’s WAY bigger than I realized.  We didn’t do a tour or anything because we just wanted to walk around and explore on our own time and at our own pace.

You can read more about Pompeii here.  The video at the top of the article doesn’t have the best graphics, but it does give a good idea of how intense the eruption was.  Around 2,000 people died from “extreme heat”…basically the air was so hot they died instantly when they took a breath.

It was definitely a cool place to see and I wish I had more energy that day to really explore it more.  But we had very little downtime in Italy to see as much as we could, so I was exhausted by the end of it.  But I do recommend Pompeii and I’m happy that we went!

If you have any questions on it let me know!

We finished our trip to Italy with a couple of our best friends, pasta, & gelato.

A perfect ending to our perfect trip!  Cheers to hoping we get to go back someday

Have you ever been to Pompeii? What did you think??

xo,

Bess

The post Italy Trip Part 4: Ischia & Pompeii appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

• Part 1: Florence & Tuscany
• Part 2: Rome

Click here for a PDF of our itinerary.

Then click those links above and check them out!  This post is going to cover our days in Capri, Positano, and the Amalfi Coast.

Thursday morning we woke up in Naples and took an early ferry over to Capri.  It was about a 45 minute ride and Craig & I both fell asleep on the way over to Capri!  When we arrived it was just the most beautiful morning you could imagine.  The water sparkles like it’s full of diamonds and it’s the prettiest blue color.

We stayed at Relais Maresca, which was super convenient because it was right at the marina! So we didn’t have to lug our bags around.  Again our main goals with where we stayed was that the location was good and it wasn’t too expensive.  We really liked our spot!  There was a beach right out front, and we were only steps from the funicular that takes you up to Capri town.  Yes it was in a busy spot, but it wasn’t loud and at night everyone has gone home so it’s quiet!

Anyways when we got there we dropped our bags at the hotel and then immediately took the funicular up to Capri town.  It’s only about 2 euro round trip per person and is about a 5 minute ride.  Easy!  Not to mention you get the most beautiful views as you go higher & higher!  We meandered around town and stopped to get breakfast at a little cafe since we hadn’t had anything to eat yet.  Naturally I got a chocolate croissant & a cappuccino! It gave us plenty of energy to get yet more steps in as we walked all over Capri!

It is the prettiest place!!

For the next few hours we walked and explored, took pictures, and then finally ended up a few miles away on the far side of the island.  We were looking to see Arco Naturale, and just before we got there we stumbled upon this little restaurant with the prettiest views!  By this point it had been a few hours since we last ate, and it was hot.  I was sweating from all the walking (and all the stairs!) we did on this trail around the island so finding a place to sit & have lunch was great.  We each had an Aperol spritz and then I got the Caprese con Bufala salad and C got pasta.  Then we continued on to the Arco Naturale…it was just right around the corner

After that we walked back through town and headed back to the hotel.  We wanted to relax and have a little beach time so that’s what we did!

That night we had dinner plans so we went upstairs to the rooftop of the hotel for a little pre-dinner drink first before walking to the restaurant.   We ate at Da Paolino Restaurant and y’all…the ceiling is entirely made of Lemon trees!! It’s so dreamy.

There’s also a dessert bar there where you can eat everything you want…which we took full advantage of, but Craig and I split it so we only had 1 plate for the both of us. He volunteered me to carry this large plate full of dessert back through the restaurant to our table…LOL.  I got a view looks from other patrons but I’m going to just go with they were looking at how good the desserts were and not judging me for how many I had on my plate;)

We walked back home as well and it was so pretty to look out over the water at night.  Capri is definitely something special.

The next morning we got up early so we could have breakfast up on the terrace, then we took a bus to Anacapri so we could ride the chair lift up to Monte Solaro, the highest peak on the island!  I was a little nervous about this because I’m scared of heights and the chair lift is literally just single chairs so I couldn’t even sit next to Craig.  But I’m glad I did it, even though it takes you up really high, the chair lift itself is never really all that high off the ground.  Like, if you fell you wouldn’t die.  Ha so definitely do it if you go!!

Literally above the clouds up there!!

After that we headed back to the hotel to pack up and get on our next Ferry to Positano.  It was only about a 25 minute ride so really quick!

Once we were there, we plugged into Google Maps how to get to our hotel because we had no idea! Google maps apparently tries to always find the quickest/shortest route somewhere, even if it’s the hardest and up a million steps!!! Because that is what we did. We arrived at our hotel, Hotel Villa Gabrisa, drenched in sweat.  Those people were SO sweet and once we told them how we got here they were like “oh nooooo!” and explained that they could have picked us up when we got off the ferry AND that there’s a much easier way to get around.  The kind girl at the front desk took out a map and highlighted where we should go and how to get around.  Make it super easy on us from there on out!  Not to mention they gave us a glass of champagne when we arrived, that also helped!

We LOVED this spot.  We got one of the attic rooms, because they are less expensive than the other rooms (which I caught glimpses of as we walked by, and they were quite grand!) but it was seriously so perfect and our favorite room!  It had it’s own little terrace with a table & chairs, and the room, bed, and bathroom were all very comfortable.

Once we finished our champagne, we decided to go find some food.  We headed to Hotel Poseidon and their restaurant, Il Tridente, for lunch.  The views in this very spot, y’all, are just breathtaking!! Hotel Poseidon is really in a great location, because it’s not so far out of the way from the shops and beach and it’s still an easy walk, but high up enough where you get a really spectacular view.

They were kind enough to let us hang out by the pool for a couple of hours after lunch…it was definitely nice to kick our feet up!  We would love to stay at Hotel Poseidon if we ever go back because of it’s great location & the fact it has a pool!!

Although we were very comfortable by the pool, we decided to venture down the road a bit more towards the beach.  We stopped in some of the little shops on the way there and finally just perched at a spot on the free public beach area.  The sand was SO hot…be sure you have sandals or something if you go in the summer!!

We only stayed down by the ocean for 30 minutes or so and then we decided to head back up to our hotel.  It was almost cocktail hour, after all, and we each were craving an Aperol spritz.  They are just so refreshing!!

Another evening came when we had dinner reservations (originally at Terrazza Cele) and we ended up just staying right there at our hotel for dinner.  I mean look at this view?! We didn’t need anything else.

We also ended dinner with THE BEST dessert I maybe have ever had in my life.  This is a lemon cake (the Amalfi coast is known for it’s lemons!) and it was so good I felt like I was in heaven.  I have always loved lemon desserts so this was perfect.  Even Craig agreed it might have been the best thing we ate on the entire trip.

We stayed at our table until it was dark, and then we headed back up to the room to relax.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, walked around some, took some pictures, and then our friends came to pick us up so we could go hike the Path of the Gods.  We drove a lot of the Amalfi coastline which is sort of terrifying (windy roads on the side of steep cliffs) but the views were great.

After the hike we drove further to Ravello to stop there for lunch & to explore.  Such a cute little town!  I had read another blogger write about the Belmond Hotel Caruso and how you should go there for lunch, because of the views and the amazing pizza.  So I offered that up to our group and people were cool with it.  Oh man do I regret that.  It’s a STUNNING hotel, very fancy, and the views are amazing, don’t get me wrong.  But we felt SO out of place there…in our hiking clothes.  I could just feel people’s eyes on us in that sort of “why are you here” kind of way.  The guests I mean, not the staff… I should clarify that.  The staff were very kind to us.  Oh, but then we got the menu…a single margherita pizza was 24 euro.  24 EURO!? IS THE CRUST GOLD? Like what? We had been eating 4 euro pizza in Naples.  This was crazy.  I wish that previous blogger would have more explicitly stated that while the pizza is good, you might have to take out a loan to eat it.  LOL.  Anyways, I guess “expensive” is a relative term.  So we ended up just splitting 2 pizzas between the four of us.

It felt much more comfortable once we had left and were back to meandering around town…we even got street Aperol spritzes.  There are no open container laws in Italy (at least no where we went) and I have to say I don’t believe the Italians take full advantage of this.  I never saw anyone walking around with an adult beverage! But we took advantage of it.

In case you’re wondering what’s in an Aperol Spritz, it’s Aperol, prosecco, and soda water.  So pretty light & bubbly!

It was a beautiful day!  That night we headed back to Naples and our friends grilled out burgers for us.  It was a perfect dinner!

In the next (& I think last) part of our trip recap, I will cover more about Naples, Pompeii, and our boating day to Ischia!  See ya then!

xo,

Bess

The post Italy Trip Part 3: Capri, Positano & The Amalfi Coast appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

Click here for a PDF of our itinerary.

To pick up where I left off after that post, we took the Italo bullet train back from Florence and we got off in Rome, and our friends headed back to Naples because they had to work Tuesday-Friday.  We were lucky they had off for Memorial Day, allowing us an extra day over the weekend with them!  So Craig & I got off at the Roma Termini station.  From there we bought a 48 hour pass to the metro, and got on the next one up to our stop, which was the Spagna stop.  We got off and little did we know, that stop put us right there at the Spanish Steps!  So that was unintentionally the first thing that we saw.

We walked about 4-5 blocks to our hotel, which I found on a flash sale at booking.com, called La Maison D’art Spagna.  I really didn’t know where we should stay when I booked, generally the theme for the places I picked where that the price wasn’t through the roof and it appeared to be walkable on the map to the sights we wanted to see, or at least centrally located.

It was a really nice hotel in an old palazzo, and we had a view of the top of the Spanish Steps!  We had a small room but it was all we needed.  We were only in there when we were sleeping anyways

When we arrived it was close to dinner time, so we changed and headed to find a good spot to eat! Going into Rome, we had two places already picked out with reservations, but once we were there we were just more in the mood to walk and explore, so that’s what we did!  We passed so many cute places but were looking for just the right ambiance. We found a small place on the corner of cobblestone streets with white lights strung up on the trees outside called Il Bacaro Vini & Cucina.  We got a very private and romantic table in the corner of the restaurant, ordered a bottle of wine, a shrimp appetizer, and pasta for dinner of course.  I got a mushroom tagliatelle and Craig got ravioli with bacon inside.  Then of course we ordered dessert and decided to split a tiramisu.  Well it came out in a cup!  Their take on a tiramisu.  It was still delicious!

On the way back to the hotel we walked a bit more and decided to go check out the Spanish Steps at night. Luckily they were a little less crowded and so beautiful with the lights on them!

The next morning we were up early to try and beat crowds at some hot spots.  Trevi Fountain was up first, it was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel and we got there around 7am.  There were some people but it was manageable to get some pictures without others in them, which I considered a victory!

From there we continued walking until we saw the Colosseum in the distance.  Y’all, this really took my breath away.  It was my favorite touristy thing we did in Rome.  It’s just so cool and big and old!  We got tickets for a guided tour (I recommend this and you get to skip the line) to the Colosseum as well as the Roman Forum.  Here are some of my pictures:

After spending a few hours on our feet in the heat, we were ready to sit down and get some food in our bellies.  I had been given a recommendation for Mimi e Coco so we headed there via foot (told y’all we walked a TON) and on the way there we passed the Pantheon.  We were too hungry to stop, so we went to lunch first and then came back by there afterwards.

More pasta & wine! This was some of the best pasta of the trip.  I just got the spaghetti pomodoro, basic as it gets but wow….SO GOOD.

Pantheon came next…

Then we walked through Piazza Navonna…

By this time it was around 4pm or so, and we were ready to head back to the hotel for a quick rest and recharge before dinner.  We also really needed to shower…it was pretty hot out and we had been walking around since before 7am!  We ended up showering and passing out for a little nap.  30 minutes was all we needed and it felt so good.  We got up and ready for dinner and yet again had another reservation that we cancelled so we could walk around and explore   The good news is, if you go to Rome, don’t feel pressure to find reservations. There are SO MANY restaurants that you can easily just walk around and find something!

We really thought the Piazza Navonna area was really pretty so we walked back that way and found a little place on the side of the street called Osteria dell’Anima.  We each got an Aperol Spritz and ordered pizza.  It was pretty good but nothing to write home about.  I think we were in such a touristy area that the places around there are probably not the best in terms of being really authentic, from scratch type places.  But hey we were starving and it’s hard to give me a pizza I don’t like, haha.

After dinner we walked MORE (lol) around and found ourselves at the River right after a storm had passed. It was so pretty and peaceful!

Then we headed back to the hotel and passed out.  We aren’t big “nightlife” people but I hear the nightlife in Rome is great, if that’s your thing.  I just don’t have any recs in that department.

The next day was our last day in Rome and we had to check out of our hotel, meaning we had to figure out something to do with our bags.  We found a bag drop place near the Roma Termini station and took the train there to drop them, then we got back on the train to head to the Vatican!

Oh my gosh, y’all.  The Vatican was madness.  PURE CHAOS.  The Colosseum was nothing compared to this crowd (we later found out that the Pope had just spoken about 30 minutes before we arrived, hence the millions of people) so we found a place to buy another guided tour.  This time, I personally would not recommend it.  We got a tour of the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica.  The museum portion was downright painful.  It went on and on and on.  So many people packed into such tiny spaces…I personally don’t care about the art that much so I was not enjoying it.  And poor Craig’s headset went out so he couldn’t even hear what they were talking about.  We finally came to the Sistine chapel (no photography is allowed inside) and while it’s impressive, I did find it to be a little underwhelming.  It may be because I was so overwhelmed with all the people, and again I’m just not that into the art.  It is impressive that one man did all of it so long ago, certainly.  I found the Statue of David to be much more impressive, personally.

Then finally we came to St. Peter’s Basilica.  This is the part I would recommend doing.  Just get right in line (be there early!!) or get a tour of this.  Wow is it impressive.  Also side note–since it’s a sacred place, it is not allowed to show your shoulders OR your knees.  If you go, plan to bring a jacket to cover your shoulders and possibly consider wearing a maxi dress or something long to cover your knees to be respectful.  As a Catholic I did feel a really strong connection with this space and I truly enjoyed seeing it.

Again after all of this we were exhausted and found the first place for food.  More pasta

And gelato of course!

Then we ventured back to Roma Termini to get our bags and get on our Italo train back to Naples.  We were spending the night with our friends before heading to the Amalfi Coast.  More on that in Part 3!

xo,

Bess

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I’d love to say we had a direct flight from Charlotte to Naples, Italy, but that’s not a thing.  Lol.  I’d also love to tell you that we just had one layover in Rome.  But I was planning to use my credit card points to pay for the flight (I’d been stocking up so I had plenty) but all the flights from America to Naples were connected through JFK.  An excited & wine-induced flight selection process landed (no pun intended) us with a round trip flight from JFK-Naples, and then we had to get additional flights from Charlotte to JFK.  It wasn’t terrible, but definitely wasn’t the most efficient travel process.  It was pretty cheap, though   I will say our experience on Alitalia (the flights were operated by Alitalia to Italy) was excellent.  It was a very comfortable flight, we had personal TVs… I watched 4 full movies on the way there and back including Justice League, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, The Greatest Showman, and Inception.  I had also brought my laptop and downloaded the full season 3 of New Girl so we watched plenty of those as well.  No I didn’t sleep.  More on that later.  Alitalia gives each passenger a blanket and neck pillow and they served full dinner towards the beginning of the flight there (since it was a red eye) and then breakfast towards the end.  Most people slept but I was awake through the red eye.  I thank the kind a-hole in front of me for reclining their seat so far back they were basically sitting in my lap.  We should have shared an airfare they were so close.  On principle I won’t recline my seat and I don’t think any seats should be able to recline.  It allows for the comfort of one passenger at the expense of another and I’m against it.  Anyways I digress.  The rest of the flight was really enjoyable and on the way back the person in front of me did not recline

Anyways, I think the strategy to beat jet lag is to just power through staying awake and then going to bed at night wherever you’re going.

So after we were awake for well over 24 hours, we landed in Naples around 11am.  Our friends picked us up in their cute little Alfa Romero hatchback (so Italian of them!) and we went back to their apartment, had some champagne, rose, meat & cheese for lunch, then explored around Naples that afternoon, including this castle and these views.

We grabbed gelato at one stop, grabbed an Aperol spritz at another stop, and on our last stop before making our way back to their place was for dinner.  Pizza   and more wine of course.  This will be a theme of the trip…sorry not sorry!  So by 9pm, Craig and I hadn’t slept for something like a day and a half so we passed right out.

FLORENCE

The next day we were up to catch a train to Florence! We took the Italo bullet train from Naples to Florence, and it was a little over a 2 hour ride.  Very smooth, the train has WiFi, and they serve you beverages and a little snack.

When we got to Florence, it wasn’t quite time to check into our AirBnB yet, but the host had arranged for us to be able to pick up the keys and store our bags at a Keesy location which was really convenient so we didn’t have to lug our bags around!

From there we went to this huge market in Florence and grabbed lunch.  I had grilled calamari & tuna tartare, and a glass of white wine! It was a warm day and the cold, crisp wine was so good.  After lunch we walked around more, and went and saw the Statue of David.  I honestly was so impressed by it.  It’s a huge statue and so impressive that Michelangelo did it when it was only 26 years old, from a single block of marble.  It’s 17 feet tall in case you’re wondering.  PS- We had one day in Florence so we sort of just tried to weight our options of what to see based on what time we had.

More walking around after that, and then found a cute little spot for a quick little appetizer & bottle of rose for an afternoon snack, followed by a walk to another spot for an Aperol spritz.  We sure did drink a lot this trip but we also walked over 20k steps every day so it all balanced out

Later that afternoon we finally checked into our AirBnB before dinner.  Craig & I passed out for about 30 minutes.  Nap & rally!  Dinner we went to a recommendation given to me by a friend, called Acqua al 2.  It was so good!  We split two bottles of wine between the four of us, a white to start and then a red with dinner.  We shared the pasta sampler plate and then each couple shared the steak sampler.  It had a blueberry glazed Florentine steak as well as a balsamic glazed one…which might have been my favorite meal of the whole trip. SO GOOD.  And then we split the dessert sampler, obviously.  Samplers all day!! Haha.

After dinner I realized that my throat was hurting.  I tried to ignore it, but sure enough it was the start of a cold that I had for the next 6 days (sad) and that Craig caught after me.  I think it was the person that sat in my lap on the flight to Rome…they were sneezing the whole time.  Womp Womp.  But I was not going to let a cold get in the way of my fun.

There is so much of Florence we had to leave unseen, but when you’re trying to fit as much of one country into less than two weeks, you’ve gotta kind be all over the place.  The next morning we got in our little rental car and headed up to Tuscany!

TUSCANY

(You can find my dress here)

Again, a huge area that we did not have enough time to spend many days in (although if we go back, that is definitely what I’ll do!) and we went to Capezzana Estate Winery and also stayed in their recently renovated accommodations, which is in this old beautiful building in the village.  The rooms are beautiful, big bathrooms, quiet area, but be advised if you go in the summer… no AC   Or if they had it, it wasn’t yet turned on for us and no internal controls.  We just slept with the windows open.

We did a wine tasting that day and they gave such generous pours of wine, we sat outside and tried all the wine they had before we got ready for dinner.  We ate dinner on the patio overlooking this incredible view!

Breakfast was also one of my favorite meals, and for sure the best croissant I ate the entire trip (and I ate a LOT of croissants).  You better believed I slathered Nutella all over that bad boy.

After breakfast we checked out and headed back to Florence to return the rental car and get back on the train.  Craig and I were heading to our next stop and would be getting off the train in Rome, while our friends headed back to Naples so they could go back to work for the week.

The next post will cover our 2 days in Rome! Stay tuned!

xo,

Bess

The post Italy Trip Part 1: Florence & Tuscany appeared first on Bess Harrington Carter.

This past weekend Craig & I headed down to Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina for a little beach camping adventure!  That picture above is heading into the park…absolutely ZERO filter on that picture.  It was SO stunning.  And we saw a couple alligators in the water…eep!

We got down there just before sunset so we had the prettiest sky and evening.

t-shirt | shorts | wrap bracelet

After snapping a few pics and watching the sun go down, we headed in to find our campsite and set up our tent!

I’ll be honest Craig does most of the work here   He got our fire going as well and then we had a little bourbon by the fire before calling it a relatively early bedtime!

The moon was so gorgeous & full both nights.

The next morning we awoke pretty early around 7am and finally got to see our campsite in the full day light!

Craig made us coffee & eggs for breakfast.  Yes he does most of the work.  I assist where I am needed, but he is the pro

After breakfast we headed down to the beach for the day!!

We packed salads to have for lunch and some snacks and basically just had a chill day lounging on the beach.  There were hardly any other people out there…felt like we had it to ourselves!

Then at around 4:30 we got our happy hour on down by the ocean.  There are few things in my life that I love better than a happy hour in front of the waves.  Hard to beat!

I know y’all love my hat & sweater combo, ha! One of my more stylish looks.  My face had gotten enough sun and the wind was starting to blow harder as it seems to always do in the afternoons at beaches in the Carolinas.

We had some Miraval Vintage Rosé, which we agreed is some of the best rosé we have had!!  Plus some cheese & crackers.  YUM.  We finished the wine AND all the cheese & crackers

This pretty beach blanket is from Wakened Apparel.  Y’all should check them out because each purchase made gives back to charity.  When you make the choice to purchase one of their items, you are choosing to make a positive impact in our world!

Through the purchase of this blanket specifically, you are helping Pets in Need’s mission to advance the no-kill movement in shelters + provide lasting love to homeless pets. Giving animals a chance of being adopted and a chance at a loving home for the rest of their lives. A simple act of a purchase can change the life of an animal who needs a better life.

They have blankets, tops, and more.  My tee below is also one of theirs!  You can read about what charity the purchase of this t-shirt helps here!

Saturday night Craig grilled us some steak and we steamed broccoli and sliced up some avocado for dinner.  Camping eats can still be really delicious!!

The next morning we slept in a bit longer, and around 8am we got up, packed up camp, and headed to Starbucks for some coffee as we headed back to Charlotte.

It was such a fun weekend and I always love being able to spend time at the beach

Have you ever been beach camping?! When & where?  Next time I wanna find a campsite actually ON the beach so we can see the ocean the whole time! We’ve already been scouting some spots.

PS, if you like reading about my adventures, you should DEFINITELY check out this post: Backpacking Havasu Falls

xo,

Bess

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