Our travels: Oregon & Washington

We got back from the Pacific Northwest earlier this week, and like I had mentioned on facebook - we have never been so happy to be back in the midwest! We came home to sunny skies and high 70's, ahhhh! Despite the terrible weather, unreal traffic backups, Crater Lake being entirely covered by dense fog, and our flights being canceled on us TWICE.....we did have a fun trip! Here are some highlights...

On Vacation

Hi everyone! As I posted about here, we'll be taking a much needed break over the next 10 days to the beautiful Pacific Northwest! We will be putting our Etsy shop on vacation starting tonight until Sunday Sept. 29th. Then we'll be back at it and post more about our newest cards!  If you have any ideas or suggestions of cool places to go while we're out in Oregon and Washington - tweet at me!: @crackeddesigns

Fingers crossed that we see Big Foot!


(Above image of the glorious game: Oregon Trail)

The dream of the 90's is alive...

We are planning a trip out to the Pacific Northwest in a month, and I have been a researching machine on all things big foot, grunge music, craft beer, coffee, Paul Bunyan, Twin Peaks locations and all other glorious things the Pacific NW has to offer. But what is my real dream to see while out west you ask? To see Carrie Brownstein but of course! Does this seem like a stalker thing to say? Yes. Am I a question talker today? Yes.

I have been spending perhaps too much time watching "Portlandia" lately, and "Sleater-Kinney" has been playing in the house just a little more than usual. Adam just doesn't get it, but I have had a serious crush on this girl ever since my ears first heard the sweet sounds of girl angst on my walkman, a million years ago. What's not to like? She just oozes coolness.

Well anyways, I'm looking forward to drinking insane amounts of beer and washing it down with a damn good cup of coffee! (Agent Cooper, anyone?) Does anyone have any off the beaten path suggestions? Cool places to visit/see in Washington or Oregon? I'd love to hear, we're always up for an adventure!

Heaven has bumper stickers

A couple of things first:
- I've been severely neglecting this blog lately, which makes me sad. So, I really want to get back in a groove and start sharing more fun/weird/random stuff that's been going on in the world of Cracked Designs. Because of my lack of blogging though, I have been working on lots of new stuff, both new products and custom designs that I'm excited to share in the weeks to come!

So anyways...
The CD crew went out on a little road trip last week to South Dakota. It. Was. Amazing. It was like I had died and gone to souvenir heaven. We basically struck (black hills) gold out west and came home with tons of new tacky souvenirs to add to our rapidly expanding collection. I'll introduce you to 'Boyd', the Jackalope we adopted, in another post.

Aloha, Hawaii!

Adam and I got back from Hawaii earlier this week, and since then I have been in a coma of depression that I was not prepared for. Hawaii really did a number on us. The first week back from any vacation is always rough, trying to get back into your groove and getting back into work...but this goes beyond that. I've found myself browsing airline tickets to Hawaii instead of working, sipping on Mai Tai's instead of drinking the usual Summer Shandy, and putting on Elvis' 'Blue Hawaii' on loop. To say that we loved Hawaii is an understatement.

First off, Adam and I don't 'do' vacations probably like normal people 'do'' vacations. We usually pack in a huge assortment of odd tourist traps, off the beaten path "hole-in-the-wall"s, and discovering local flavor when we go on trips, and Hawaii was no different. We didn't spend a ton of time relaxing on beaches, instead we searched out some 'un-touched' Hawaii and hung out drinking Kava out of coconuts. It....was....amazing.

We traveled to 3 of the islands: Oahu, Maui and the Big Island, our favorite probably being Maui. It was surprising how different each of the islands were, but all equally stunning.

We, of course, tried lots of local beer and had some of the best Mai Tai's on earf. Seriously, I'm starting to wonder if they slipped crack into those Mai Tai's, they were addictive .

Some highlights of the trip included:
- 'Nakele Blowhole' in western Maui: we hiked down the rocks and got a close up view of this crazy ass blowhole, and boy was it worth it. It was windy that day, so the waves were rockin' and the blowhole was spraying like nobody's business.

- 'Aina Nalu' was our hotel in Maui and it was like staying in a jungle treehouse hideaway with 2 gorgeous pools.

- 'Maui Brewing Company': we liked this brewery better than the much more popular  'Kona Brewing Company' on the Big Island. It was really laid back and the beers were especially tasty. Kona did have a better patio though.

- 'Volcanoes National Park': everyone should go here. The hike in the crater was amazing, and despite the rainy weather we had, it was a surreal experience to see how lava could completely cover a road.

-Mai Tai's: We had a ton of different Mai Tai's, but our favorites were at 'The Royal Kona Hotel bar', 'Kimo's' in Lahaina, and the 'Feast at Lele' Luau.

- 'Okolemaluna Tiki Lounge' in Kona: This place was the bees knees, fo' real! It was off the main drag, and had some of the best tiki drinks on the planet. Our waiter was from the Milwaukee area too, and super nice.



Ah, Hawaii, what have you done to me? I get freakin' teary eyed looking at these photos, and long for my next Hawaii fix. Well, Aloha Hawaii, until we meet again!

Show us your Journey

Our 'Journey Journal' continues to be one of our favorite products we sell. We love the open road, traveling to far away places, and exploring new and exciting destinations. Our love for a good ol' fashioned road trip first inspired us to create the 'Journey Journal'. We've traveled to so many radical places and love tracking & writing about our journey, as well as being able to look back on our travels.

Over the past 3 1/2 years, we've created numerous different 'Journey Journals' to accommodate your travels, from our 'Europe Edition' to our 'Australia Edition', and of course the whole 'World Edition', and everything in between. We recently just created a custom journal for a couple who were going to be traveling the entire world. Their itinerary looked amazing, which got us thinking.....

We'd love to see your Journey!

That's right, we want to see how you used our 'Journey Journal' to track your travels! Either scan in or photograph the front cover and a selection of the inside pages (as well as any of your 'travel treasures'!) and email your Journey to us.

What's in it for you? Well, the winner will get a $40.00 credit to be used in our Etsy shop, as well as a another 'Journey Journal' of your choice, so you can continue to track your amazing travels. We will also pick a runner up winner, which will receive a 'Journey Journal' of your choice.

What are the specifics? Email all entries to: tarasherm@gmail.com and label them with the subject line, "Show us your Journey Entry". You may also send us a message in Etsy if you prefer. In your email, please attach your scans or photos of your 'Journey Journal', along with a brief summary of your trip (including the date & place(s) of the trip) and any funny or interesting experiences on this particular trip that made it so memorable. The more creative & interesting you get with your story of your trip will be to your advantage! Also in your email, include your name, email address, and phone number. The better the photographs/scans of your Journal pages, the better we can see just how awesomely you used your journal! ANY of our 'Journey Journals' are eligible for entry (the original, Europe, Australia, Asia, Canada, Mini, World & ANY custom journal that was made for you)

You can start emailing your entries today and entries will be accepted until midnight (CST) on Sunday November 4th.  No late entries will be accepted, sorry. Winners will be notified by email the week of November 19th. Only one entry per person, so narrow down your most memorable trip!

What the heck will you be looking for in a winner?  Well there are a lot of things! Your destination doesn't have to be the most exotic, it could be a weekend road trip an hour from your house, or a luxurious getaway to Paris, it doesn't matter. Some of our best trips have been closest to home, so location is not a factor in deciding a winner. What does matter is how you sell it. We want to see how you used the inside pages of the Journal (especially the drawings!) and your creativity in how you used your Journal. (that doesn't mean your drawings have to be works of art, though!) We want to laugh, cry, laugh some more, and be intrigued when reading the story of your trip, so the more you give us, the better. We love a good story! It also doesn't matter when your trip took place, it could have been 3 years ago, or yesterday. Any destination is accepted, so don't think that your trip to North Dakota will be dismissed, we want to see and hear it all, so don't be shy!

The winner and runner-up will have their trips featured on the blog in December. So, make sure those pics/scans are fabulous! 

If we missed something, feel free to email us with any questions! We are so grateful for all of the folks who have purchased our 'Journey Journal's and have, in turn, made them such a huge success. We are so excited to see all of your amazing adventures, ready...set...GO!

PS: Don't have a 'Journey Journal' yet? Well, go get one here!

On Vacation

We will be heading down to sunny Phoenix & Tucson for the next few days. Looking forward to some Brewers Spring Training Games & some amazing looking tacky roadside attractions. Have a happy weekend!

Ut-awe(some)

Tomorrow I leave Utah to come home to good ol' Milwaukee, and I have to say that I really fell in love with Salt Lake City. It's absolutely beautiful. If nature & urban life got freaky and had a baby, it would be Salt Lake City. I love how you can be walking around a really urban, cool city one minute and then 30 minutes later you can be high up in the mountains, snowboarding.

I am impressed, Salt Lake City, I can't wait to come back and explore some more!

Hello, Salt Lake City!

Well, I am off to Salt Lake City tomorrow to attend Alt! I'm a little nervous, since I'm an Alt virgin, but since I hear nothing but amazing things about the conference, I am beyond excited!

Excitement

I love owning my own business, and being able to create and design freely as I please in my little office. But now and again it's easy to feel isolated and cut off from the outside world (especially during the cold Wisconsin winters...) So, I am beyond excited to be attending Altitude Design Summit in Salt Lake City this upcoming January! I've always wanted to go, and decided to go for it this year! I'm taking a few days away from my boys and indulging in all things design. Oh, and the temptation of a snowboarding day in the mountains made my decision quite easy too. I'm really looking forward to networking and meeting other bloggers, designers and cool people.

Maine-ly Maine

Paul B.

Lobster Roll

Salem, MA

Fenway Park, before the Red Sox unfortunately choked...

Desert of Maine, Freeport, ME (amazing tourist trap!)

Portland Head Lighthouse, Portland, ME

Dave at MAGPIE!!

Cooperstown Brewing Company, Cooperstown, NY

The Dead Frog Circus in Holyoke, MA


We just got back from 10 amazing days on the east coast. And we must say that we're impressed. New England is filled with lots of our favorite things: Good food, Paul Bunyan Statues, Tacky souvenir shops, and lots and LOTS of very good beer!

We tackled this trip naturally, by car. We drove through upstate New York, making stops in Cooperstown and then explored the beautiful city of Boston. We then traveled north, making stops in Salem, MA, and towns in Maine like, Ogunquit, Portland, Freeport and Bar Harbor. We unfortunately didn't see much of Acadia National Park, due to lots of fog and rain, but managed to hike up Gorham Mountain despite the rain. After leaving the coast of Maine, we traveled through Bangor, and made our way through New Hampshire and then Vermont, making stops in Waterbury and Burling, VT. We traveled back through upstate New York and headed home.

Some highlights of the trip:
*Fenway Park, Boston, MA: It's going to be hard to go to Miller Park and not fantasize about being at Fenway-that's how amazing this ballpark was! Anyone, no matter if you're a baseball fan or not, you should visit this historic ballpark.

*Cooperstown, NY: Cooperstown is home to the baseball hall of fame, which was definitely cool, but the town itself is tucked away in upstate New York and is kind of like a trip back in time. It's also home to two fabulous breweries.

*Desert of Maine, Freeport, ME: This place was a trip. It's a tourist trap in every sense of the term, which drew us there. It's basically an area of land covered in sand, and you get a guided tram tour by a 75 year old man, whom we could barely understand. It was hidden back in the woods and looked untouched by time.

*Portland, ME & Shipyard Brewery: Portland was one cool city, not too big, but definitely not too small, all with cobblestone streets downtown and picturesque views. Despite it's Maine-y vibe, it was pretty urban and reminded us of Milwaukee. Portland is also home to Shipyard Brewery, which was super cool and surprisingly big. It also brews one of my favorite new beers: Pumpkinhead. We stocked up on this before we left.

*Lobster!: I've actually never had lobster before this trip, so I was pretty excited to feast on it, and feast we did! Not only did we try a tasty lobster roll at Spragues in Wiscasset, but I also tried steamed lobster, and I must say that I was a pro at crackin' those claws. It was tasty!

*Secret Caverns, NY: Ok, this place is tucked away in nowheresville New York, and while driving there, I thought we may get murdered multiple times, but boy was it worth it. This was by far the coolest cave I've ever been to. We had a very small tour group, so the guide (who was a perfect amount of corny) turned off all the lights and gave us all flashlights to navigate our way through the pitch black cave. SUPER COOL.

*Salem, MA: Witches galore! I love me some crazy witch souvenirs, and this is the place to get 'em.

Overall verdict....we love Maine, and can't wait to visit again!

New England

You may be thinking, wait, didn't these guys just go on vacation? And you'd be right. September is apparently the month of vacations for us. We are taking one of our of favorite types of trip: a roadtrip!! Our roadtrips tend to always be packed full of destinations around every turn, and this one is no different. We are headed out tomorrow and will make stops in Cooperstown, NY, spend a couple days in Boston, MA, Salem, MA, Portland, ME, Bar Harbor, ME, Burlington, VT and then make our way back home. I've never been out to this part of the country before, so I'm really excited to visit, and eat some yummy lobster. Even more exciting, is that this part of the country seems to be packed with tacky roadside attractions. Holla!

We closed down the Etsy shop during this time, but will be back to open up shop on Monday the 26th. Happy Travels!

San Fran Love

So don't get us wrong, we love Milwaukee, a lot. But there is something pretty special about San Francisco, it keeps drawing us back, and with every time we love it more. Why oh why is it so freakishly expensive to live there? Sigh.

Anyways, we had a great time, and it was our first official family vacation: Tara, Adam and Mr. Beckett! Beck was a pro on the plane (for the most part), and we had a super fun time exploring the city- from old favorites to new places. Some highlights were:

*AT&T Park - a really beautiful baseball park right on the bay, but we think Miller Park has it beat!
*Speakeasy Brewery - an amazing brewery we discovered in a not so great area, but who cares when the beer is that good!
*Sausalito - a quaint little town just a short trip from San Francisco. We had a very yummy breakfast at Cibo Cafe.
*Lagunitas Brewery - Ah yes, this was our second trip to Lagunitas, and dare we say, our favorite brewery ever?! Since we were last there it has expanded into an even cooler brewery, complete with a restaurant & beer garden (all kid friendly too!)
*Musee Mecanique - This place was super cool and right on the pier, kind of hidden away from the other tourist-y places. It is a museum of old arcade games & antique coin operated machines. The best part is that you can play with all of them! It was so cool, we could have spent hours there.

Well San Francisco, we love you and we can't wait to go back.

San Francisco Bound!

We are going on vacation for the next 5 days out to sunny...er, foggy, San Francisco! San Francisco is one of our most favorite cities. We definitely left our hearts there when we visited 4 years ago, so, needless to say, we are super excited to go back. Even more exciting, Beckett is going on his first plane ride! Let's hope it goes well...

We closed down the Etsy shop for the next 5 days, but don't fret, it will be back open next Tuesday the 6th. Happy Travels!

Roadside America

So Adam and I leave for our Route 66 roadtrip out to the Grand Canyon this Friday. We are so stoked. I've been doing a lot of research on the most amazing website ever: roadside america. If you haven't visited Roadsideamerica.com, then you are missing out. It is hilarious. We've found some great stuff to check out along the way, including the UFO museum in Roswell, NM and the museum of barb wire. ah yes, this will be the greatest trip ever!

Planning 66

Cadillac Ranch in Texas

Muffler Man

Blue Whale in Oklahoma

Adam and I had been planning a big trip on historic highway route 66 for next May...but since we will have a newborn then, we had to move up our trip for this October! For those who don't know, Route 66 starts in Chicago and stretches through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and ends in Santa Monica, California. We've always wanted to travel Route 66, so we are totally stoked. Planning this trip is really tricky, since a lot of the old highway is now gone, so we have lots to do before we leave in October. At least we've already booked our night stay at the Wigwam Hotel in Arizona. Heck yes.

We Fell for the Falls.

All those crazy tourists.

Maid of the Mist.

The Flying Saucer Restaurant!

I was in love with these chairs, they were all over! Every shady hotel had them.


Oh Niagara Falls, what can I say.....you were awesome. Adam & I were in tacky souvenir heaven. Oh yeah, and the falls were pretty too. Here are some shots from our trip...

My first Journey Journal

When I recently went to Montana, I filled out a Journey Journal for the first time and I have to say, it was awesome. Even reading through it now, only a couple weeks after the trip, I was remembering things I had already forgotten about, which was coolio. Here are some pages from my very own Journey Journal.

Fotografias: Dos

Some more pics from Big Sky Montana.