On March 28, J & I will add our 14th state to our growing list of places we’ve lived: New Mexico!! Though our permanent residency remains in Colorado (made really official by changing our driver’s license and plates this week), we are heading to New Mexico for a 6-week contract job. This time around, we…
This week has been very status quo because we’ve been playing the role of adults in charge of a home–taking care of doctor’s and dentist’s appointments (I type as my mouth is numb), car registration/oil change, prepping taxes, freelance writing project deadlines, cat-sitting … This is what I call the opposite of fun and it…
J & I went for round 2 of winter camping 101 by hitting up Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado this week. I should clarify that J is very much into this winter camping thing, while I am still easing in and convincing myself that I like it. To be safe, we car camped at Moraine…
Currently living/working in: Still “unjobbing” in Colorado!! We are very thankful we have lots of choices for spring/summer jobs (yes, there have been rejections mixed in there; we are not that awesome). But, we are just about the most indecisive couple out there, so choices=hard decisions. Current mood: Living month to month like we do is equally…
Last weekend, J & I went on our fourth Colorado backcountry hut trip–the second for this season–with J’s sister and wife. This time, we hit Point Breeze Cabin, which is actually privately owned, but still booked through the 10th Mountain Division Hut System. Jamie & Rachel booked the entire hut, which sleeps 8, for us…
When I was researching writing retreats for my book on Te Araroa, I was completely overwhelmed by the quantity and variety of retreats offered. Some lasted just a weekend. Some lasted longer. Some were local. Some were international. Some included food. Some didn’t. Some included lodging. Some didn’t. Eventually I weeded through the mountain of…
I have something a little different on the blog today … it is an interview with someone about their first-time trip to the good ol’ ’Merica. Can you imagine coming to America for the first time? What would be your first impressions? Our Kiwi friends Max & Lyn took a 6-week road trip around the…
Sadly, I am bidding farewell to New Zealand today. I am extremely pleased with my book-writing accomplishments and plan to write a full post about the retreat, etc, but for the time being, I have a report on one more NZ excursion: Milford Sound! Even though J & I had been to Milford Sound last…
Greetings from New Zealand! I am doing well … busy writing, practicing yoga, writing, writing, biking, hiking, writing, practicing yoga, writing … you get the picture. And if you don’t, this is what it looks like. In between the retreat, my fellow writers and I are enjoying grand adventures around Wanaka. I thought I’d give…
Hello from New Zealand! I didn’t want to make any promises about posting, but I thought I’d chronicle my time so far. My retreat starts Monday in Wanaka, but I planned my first 2 days to stay in Queenstown. Queenstown is a little crazy and I don’t get involved with the real hoopla, but I…
If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, or if you are my “real-life” friend, you would know I am a writer. I have a degree in English and spent the better part of my traditional career as a medical writer. I do a lot of freelance writing, too, for magazines, blogs, and…
Our contest giveaway has ended and we have 2 winners!! The winner of the grand prize pack is … Sonya Bryer Sanderson!!! The winner of our second place prize pack is … Robert Debevoi!!! Sonya and Robert, we’ve sent you both e-mails, so please e-mail us back with your mailing address to receive your prize…
***Three days left!!! Don’t miss out on entering our giveaway contest three posts back*** Currently living/working in: “Unjobbing” in Colorado!! Unjobbing is a term I recently discovered that is apparently used by A LOT of people. It was first coined in a self-published book by Michael Fogler in 1996. It perfectly describes us: living the life we want…
***Don’t miss out on entering our giveaway contest two posts back*** J & I did our third 10th Mountain Division Hut trip in Colorado. Our first was to Polar Star Inn in 2012 and we did a second trip in 2013 to Shrine Mountain Inn. J’s sister Jamie (SILAdventure) and her partner Rachel (DocDoc) are all about…
***Don’t miss out on entering our giveaway contest one post back*** As we planned, we did a lot of snowshoeing and XC skiing this week while staying at the cabin. We mainly stuck to local trails in Pike and Arapaho National Forests. There was also one hut trip which will get a separate post. Thought…
We were so happy with the outcome of New Zealand’s Te Araroa Speaking Tour! We are so grateful to all our friends and family that came out to support us. We are also so appreciative of our sponsors for the support/giveaways. Thank you Hi-Tec, GSI Outdoors, Gregory, Superfeet, Big Agnes, Sawyer, Princeton Tec and Therm-a-rest. During…
Did you know that 9.5% of our U.S. population is practicing yoga? That’s up from 6.1% in 2007. This makes yoga roughly as popular as golf. J & I are part of that 9.5%. That’s right, J has been taking yoga!!! Believe it or not, nearly 28% of those practicing yoga are males. I…
We have wrapped up our Te Araroa Speaking Tour. I plan to do a full recap soon, but let me just say it was more successful than we ever imagined and we are trying to figure out how to launch a longer tour. With the presentations behind us, we intend to regroup, switch gears and…
J & I took our first snowshoeing trip of the season on Saturday. We headed to Echo Lake/Chicago Lakes in Arapaho National Forest with a friend (Grant) we met during our Wilderness First Responder course. The Echo Lake Trailhead is a little over an hour from Denver … except when you decide to go on…
Try to contain your excitement … our 8-stop New Zealand Te Araroa speaking tour is picking back up! We only have 3 stops left and they are here in Colorado (for now … future continuation of speaking tour is a possibility). These last 3 stops are pretty significant. The registrations show that 280+ people have…