October 19, 2015 | Day 5 of #OntheRoad1015 (previous day)

October 19th 2015 was rough, but in the end completely magical. We had turned off all tech when we went to sleep in our tent and woke up with the sun as our alarm. I was content and happy in our little tent paradise and it wasn’t until Aunt Flow visited me did my attitude shift. It all started with some defective tampons that warranted a very heated letter to Tampax later that day. Then when we went into town to check out a brewery in Eugene, I got into a little fender bender in our rental while making a U-Turn. Thank the road trip gods it was just with a curb. The day was not going my way and I was so grumpy when intense cramps hit. I was barreled over in Whole Foods pleading with the supplement lady to give me ANYTHING for the pain. She recommended a cramp reliever with a 1950’s housewife illustration on it and Feminessence Maca Harmony. I took both and still take Femminessence as it ended up clearing up my terrible acne.

We had planned going hiking at Smith Rock that day, but I knew with how much pain I was in it would be impossible. Yet, we still wanted to see the beautiful Smith Rock park, so Bowerbird drove us in that direction while I slept in the passenger seat. I think I was asleep for 2 hours before I woke up while we happened to drive past an Alpaca farm. I didn’t even have to say anything and Bowerbird was pulling off the road and into the alpaca driveway. We parked our car, picking up some alpaca feed from the gift shop to treat the animals to. Unfortunately, most of my alpaca pictures are on my now debunked phone. So, this is the best I have.

This guy was my favorite, I named him Ringo. 

We ended up spending 2 hours at the Alpaca farm, we seriously LOVED characterizing the various alpacas and picking up on their personalities. We were the only tourist there, feeding the alpacas through the fence. At that point, my cramps were gone and forgotten.  The gift shop at this farm sold lots of goods made of alpaca wool and we bought a cute alpaca Christmas ornament for our treasures. If you’re ever in this region, I highly suggest taking a moment to stop by Crescent Moon as it was just around the corner from Smith Rock.

After we had our fill of alpaca cuteness we drove over to Smith Rock. I was still wiped out from my cramps earlier in the day and all the Alpaca excitement, so we just gazed at the beautiful view. When I’m menstruating a lot of physical activity can sometimes nearly incapacitate me. Thus is the life of being a woman. I felt bad we couldn’t explore more, but Bowerbird was understanding.  We had passed a pumpkin patch and corn maze on our way to Smith Rock, since Bowerbird and I are both Southern Califonia born and raise we aren’t that familiar with corn mazes and were really excited to get lost in our first one. The pumpkin patch was nearly empty, a total set up for the beginning of a horror movie, but with the sun setting against fluffy clouds and an adorable petting zoo – it was more serene than serial killer. Sadly all the attractions were closed, so we were only able to view and appreciate the potential magic of the corn maze and extravagant pumpkin patch.

This place meant business when it came to their pumpkin patch! 

We arrived in Portland to our Airbnb place around 7:00pm, our hosts were really kind with the best boxer pup. Bowerbird has a really cute picture of him and the dog on his Instagram account you can see, just click here. After we put down all our things we went out to dinner at an Indian food place. At dinner, our booth was right next to a group musicians who travel the country playing music at homeless shelters in order to lift spirits through art.  I was so out of it by the end of the day and can barely, which is very clear in the vlog below, so I enjoyed just listening to the table next to us. I found their souls to just be intoxicating with positivity and light, something my tired being needed at that moment.

Thank you for following my adventures. I still have so much of our 2014 road trip to write about and have a rough schedule in mind. I think next up will be our detour to the town of Spector when we were driving from Atlanta to New Orleans. Moving forward I’d like to have travel posts up on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so please check back and follow me on your favorite social network for post updates.