Welcome to September’s Ultimate Coffee Date! We’ve had a pretty mild summer overall but it feels like California’s trying to make up for lost time with that heat…
Ultimate Coffee Date: September 2025
If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d tell you that…the Enchantments trail has been on my bucket list of hikes for some time and I finally managed to do it last month!! <3 It’s definitely not for the faint of heart, and AllTrails was wrong about the distance/elevation gain, but we made it anyway. Look how gorgeous that water is! *-*
The water was super cold, but it was such a refreshing swim. The hikes with alpine lakes are usually my favorite — I love the mountains/forests/water. <3
Washington is such a beautiful state. :] So glad to have managed to visit all their national parks! (I’d love to go back to North Cascades again though to explore some more!)
This photo’s from one of my favorite hikes — the Skyline Trail in Mount Rainier National Park!
If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d tell you that…I know it very much seems like I find a new hobby I want to partake in every time another ultimate coffee date rolls by (you wouldn’t be wrong since I think that very much does happen), but…hear me out: horse vaulting. It’s like gymnastics on a horse!
It doesn’t quite work with my schedule this year but I may or may not be attempting to partake in that next year! It looks so cool/fun (+ this may be the motivation I need to finally start stretching regularly again?)…
If we were having coffee/tea today, I’d tell you that…I went to the San Francisco Pen Show last weekend and it was a lot of fun, albeit a bit overwhelming (so many cute stamps/stickers/stationery + pretty pens/inks!)! I’d never written with a fountain pen, but have always loved stationery/journaling stuffs + have been meaning to get back into journaling/bullet journaling…so this was a good excuse. (I like to think I managed to show some semblance of restraint!)
See past ultimate coffee dates here!
(Link-up with Coco @ Running with Perseverance & Deborah @ Confessions of a Mother Runner! Also linking up with Darlene, Michelle, Renee, Jenn and Zenaida, for Fit Five Friday.)
- How was your summer? What do you have planned for the rest of the year?
- Do you journal? Have you ever written with a fountain pen?
- Come see what I read in September at this month’s My Month Is Booked! :] I’ve made it to 51 books read this year so far! :]
20 comments
Skip to comment form
I love that picture from your hike in Mount Rainier National Park! That’s gorgeous and I’m now moving that park to higher on our bucket list. We went on a 32-day road trip this summer where our highlight was Glacier National Park (we also did some repeats in the southern Utah parks).
Horse vaulting sounds scary, yet thrilling!
Ahh, I hope you love it there! It’s definitely one of my favorite national parks.
Glacier National Park has been up there on a place I’d love to visit for a while now — hoping to get to go there soon! <3
That sounds like a great hike! It’s a beautiful time of the year to get outside
It really was! The wildflowers up on Mount Rainier were gorgeous! <3
Horse vaulting??? I must hear more about this!
Your photos are BEAUTIFUL. And… I love your haul from the pen show. That was not a time for restraint!
If I’m gonna go for it, it likely won’t be until the new year, but I will definitely write about it if I start! (I’m vaguely afraid of injury, lol. Hopefully it’ll be okay!?)
Thank you!! It was gorgeous there! And agreed — I’ve been sucked down a rabbit hole, hahaha. There are so many cool pen-related things out there!
Horse vaulting is insane in all the best ways! I love it!
I used to journal and I have used a fountain pen. I’m the person with all the ink stains.
I love this life you’re building for yourself.
I hope so too! Vaguely worried about injuries but it would be so cool to just get to try! (Fingers crossed…)
That’s me too! I’m learning slowly. :P
Thank you! <3
What a beautiful place to hike.
I used to love writing with a fountain pen. Now I guess I just blog.
Horse vaulting? Ok. Please share pics.
It was so pretty over there! *-*
I’ve been doing a little hybrid of both lately — it’s been fun! :D
If I do start it, it’ll probably be in January + barring any catastrophic injuries, I will def be sharing photos! :D
Look at those STUNNING views from your hikes! Just WOW!!! It reminds me a little bit of the Lake District in the UK. I’ve been there a LOT the last year and a half, and it’s just so so nice to be out in a place like that!
so there are actually PEN shows??? See I would love that. I have way too many pens/journals/stickers/ stamps that I end up not using. I put all my empty journals in a box and stuck several labels on there stating “NO YOU DO NOT NEED ANOTHER JOURNAL”. it doesn’t work. I’ve bought 3 this year and stumbled on another box during my de-cluttering with several more unused journals… but yeah. I’d be going to that show for sure hahaha!
My summer wasn’t great, but I’m still trying to find something good in every day. This year is kind of a wash. However, I’m doing two more non-home parkruns in the next few weeks and will meet up with parkrun friends at one of them in Germany (Dortmund). I’m heading to Malaga again to meet up with my stepmom and then I’ll have my left foot surgery.
Ooo, I’d love to visit there someday! *-*
I never knew until recently, but it was so much fun! So much stuff I wanted to buy though, so def dangerous to the wallet, haha. I love that you have labels saying to not buy any more (it’s so hard to resist!).
I’m really sorry! :( This year has definitely been a rough one. I hope things improve for you soon + that you have fun in Germany/Malaga!!
Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: September 2025
Your photos are gorgeous – what beautiful places to hike!
The pen show sounds like fun! I’m a sucker for stationary, pens, journals, etc. I’ve never gone to a show but I would really like to. Looks like you got a great haul!
Thank you!! It was so beautiful out there! *-*
It really was! I definitely had to exercise a lot of restraint, hehehe.
The Pen show sounds right up my alley! I love scrapbooking and journaling. I have not written with a fountain pen before though.
ShootingStarsMag recently posted…Upcoming Book Releases I Want to Read (Fall/Halloween)
It was so fun checking everything out! :D (Just dangerous to the wallet tho, haha.) I’ve since found a couple stationery/junk journal meetups in the area!
Gotta love those North Cascades hikes! Glad you got to spend some time in the mountains. That picture of the flowers on the Mount Rainier hike is beautiful – there’s something about the colour of that paintbrush and the heather contrasting with the greenery.
Andy G recently posted…Being Outdoors, September 2025
It’s so gorgeous out there! :] The PNW is one of my favorite places to hike/camp in/explore + I’m definitely hoping to go back again sometime — my friend and I have been floating the idea of backpacking to Enchanted Valley for a while! (We were gonna go in 2020 but it was the month right after lockdown so we had to postpone. :( )
Farrah recently posted…Ultimate Coffee Date: November 2025
Wow those hiking photos are gorgeous! We spent the first part of September in Glacier NP and I still can’t stop talking about it (or sharing photos!) it was definitely a huge highlight of my year.
Ahh, Glacier NP is super high up there on my list of places I’d love to visit someday!! *-* I’m so glad you got to go! Hoping to in the next few years. :]