Tag: aura

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An Energy Cleanse For The Home

With the new moon, brings out with the old and in with a brand new energy to begin manifesting. Placing this new energy within the home with intention can help you to achieve that energy within you with ease and keep your vibration high.

We spend a lot of time in our homes, especially right now. We retreat to our home for comfort within difficult times and that energy can get stuck there if we do not cleanse it.

Negative energy from a stressful day, sadness, an argument or just a weird, bad vibe can get stuck in stagnant air flow and dark spaces. So be sure not to miss one area of the home.

Use these spiritual tools to cleanse your home and diffuse it of negative energy, as well as amplify new energy –

  • Create an aura of peace in whichever way you please. I like to light candles, turn off lights and light incense.
  • Place black tourmaline stones in purified water and Himalayan sea salt in the four corners of the home. If you have enough black tourmaline, place them in the four corners of each room.

Black tourmaline is a powerful negative energy diffuser. Purified water and Himalayan sea salt together will cleanse and charge up the energy of the powerful black tourmaline crystals.

  • Place a selenite tower or clear quartz tower in the center of the home and use selenite wands to connect the black tourmaline from the corners of the home to the tower.

Selenite and clear quartz are both crystal energy enhancers. Placing them in a crystal grid, as mentioned, will amplify the energy of the black tourmaline and the energy of your own intention throughout the home with tremendous power!

  • Use a sage smudge stick to cleanse the home of negative energy. Cleanse with intention, take your time as it should be a meditative practice. Use affirmations as you cleanse to rid negative energy and effectively set a new intention in the home. You can use affirmations customized to the energy of each room, such as, “I banish all negative energy from this space, no negative energy is allowed here. I replace any negative energies with an energy of love, inspiration and compassion…” ect. Also be sure to spend extra time in the spaces you spend the most time.

You can leave your crystal grid up for as long as you’d like! It will help the energy to amplify within the space, just be sure to charge them on the full moon, as they have been diffusing much energy within the home.

If you don’t wish to leave all your selenite and quartz up, you can leave your black tourmaline in easy to hide places of the home that needs an energy balance.

One of my favorite stores that I use for spiritual tools is House of Intuition.

Happy New Moon, Happy New Energies 🙂

Dive deeper into crystal knowledge and develop a deeper understanding as to which crystal you need in your life to manifest intentions, based off which chakras you need balanced.

Manifest with the energy of the moon, learn the Laws of the Universe, principles of manifestation, discover your hidden subconscious beliefs and rewrite those stories to manifest effortlessly.

Connect, ground yourself within the Universe and change your energetic being to a higher vibration.

Enroll In My Moon Manifestation Course

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How To Strategically Place Your Crystals In Your Home

When you first dive into the crystal life, you likely are to buy a bunch of small crystals of all different sorts because of all the excitement!

But after a while, when you’ve developed an understanding of how crystals and their energies work, you’ll find that your citrine really doesn’t pair well energetically with your aquamarine.

You’ll feel less of a need to buy a bunch of little crystals of all sorts of colors and more of a need to buy larger crystals that compliment another crystal well.

So to start you off, I want to give you some pointers as to which crystals to put in certain spaces of the home that you may be needing more aligned energy within.

The Bedroom –

Rose Quartz, Selenite and Amethyst pair phenomenally together in spaces such as the bedroom.

This is because these stones are subtle and soothing. Rose quartz is a stone for compassion, love within yourself. Amethyst will connect you further with your intuition and can supply you with lucid dreaming.

Selenite, I believe to be great for all spaces, as it is a negative energy diffuser, it charges other crystals within it’s environment and can provide a sense of peace and enlightenment.

Selenite Charging Plate

Other great crystals for the bedroom are Scolecite, a strong promoter of good sleep. Moonstone, a feminine energy stone that can connect you to your feminine energy and promote calm.

Blue crystals such as blue lace agate and aquamarine can be good for the bedroom as well. Depending on the energy you wish to invoke. These crystals promote peace and tranquility as well as good communication.

Your Work Space –

Crystals that you wish to have in your work space depends on the kind of work you do within that space and the energy you wish to give it.

Vanadanite is a great stone for almost all work spaces, as it promotes the energy of productivity, accomplishing goals and is a root chakra balancing stone. The root chakra is all about stability, security and grounding.

Some other great stones for the work space are citrine, which has a strong energy related to creativity.

Smokey quartz is a powerful negative energy diffuser, great if any space may promote feelings of stress.

Citrine Crystal

Living Spaces (Dining Room + Living Room) –

Common living spaces such as the dining room and living room, or wherever you seem to spend most of your time with friends and family, are often overlooked when it comes to placing crystals with purpose.

These places are important. Depending on which energy you’d like to promote, here are some crystal energy suggestions for these spaces.

Blue Chalcedony and Sodalite are both amazing stones for common living spaces where people tend to hang out. These crystals promote open communication, speaking your truth and joy.

Many blue crystals will promote peace and open communication, as it is a throat chakra balancer.

Powerful negative energy diffusers are great for these spaces as well, such as black tourmaline, shungite and black kyanite.

You can also place yellow stones, such as natural citrine and yellow sapphire to promote happiness!

Aqua Aura Quartz

I always recommend placing clear quartz throughout the home as well, as this amplifies the energy of crystals as well as diffusing negative energy throughout.

If you place your crystals within your home with intention, amplifying this energy is powerful.

Try these crystal placements and let me know what you think! 🙂

Dive deeper into crystal knowledge and develop a deeper understanding as to which crystal you need in your life to manifest intentions, based off which chakras you need balanced.

Manifest with the energy of the moon, learn the Laws of the Universe, principles of manifestation, discover your hidden subconscious beliefs and rewrite those stories to manifest effortlessly.

Connect, ground yourself within the Universe and change your energetic being to a higher vibration.

Enroll In My Moon Manifestation Course

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Crystal and Chakra Balancing

I find there are far too many spiritual explanations for crystals and it can seem overbearing, like there is far too much information to take in to feel like anyone can fully understand crystals and their properties.

I have a rule of thumb for all crystals, there are TONS of them, so it’s hard to expect anyone to know every single one of them. But as long as I know the color, I know the chakra it balances, and therefore I can get a basic understanding of what the crystals spiritual properties are.

That being said, each crystal does have other properties aside from just the simple chakra balancing portion, but this is a good rule of thumb to go by, when you don’t have the handy internet or crystal book around when trying to understand the crystal in your hands.

Sage + Crystal Cleansing Kit (Includes all chakra stones)

Understanding the basics of chakras :

Chakras are energy centers within the body, aligning with the spine, from the tailbone to the top of the head. These energy centers vibrate to a certain frequency that aligns with certain energies within many things on Earth, especially crystals. Each chakra also has a color that represents and therefore balances that chakra.

Let me break this down simply.

Root Chakra (color red) – This chakra is located at the base of the spine and is associated with security and the feeling of being grounded. Crystals with the color red are associated with balancing this chakra.

Red Jasper

Sacral Chakra (color orange) – Located at about the belly button, this chakra has to do with our sexuality, creativity and zest for life. Crystals with this color can balance this chakra. 

Citrine

Solar Plexus Chakra (color yellow) – This chakra is located at the center of the torso and has to do with our overall happiness and confidence. Crystals of this color balance this chakra.

Yellow Citrine

Heart Chakra (color green) – Located at the heart, this chakra is associated with love, love of all forms, within friends, family and within yourself. Green and pink crystals balance this chakra.

Rose Quartz

Throat Chakra (color blue) – Located at the throat, this chakra has to do with communication, including communication with your higher self as well as overall calm and serenity. Blue crystals balance this chakra.

Aqua Aura Quartz

Third Eye Chakra (color purple) – Located between the eyes, this chakra has to do with your intuition, creativity and how you perceive the world. Balanced with crystals of the color purple.

Amethyst

Crown Chakra (color magenta) – This is located at the top of the head, this chakra is associated with your higher being and enlightenment. Crystals of these colors balance this chakra as well as many white/clear crystals.

Clear Quartz

Normally, you want to balance the chakras, starting from the first, as you cannot balance your crown chakra without first feeling secure and balanced and all the balancing in between.

I hope this can help you to better understand the general crystal properties when you don’t have the book of crystals at hand. It has been a great rule of thumb for myself, though afterwards, I do still look up the the descriptions, as each crystal does have it’s own unique properties as well. But as long as you know the basics, you can get an idea of what that crystal can do for you in your life. 🙂

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Full Moon Self Care Ritual

There are plenty of different rituals and beliefs about how to spend your time during a full moon. This is the phase of the moon where you bring in the energy of the Universe to celebrate your achievements for the goals you set for yourself during the new moon, leading all the way up to this time.

For this reason, I take the time of the full moon to reflect and have some serious self-care time for myself. Self care is different for everyone, but I recommend taking it to the next level on the phase of the full moon, doing something a little extra that you don’t normally do.

Self-care is something that we may forget to do in the today’s world, where there are so many distractions that you feel like should have your attention, rather than simply making yourself happy. But you cannot be effective in any of your tasks if you are not aligned with your energy and feeling full.

So here is my self-care ritual that I like to do on a full moon, I feel so peaceful after this ritual and I hope it can help you feel peaceful on this full moon as well. 🙂

The Aura

As you guys may already know, I am huge on creating the perfect aura, every day but especially for rituals. For me, this just keeps me in the zone, keeps me peaceful and makes me feel good about being the space that I’m in.

So first things first, cleanse your space with a sage smudge stick or with palo santo. This gets rid of all the negative energy in your space, cause you don’t have time for that shit tonight.

Light as many candles as you have, light some incense, lay your crystals about (and remember to afterwards put them in the moonlight to be charged).

Meditation

Do a short meditation, just to clear any of the thoughts remaining in your mind from the day and start fresh. Focus on taking deep, long breaths during this meditation and it may be nice to end your meditation by putting some relaxing essential oils, such as lavender or a balancing blend on your wrists and inhaling them in. I will list some of my favorites at the end.

A Flower Mandala

I do not do these often, but every time I do, I feel so aligned and peaceful by the end of it. If you don’t know what a flower mandala is, it’s basically flower petals that you take and create a mandala on your floor, which you can combine with crystals, candles or whatever you wish.

I love doing these because it is so different, but it is incredibly peaceful to do. At first you may overthink it and it may feel awkward and you may second guess yourself, but as soon as you let that go, hours can fly by in what seems like only twenty minutes.

I consider this a form of meditation, because focusing on on some sort of art, really keeps your mind from wandering off elsewhere.

Turn on some slow music or frequencies while you do this or if you prefer silence than do that! And drink some tea, wine or whatever it is you drink to spoil yourself. Take as long as you want to do this!

Here is a quick picture I took of my last flower mandala. I drew this inspiration to partake in these by @sallymustang, I recommend looking up some of her work on Instagram.

Though I feel it’s important to say to not compare yourself to ANYONE else, the point is not how pretty your mandala is, it’s about creating art and creating peace for your mind.

A Bath Ritual

After your mandala, take any extra flower pedals you may have and draw yourself a warm bath, with the flower pedals, essential oils (highly recommended), bubbles, crystals, candles whatever it is you feel would be your best bath!

I put a crystal in the bath water sometimes if I feel the chakra associated with that crystal needs balancing.

During bath rituals I really like to listen to singing bowls, you can find plenty of videos of these on Youtube. I like these because they tend to just echo and vibrate the whole bathroom and of course you can choose a specific vibration that will attract something specific to your life, which for me lately has been abundance.

While in your bath ritual you can read, meditate, do mantras, affirmations, gratefulness practices or even sleep. Do whatever it is you feel your soul needs!

Skin Care Routine

I believe a skin care routine to be a ritual within itself. Today is the day to do your full skin care ritual, your skin has already been being steamed by the bath water, follow it with your face wash, exfoliant, toner, a mask and a finishing moisturizer or skin oil. My favorite skin care brands for things such as this is Aveda, as it’s scents are plant based and smell so lovely.

If you want to put on lotion, do some hair care or whatever, feel free to do so. 🙂

End your night by doing a finishing meditation, this can last much longer as your mind is most likely already cleared. Finish with some mantras for self-care, such as :

I am a goddess, I am abundant and attract abundance, I am loved and attract love, I radiate positive energy and attract positive energy. I am beautiful, I am enough. I am confident and passionate. I am grounded and full of energy. The Universe is in my favor.

You can also partake in some “OM’s” before ending your meditation, I like this as it slows down your mind on a whole other level.

You can end the night by reading a book or journaling, just try to refrain from the tv or your phone before you go to bed tonight. You may find yourself sleeping better and waking up more aligned within yourself. 🙂

Happy Full Moon Loves!

My full moon ritual recommendations :

Full Moon Body Oils: Among The Flowers and Spirit Element

Essential Oils: Aveda Shampure

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Attract Abundance and Wealth Ritual

I’d like to share with you the exact ritual I have created for myself based on bringing upon abundance and wealth in my life. I have been obsessed with growth and discovering that the world is full of abundance and that money is simply an energy in The Universe.

Whether this abundance comes to you or not, is based on whether your vibration matches the energetic vibration of abundance as well!

I realized, how could I expect abundance if I continued to talk about how I can’t afford the thing and focus on my lack of abundance?

You simply receive what you say you will receive, you are right either way. It’s the rule of The Universe.

The ritual of attracting wealth and abundance is a consistent ritual throughout every day, but the deep down work that I participate in every morning and every night is what I am going to describe to you guys today.

Crystal + Cleansing Kit

Morning Ritual:

Before my morning ritual, I like to light candles and incense in the area where I will be performing my ritual.

I begin my morning with a short yoga session, anywhere from 5-30 minutes, whatever time is available to me, it always varies.

After my yoga session, I will do a silent meditation followed by mantras. The mantra I have been using is an ancient Lakshmi mantra, meant to bring upon wealth and abundance. The beliefs of these mantra’s, is using your own voice to vibrate at the frequency of wealth and abundance.

The mantra I have been using lately is, “Om Shreem Maha Lakshmiyei Namaha” I will attach a pronunciation and music to go along here.

During this mantra, I will hold a crystal that correlates with wealth and abundance to my sacral chakra area (coordinated with abundance). I have been using my new sunset aura quartz crystal, a citrine and sunstone crystal work great as well!

After I am all done with my mantra’s and meditation, I will do some journaling. My journaling is different every day, as it should be.

It can be a variety of affirmations or deflecting limiting beliefs, here is an example of some affirmations I commonly use for this ritual.

“My success is inevitable. I attract positive energy and positive energy is attracted to me. Wealth flows easily to me, I vibrate at the vibration of abundance. I am abundant. The Universe works in my favor.”

Affirmation Cards

This is such a beautiful way to begin the day to manifest wealth and abundance, but don’t let it stay within that space. Take these beliefs, these affirmations with you throughout the day and remember that The Universe is always paying attention.

Are you vibrating to the frequency of wealth and abundance? Are you acting like the higher version of yourself that has wealth and abundance in your life? This is how your truly bring in abundance.

You must first be open to abundance and understand that it is all around you and that you deserve it, in able to receive it… you must be open to receiving it, not focusing on the lack of it.

Evening Ritual:

In the evening, I will do a visualization meditation, it always varies and should be different for everyone.

If you believe your space carries negative energies, be sure to cleanse it with sage or palo santo.

Quiet your mind and envision yourself as the person that already has the wealth and abundance your manifesting. What does it look like for you? What are you doing? Where are you going? How are you acting? How are you feeling?

Feel like that. Right now. All the time, match that feeling and abundance will flow your way.

Citrine Crystal

Here is a guided visualization meditation.

After this, I will pick a frequency to fall asleep to, there are many options for this and each frequency vibrates to the frequency of a number of things. Choose one that vibrates to wealth and abundance, lately I have been falling asleep to this.

I strongly believe in sound frequencies, I’ve woke up in the middle of the night with my whole body vibrating to the exact frequency of the music I was listening to, it was astounding. I literally was able to feel myself vibrating and attracting that vibrational energy to me.

And remember that you are already so abundant, count your blessings every day and all you have to be grateful for. You receive miracles when you account for the miracles you already possess. 🙂

I hope you found this ritual helpful and I hope you manifest much abundance.

The Abundance Frequency

Tune into the vibration and manifest abundance!

YOU ARE ABUNDANCE

Via quantum physics, everything is already within you. Abundance, money, wealth and joy are something we are all constantly seeking in this world and I want to remind you that these things are not outside of you.

I created this mini course to allow you to tune into your very unique energy of abundance. To vibrate at the energetic frequency of wealth. To heal your relationship with money and understand how your own subconscious mind can be blocking you from manifesting it.

We will transform your money mindset, recreate your vibration, elevate your wealth consciousness and have a whole lot of fun along the way! Because once you tune into your abundant energy… it is addicting!

The entire universe is conspiring to give you everything you want.

Abraham Hicks
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Working And Traveling Is Easier Than You Think

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of programs all over the media that allow you to travel in groups and work while traveling. These programs are amazing and make the process very simple; they put you with a group, allow you to share rooms so that the prices are cheaper and overall it seems like an incredible experience.

There are also other ways that you can work and travel, like work on a cruise line, be a flight attendant, teach English abroad and a few others. But I think the perspective that you must join a program in able to work and travel needs to be rethought.

None of these programs ever stuck out to me because I wanted to travel for many different reasons but personally never wanted to stay in a group and have a set-up group schedule. Hopefully, I’m not the only one that feels this way.

You can work and travel in many other ways besides these, here are some that have worked for me.

Use Craigslist In The Area You’re Traveling

This seems so simple, and it is, but also very effective! My boyfriend and I traveled the coast for six months and every city we went to, we browsed Craigslist for available jobs, from one day gigs to temporary jobs. And we found many, from loading up boxes to photo shoots!

You can also post up a resume on Craigslist, offering your skills. For me, I offered writing and photography and I actually booked some autobiography and resume gigs for decent pay!

Talk to the businesses in your city

Yes, I’m aware this seems very different than what most travelers would do, but we found our best travel job on the road by simply asking around!

We went from one business to the next, told them our story and asked if they needed any miscellaneous help. We scored ourselves some jobs at a restaurant for two months, made over minimum wage, plus tips and made some amazing friends and memories! We got so many responses by sharing our stories that not only did people need help, but they wanted to find ways to help.

People offered simple yard work or clean up jobs. It got to the point that we had to start turning jobs down because we already had a few and needed time to still explore the area and enjoy our travel.

We did not have trouble finding a job anywhere that we went. Yes, I’m serious… anywhere! We were even honest about the short amounts of time we were willing to work.

Here are some things I did not do during my travels, but would consider for the future that are more based from a computer.

A virtual assistant

Online Marketer

Freelancer websites (UpWork, Writers.work)

The reason I never brought myself to try these things may have subconsciously been because I like to meet new people and work physically, but these jobs can give you more flexibility and even better pay. Being a digital nomad is worth looking into!

If you would like me to write something about places you can make a bit of money with writing/social media posting, please let me know in the comment section.

Something I want to say as well, is that online surveys are not worth your time and should not be considered a source of income. I have tried nearly every online survey platform out there and it takes aggravated, boring decades to make a simple ten dollars.

Making money while seeing the world does not have to be through a program and it does not need to be made in one spot. We made a decent amount of money with these simple strategies while traveling five different states and experienced so much more than we could in one city.  It may seem intimidating, but it is so exhilarating and really allows you to grow and become a more independent person.

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My Full Moon Affirmation Cleanse

moon

With the energy that came in the month of October, I can say that this energy has impacted my life greatly. It has brought me to my knees and one point and I had to get myself back up and believe that everything has a purpose and I am grateful to simply be alive every morning.

That’s why at the end of this month, this full moon has great meaning to me, and I believe it may to a lot of people, as the energy this month has been a little weird.

It is important to verbally remind yourself of all the things in life you are truly grateful for, I hope you will partake in these actions tonight under this full moon in the Taurus.

Set Your Aura

You’re aura is the energy you give off around you, this is with you always. But when I take the time aside to meditate, I like to set my atmosphere to amplify my emotions in a spiritual way. I like to set out crystals that resonate with me, light candles and incense. This helps me to meditate deeper, but these things are absolutely not a necessity to do.

Just be sure to be in a safe and quiet place, where you can close your eyes and focus on your intentions and nothing else.

You can choose to have silence, meditation music, nature sounds, singing bowls or whichever you choose. I like all four of these options and it always changes which one I choose to listen to.

The Meditation

I do simple affirmations every day, but on this full moon I want to go deeper and I think this is good to do every now and again.

Sometimes I will meditate in silence first and sometimes I will do my affirmations before I meditate, what you choose to do is up to you. How you choose to sit, stand or lay is up to you. I do not believe specific guidelines during meditation.

Take this time to envision your life in a grateful way, every thing and every person you are grateful for, feel that gratefulness within you. Imagine yourself exactly as the person you wish to be five years from now, where you are, what you’re doing… see yourself exactly as you want to be and feel it as if it’s already here.

Affirmation Cards

The Affirmations

Everyone’s affirmations should be different, mine should be different from yours as yours should be from another. But I will give you some ideas, as these are the affirmations that I will tell myself on this full moon.

I am happy.

I am happy to wake up this morning, to sleep comfortably tonight.

I am grateful for this day I had to live, for the food and drink that I was so fortunate to have.

It is in my power to be happy every day, I make that choice.

I am grateful for the love in my life, my family, my boyfriend, my animals, my friends. I’m grateful for my home, for my warmth. I know that I am fortunate.

I am confident, I am honest, I am grateful. I am loved, I am smart, I am creative, I am a go-getter. I am happy, I spread happiness, I spread laughter, I spread love. I am well-spoken, I am successful, I can do anything that I want to do.

I am kind, I am strong, I am powerful, I am persistent.

I leave all things that no longer serve me to make space for the things that I need in my life.

Affirmations are all about speaking to your conscious and subconscious, saying all the things you want to be as if you already are them. In it’s own miracle way it helps you to become all of these things within time.

I always add gratefulness to this, and doing so allows you to realize exactly how much you have to be thankful for, no matter how simple they are. Afterwards, the negative things begin to disappear and more positive things begin to come your way.

Allow these affirmations to help you realize that your life is all you pertain it to be, it’s all you say it is and it’s all that you focus on.

I hope you feel fulfilled on this full moon <3

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The next round begins on the new moon… Say yes to your own growth, say yes to new possibilities and the Universe will say yes right back.

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Grifford Pinchot National Forest

This is among the most beautiful places to explore nature in Washington. Filled with gorgeous mountains, inactive volcanoes and luscious forests. This place is worth a long camping trip in the summer, or even the long drive to see some of it’s wonders in a day trip. The hikes and waterfalls in this area are endless because of all the mountains in the area.

Here are some of this forests best sites.

Mount Saint Helens Area

This inactive volcano is famous for it’s incredible destruction in 1980, you can see incredible views of this volcano and the effects of it’s eruption and learn more about it. It’s pretty amazing.

Ape Caves

The ape caves are truly unique, make sure to bring a flash light and warm clothing, because it is pitch dark! It’s quiet the adventure to work you way through this two and half mile lava tube, the longest continuous cave in the U. S!

Lava Canyon

This is a round trip, five mile hike, so not too bad. It leads to some spectacular views and Lava Falls.

Windy Ridge Viewpoint

This is the easiest viewpoint to see Mount St. Helens, it’s a stunning view where you can also see Spirit Lake. There is also a hike along Windy Ridge called Loowit trail, a 28 mile round-trip hike that has gorgeous waterfall along the way. Make sure to research required permits for hikes such as this in the area.

Mt. Adams Area

This area is particularly known for climbing Mt. Adams, it is a a 10 mile, round trip hike with a 4500 ft elevation gain, and leads to some amazing views!

Waterfalls

With the Columbia River Gorge being on the opposite site of this area, it has no shortage of gorgeous waterfalls, some of my favorite in the state are in this area!

Lower Lewis Falls

I believe this to be the most beautiful waterfall in Washington, it flows so perfectly and is wide, and it is easy to get to the bottom of the falls for amazing views and a swim 🙂 The long drive is beautiful and it is a short quarter mile hike that allows every viewpoint.

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Panther Creek Falls

This waterfall is simply magical, it trickles down a long wall of rock and you can even explore the river before it falls as well. There is access to the bottom of the falls as well.

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Spirit Falls

This waterfall is a gem, bright blue with a tremendous fall. It’s a little hike, about a mile and can be quiet muddy. All the more of an amazing nature experience!

Falls Creek Falls

There are plenty of views during the 4 mile round trip hike to this waterfall, including a suspension bridge and a partial hike along the river.

This forest is one of Washington’s best, so if you’re looking for a place to explore within the state, you can get the best of both world’s in this green forest between three mountains.

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Top Ten 101 Destination Stops

If you’re planning a 101 coastal road trip, I deeply recommend doing it right. That means starting from the 101 no one thinks about, right off the coastal road.

I’ve done this 101 road trip, and took my sweet time along the process. Not only this but I quiet literally live right off highway 101 in southern Washington, so I know the famous highway well!

Here are the must stop visits while traveling this amazing highway, from north Washington to California.

Hood Canal

This area often goes overlooked, it is not the 101 right next to the ocean, though it is close, this area is beautiful! It is right next to the Olympic Rainforest and some small towns by the bay. The famous Vance Creek Bridge is hidden in this area. A partial amount of this bridge has been torn down now but if your feeling reckless, you may still be able to explore part of it.

This area also is covered with amazing hikes and waterfalls and is one of the only places on the coast where you can harvest your own oysters! Stop at Hama Hama to get the beginning of your seafood experience and enjoy some wine and music by the bay in Hoodsport.

Some of my favorite waterfalls include Rocky Brook Falls, Murhut Falls, Hama Hama Falls and Vincent Creek Falls (High Steel Bridge). Read all about this area here.

Cape Flattery

This area is the northern tip of the U. S but not very popular, which is good for us! The trail is well maintained and the views are gorgeous. Read more about it here.

Ruby Beach

This is the most stunning beach in Washington, right off 101, the drive to this place is covered with spectacular beaches, but this is the one you’ll want to stop at. There’s tide pools to explore and the beach goes on forever. This beach is most famous for it’s large rock on the beach with a hole in the middle that I didn’t manage to get a picture of. You can read more about it in the link above as well.

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Quinault

Quinault is a special, quaint place where you can experience the world’s only temperate rainforest that is completely untouched. There are many nature trails in the area from quarter mile hikes to backpacking trips and waterfalls right along side them. There is also the world’s largest Spruce Tree here as well and the Hoh Rainforest is also close by if you can’t get enough of the luscious greenery.

Fort Stevens State Park

Fort Stevens is located right outside of the beautiful small city of Astoria, OR, most famous for the movie The Goonies. What makes this park so special is the ship wreck of Peter Iredale, where you can see the iron remains of this ancient ship right on the beach, accessible to the public. It’s quiet the site, see more about it here

Canon Beach

I think when people are planning 101 trips, their first destination is Canon Beach, so I hope all the posts above have caught your interest to see before northern Oregon. Canon beach is a small beach town with an open bottle policy, meaning you can drink beer wherever you’d please. Most famous for Haystack rock on it’s beach, where you can climb around it and view the tide pools. It also has a lot of puffins at the top of the rock.

It’s a popular destination spot, but also not incredibly crowded.

Cape Kiwanda

This place was one of my favorite experiences along our 101 travels. Located in the middle of Oregon in the town of Pacific City, Cape Kiwanda is what it means to travel 101. You show up at this beach, to a Haystack Rock way in the distance, you are able to climb a sand hill to your right which leads you to Cape Kiwanda. You can walk all along this Cape and experience amazing views. There are some dangerous areas but they will give you the best Instagram shot! Many wander past the warning signs to get the best photo, but because of the Oregon Beach Bill, I do not believe you can get fined for it.

You can also take the Three Capes Scenic Route before Cape Kiwanda to experience even better views, but we missed the turn, so keep a look out! Devil’s Punchbowl is nearby as well, though we didn’t go there. More on Cape Kiwanda here.

Samuel H. Boardman’s State Scenic Cooridor

This is located in southern Oregon in a small city called Brookings, right before you hit California. It is several different stops off the side of the Highway, all absolutely gorgeous. They meet up with the Oregon Coast Trail, the scenic points that I thought were most amazing was Natural Bridges, where you can hike your way to the top of these magnificent arches and Arch Rock Point.

The Redwood Forest

Of course, the Redwood Forest is a must-see along 101. It is located in northern California and is quiet the enchanting adventure. There is so much to see here, there are several different areas to go, we went to the Jedidiah Forest, which was amazing, but simply driving through these areas is worth the drive.

Big Sur

Unfortunately, we were not able to experience Big Sur, California, as when we went they had an enormous landslide right before Big Sur on Highway 101, but it is still on my bucket list! I recommend stopping at Pfieffer Beach. I’ve heard that the sand turns purple on some sunsets and it is quiet magical!

Simply driving down this highway is spectacular! There are views of the ocean right on the side of the road so pull over as much as you can and enjoy the views! There are of course many more places of interest, but these are my top ten. So pull over as much as you can and maybe spot some whales in Oregon!

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Kauai – The Garden Island (Six must visit places in Kauai)

Wailua River

The Wailua River is a wide river very popular for kayaking and paddle boarding. It takes about three hours round trip to paddle board and it is full of luscious rainforest and stunning views every where you turn. From it, you can paddle to Secret Falls, located in a small village about half way through your trip and one other waterfall. We rented our boards from an amazing shop very close to the main entrance for the river, Stand Up Paddle.


O’opaka Falls


O’opaka Falls is easily accessible to view, it is a massive waterfall that you can see from a distance right off the road, in the middle of Kauai’s luscious rain forests.


Wimea Falls


Wimea Falls is a very tall waterfall, also easily accessible. The view point allows you to see from the top down, though you can also climb to the bottom which I highly recommend.


Wimea Canyon State Park

Wimea Canyon State Park is an absolute MUST SEE on the island of Kauai. You can spot gorgeous views throughout the entire park, waterfalls, canyons, forests, red sand areas and several incredible viewpoints.

There are several hiking paths in this park as well that supply spectacular views!

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Na Pali Coast


There are many ways to access the Na Pali Coast, most of which costs you money, such as a boat tour or a helicopter tour. Both of these, we wished to have done, but it was simply too expensive but I do recommend it if you have the money for it.

Queens Bath

There are many other incredible places to see on the island of Kauai, but these were my absolute favorites.

This island is magical, you can even spot the forbidden island of Niihau, from the western part of the island.

It is much more luscious greenery than the other islands.