27 Days in Baja, Mexico 

In case you missed the several times that I might have mentioned it: we spent 27 days in La Ventana/El Sargento, a small hamlet on the Sea of Cortez (east) side of Baja California Sur. We’ve been there twice before because our friends Clara & Shadow moved there in 2018. And since we (I) need to…

Exploring Alaska: Spencer Glacier

I have a penchant for exploring seldom-visited, off-the-beaten-path natural destinations, and since most of Alaska is inaccessible by roads, there’s no shortage of adventures I can dream of. Enter Spencer Glacier. I’ve had Spencer Glacier on my radar since we moved to Alaska. It sits 60 miles Southeast of Anchorage, but you have to take…

Summer 2023 Friend Visitors

We’ve had most of our immediate family for a visit over the last few years since we made Alaska our permanent home, but we had our first set of FRIEND visitors! Pat is one of Justin’s buddies from high school, from the famed Seton Hall Prep Framily, which means that these 2 have been friends…

Currently: July

Currently living/working: We are in the trenches of a very typical Alaskan life: juggling multiple jobs in the long twilight days of latitude 64. Justin guided 16 trips this month! All while squeezing in a press trip and a smattering of cleanings when he could. Meanwhile I guided 14 trips!! And I took on the…

Currently: April

Currently living/working: Neither Justin nor I had any deadlines in April, nor any virtual presentations, nor much cleaning, nor any hours working at the library, so it felt like we didn’t work since we didn’t get paid! But, we were pitching and prepping for future projects, which is a very important piece of the freelance…

Exploring Hawaii: Oahu

Going from Maui to the commercialized capitol island of Oahu was a bit of whiplash, but we were forewarned. The whole purpose of us spending time in Oahu was to visit Pearl Harbor National Memorial, and it was certainly the highlight of our 4-day trip.  It used to be that people just came to the…

Exploring Hawaii: Maui

Our 8 days in Hawai’i in mid January included 4 on Maui and 4 on Oahu, which—let’s be honest—is just never enough time in Hawaii. Since this was our second time on Maui, we had already done the recon work and were armed with an agenda to explore new-to-us areas. As the second largest island…

Off-Season Visitor

(I’m catching on a past event!) I like when visitors trickle in during our off season, as we certainly have more time and energy to host. So we were ecstatic when Justin’s sister, Jamie, decided to take an impromptu trip to Alaska in October! We hadn’t received any significant snowfall nor the true drop in…

Separate Vacations: Tennessee and Oregon

We’ve always considered fall and winter to be our downtime since we have fewer jobs. We always stack writing projects for the winter, but they have sporadic deadlines and can be done from anywhere. So we travel!!!! Usually it’s a hello-goodbye tour to see family, but we also sprinkle in fun trips “outside” (outside=outside Alaska).…

Currently: June

Currently living/working: Definitely in a topsy-turvy phase where Justin and I are passing ships. Justin is guiding for Traverse Alaska pretty much 5 days a week, and when he has off, he’s working through ongoing gear reviews, helping clean the yurt, eyeballing our long list of summer projects or trying to fit in a game…

Currently: May

Currently living/working: We’ve started the summer chapter, where Justin & I will likely work for the next 130 days straight. You know Green Day’s song, “Wake Me Up When September Ends?” That’s when we can take a breath. More specifically and beyond any ongoing writing projects we juggle, Justin is guiding for Traverse Alaska, essentially…

Currently: February

Currently living/working: I’m still in that scheming/pitching/planning groove for future freelance writing projects and working on getting my book on shelves in bookstores. The hustle will forever be the least favorite part of my job, but I’m doing it. We did have a few actual projects with deadlines this month, such as my 2022 Best…