Well, I might as well post our last Hawaii trip roundup as we are delayed getting back to Alaska from all our holiday family time and I need a distraction from that stress … Anyway, our last stop in Hawaii was the Big Island with a triple purpose of bagging another state high point, exploring…
Maui was our first stop on our November Hawaii tour … and sadly, we only planned 2.5 days there. People come to Maui for the balmy ocean air, stupidly perfect sunsets and dancing palm trees. And we did that. But our main Maui purpose included none of that. Marking our 56th National Park, we were…
I gave fair warning that I’d be posting all about our first-ever trip to Hawaii in several posts!!! So here goes the first one. And a second warning: it’s long and I am sharing a gazillion pictures. As I said, Justin’s mom instigated the trip, saying she wanted to celebrate her 70th birthday in Hawaii…
Currently living/working: We spent the first half of November in Alaska, and the second half in Hawaii! We purposely stacked our work projects so that our time in Hawaii would be 90% blissfully free of any work. And when we hit the eject button from Alaska on 11/16, we stuffed away our puffies and long…
43 Augusts ago, I came into this world. My parents said I came out screaming and feisty, which is not unlike me at 43. I am spunky and my indoor voice is around 100 decibels. But I digress. I’ve done a lot of reflecting in the past few years. Way more than I ever have.…
Currently living/working: We’re still maintaining a dizzying schedule of guiding (Justin), cleaning toilets/outhouses (mainly me) and tons of freelance content creation project (mainly me). This is all part of the Alaska norm—work a harried summer schedule, get ALL the outdoor projects done before the snow hits, and spend as much time outside playing as possible,…
How many of you thought “dipnetting” had something to do with chewing tobacco? As with so many Alaskan things, you probably wouldn’t know the term unless you live or visit here frequently. Dipnetting is a type of fishing. Available to Alaska residents only, you use a large diameter net to dip into a river and…
If we could have predicted anyone who would come to visit us in Alaska, it would be Justin’s sister and her wife! So it’s no surprise that Jamie & Rachel officially kicked off our summer as our first visitors. These two are natural adventure travelers and really didn’t need us to “guide” them, as…
Currently living/working: We’ve been consistently full with contract work all of March. And actually, we’re trying to stay ahead—or at least on top of it—since we know we’ll be traveling most of April. With that being said, we’ve also been getting out to play during our longer and snowy days. So win-win for work-life balance…
If you look at a relief map of Alaska, it’s clear it’s a massive land full of glaciers and mountains. In fact, there are 30 different mountain ranges and 100,000 glaciers (only 616 are officially named)! Justin and I are lucky enough to live outside of Denali National Park with the Alaska Range in our…
Currently living/working: It’s still been quieter work-wise around these parts with a long lead out for deadlines, but it’s been an adequate balance of paying work and fun! Current mood: Now that the bright orb is back in the sky for more than fleeting moments and we’ve enjoyed more much-needed snowfall, how could I not…
Currently living/working: It was a quieter month, but I appreciated the balance of it. We have several projects underway, but we had zero deadlines all of January, which made it more relaxed (but it also means I tend to procrastinate more). And shouldn’t be surprising, we are still at our cabin in Healy; in fact,…
Most of you all know we are cat people. But in Alaska, it’s all about the dogs. Alaskan Husky is the unofficial breed of “sled dogs” here (Siberian Husky might be the other breed you’ve heard of), and there are plenty of dog teams all around the area. Dog sledding, also known a “mushing,” is…
I wrote a “Gear Testing 101” blog post back in 2018 about how we penetrated the world of gear writing back in 2013, and the ins and outs of the business, but I thought it’d be fun to revisit some details. As Justin & I wrapped up 2020, I realized about 70% of our workload…
Today is winter solstice, the first “official” day of winter. (Although, it’s very much been Jack Frost here for months, as evidenced by the snow cover since mid-October and several days of below zero temps already. But I digress.) Solstice in Alaska also distinguishes the extreme variance of seasonal daylight. Winter solstice marks the shortest…
Currently living/working in: We are happily in Alaska, where winter is in full swing. Work is busy! And by work, I mean the multiple projects/jobs we are juggling. In fact, I feel like this deserves a list-type snapshot with some of the bigger, more pressing deadlines (actually helps me see the big picture too!) Backpacker…
Remember a few days ago when I announced I am a PUBLISHED AUTHOR?? Here’s the thing. Between Each Step has been SEVERAL years in the making, from the time we hiked, to the time I started writing the manuscript, to the time it hit your bookshelf (that’s me happily assuming you’ve pre-ordered it …). Bottom…
On Feb. 5, 2016, I announced on the blog that I was getting serious about book writing. The post was part-reflective, part-goal-making, but I fully recognized that the process would be glacially slow and I ended the post by saying: “Wish me luck. Maybe I’ll have a book written by 2020.” Oddly enough, we are…
Here’s one of the many truths about Alaska living: the standards for fresh fruits and veggies are quite low, availability can ebb and flow, and “in-season” produce doesn’t really exist in Alaska. #alaskaproblems Often, the shelves of store-bought produce are empty, and I guess I kind of expected that. When we do come upon stocked…
We’ve all been pretty grounded lately and sticking to local areas, but in the largest state in the US (Texas can fit in Alaska 2.5 times), “staying local” is really a misnomer! So when Justin & I were coming up with a mini-trip to put in the books for this summer, we opted to drive…