Mt. St. Helens in southern Washington erupted on May 18, 1980. Thirty-seven years and one day later, we climbed that darn volcano! For your history lesson of the day, I will share our newfound knowledge that it all started with a 5.1 magnitude earthquake, which disrupted the volcano with the biggest landslide in recorded history.…
I am so backlogged on blog posts about our epic adventures and tour fun. Bear with me! If all goes accordingly, you may be bombarded with posts this week. We are currently in the Pacific Northwest, making our way south from Washington. We are now rolling in the Superfeet converted Sprinter van (SuperVan). It is…
We are going to squeeze in microadventures throughout our summer speaking tour and it started last weekend when we explored Saguaro National Park in Arizona. In all our years living in Phoenix, we never ventured down to Tucson to explore Saguaro NP for some reason. We drove north to the Grand Canyon a million times, but south?…
This guest post is brought to you by … Justin! This time last year, I was in top shape, putting the final touches of gathering gear for my expedition to Denali. This weekend, I took my first steep climb up my old training mountain with a backpack on. What a year it has been! You…
Besides Justin’s mom, who visited in December, we’ve had 3 other brave souls venture into the boonies this past week to spend time with us. First were our kindred spirits: Paul and Kristen. We call them our kindred spirits for many reasons, but mainly because they are just as keen about sleeping in the dirt…
Thanksgiving is upon us and while the focus is rightfully on quality time with families and friends, you may have noticed another initiative during the past few years: Opt Outside. Green is the new black. The concept was launched by REI in 2015 when the major outdoor retailer announced they would close all 143 shop…
If there is one thing we’ve learned about living in New Mexico, it is that there is no shortage of outdoor opportunities. However, our fall teaching schedule has been a little busier than our springtime teaching schedule was–especially with some weekend work–so escaping has been more difficult. The good news is, Santa Fe National Forest…
Sorry for the radio silence around here! Turns out this working thing is really, really time-consuming. I know you just cursed my name since we typically only work 6 months out of the year, but my defense is that our environmental educator role at Fenton Ranch has us going pretty much nonstop from Monday at…
We bagged our 40th state high point this past weekend: New Mexico’s Wheeler Peak at 13,161 feet. We had planned to do this one last spring when we were living and working here, but the trail was snow-covered through May. With that in mind, we didn’t want to wait too long this fall, as winter…
This week on August 25, 2016, the National Parks Service turned 100!! Visiting National Parks is something J and I have done … a lot. We’ve been to 37 of the 59 parks (yes, we are keeping track) and dozens of the monuments. And as America celebrates this centennial anniversary of the day President Woodrow…
I celebrated my 38th birthday this weekend. Typically I am not a “birthday” celebration kind of gal. To me, it’s just another day. But J and his sisters love celebrating birthdays and making a big deal, so since we have so much family in Denver, it was par for the course. J asked me what…
We hit another high point, this one 10,000 feet lower than our last on King’s Peak: White Butte, North Dakota at 3,506 feet. North Dakota marks our 38th high point. We’ve been pretty impressed with ourselves for having such a “high” number. However, this past weekend, we attended the annual “Highpointer Convention” (yes, it is…
J & I hit our 37th high point, King’s Peak in Utah, at 13,528 feet!! I’m ecstatic for 2 reasons. Number one, this is the highest I’ve been since my pulmonary embolism in 2013. I have always struggled at altitude, but ever since my PE, my lungs struggle just a little bit more, sadly. We…
This past weekend, we explored the highly acclaimed Wind River Range in Bridger National Forest in Wyoming. We hijacked a pre-planned trip with J’s sis, Jamie, and her wifey, Rachel. The short story is that we backpacked 40 miles in 3 days and every mile and every minute lived up to its reputation. But I…
I know the Denali and Alaska blog posts piqued a lot of interest here in May and June, but while Justin was off climbing mountains, I was not just sitting on my butt in Colorado. And while this is a belated post, I still wanted to share. Today we celebrate ‘Murica and I sure do…
Another guest post from Justin (edited by Patrice of course)! My previous mountaineering experiences helped me predict what to expect on Denali, but as with anything, you really don’t know how it’s really going to be until you are wearing the boots yourself. And since I received lots of questions about life on the mountain,…
This is a guest post written by Justin (okay, it was edited by Patrice)! It’s been about two weeks since my 23-day adventure on North America’s highest peak concluded. I think Patrice did a wonderful job piecing together bits of information to keep you all informed on my team’s progress on the mountain, but I…
We have wrapped up our time in Alaska–sadly. I have been here three times and all three times, I fall deeper in love with the state. Justin’s love for Alaska, on the other hand, is rooted in utero. We really should just move here. Someday. In any case, we shared this last bit of our…
Justin badly needed some recovery time following his 23-day Denali expedition. So we went camping and hiking. Yep, apparently more outdoor exposure cures severely sunburnt lips and frost nipped fingers. We spent 3 nights in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, which is the largest national park in America. To give it some scale, it equals six…
So here’s the scoop. Justin did not summit, choosing to turn around about 400 feet from the top. But that is okay by him and me (of course!). It’s really a summit in my mind being so darn close, but whatevs. And, so freakin admirable that he survived 23 days (pretty much a record for…