We welcomed A LOT of friends/family this summer and fall, with the culmination being Justin’s mom (and her friend) specifically timed with Justin’s bday. (For the record, our friend Sarah made this sign for Justin since I am so terrible at creating bday fanfare). The selfish perk of having visitors is the excuse to check…
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…
As hiking guides, Justin and I are always trying to expand our knowledge. It’s easy to be a connoisseur of trees, since we only have 5 types here. We’ve also been gaining traction on wildflowers, although with more than 650 species, we will probably only ever scratch the surface. Mosses, lichen, birds and mushrooms seem…
I had this thought in my head for awhile: We needed to take a spring trip somewhere in Alaska before we kick it into high gear for the summer. Our neighbors Sarah & Matt often take a springtime trip to Homer with the same purpose, but also because they are self-proclaimed bird nerds. During this…
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…
Geographically speaking, Alaska beats any part of the Lower 48. With only so many roads connecting Alaska, the attempt to see it all seems futile. We obviously hope to get to a few far-reaching corners during our lifetime, but we’ve probably only covered 6.4 percent of the state so far! This is why we were…
I have a lot of blog posts backlogged, and I’m hoping to post regularly and catch up in the next few weeks!! Let’s start with the fact that we checked off another national park: Kenai Fjords National Park in Alaska. Quick note: Some might remember we have a goal of visiting all the national parks,…
Big news folks … We closed the “van life” chapter of our life, as we sold our 2010 Roadtrek!!!! It was a bittersweet decision, but since we actually spent most of the last 2 years in one domicile in Alaska, it felt like we were moving further away from the “part-time van life nomad” and…
Well, for all the stressing, researching, calling Canadian government/public health and asking others’ advice, I can now say our drive north through Canada to transport our camper van, trailer & us back to Alaska was easy peasy! We drove through Canada in FOUR days, a record for us. Justin’s first trip driving north in 2003…
Wait, we’re already a few days into May?? I believe I’m fashionably late with my April Currently post! Currently living/working: Home has been where the toothbrush is! After staying put in Alaska for the past 14 months, we’ve been on the move most of April, and it’s been hectic! From AK to NJ (me) to…
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…
My trail memoir, Between Each Step, released 11/15/20, which means today it turns 1 month old! And because my book is now our bootstrapped side business, we’ve been busy bees during this first month. Justin has been a serious rock star partner—he has played the simultaneous role of secretary, office manager, sales manager, accountant, shipping…
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…
Currently living/working in: We spent the first part of the month holed up in our cabin in Healy, Alaska, juggling writing deadlines. Then we flew to the East Coast for 3 Leave No Trace cleanup events (Jacksonville 11/17, Philadelphia 11/23 and NYC—specifically Queens—11/29) as part of the REI Opt Outside / Opt to Act campaign.…
I’m posting blogs in chronological order, so bear with me as I catch up to the present! Our 2019 Leave No Trace/Subaru Zero Landfill Initiative Summer Tour was a huge success. We visited the same 3 national parks that are striving toward zero landfill (Grand Teton, Denali & Yosemite). Leave No Trace gives us a…
We finished our Leave No Trace/Subaru Zero Landfill Tour on Sept. 30 in Yosemite National Park, and even though Sept. 30 was only 19 days ago, it feels like 19 weeks! I figured I better post my Yosemite Wrap Up sooner than later (and full tour wrap up next). Everyone loves Yosemite. But as I…
***Sorry for the delay! We were climbing to the top of Nevada (blog post forthcoming!)*** Currently living/working in: We just finished up our final Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Initiative outreach destination in Yosemite National Park and we’re in route to Denver/Boulder, where we’ll be for about 9 days. Then off to our new cabin…
We are already halfway through our last leg of the Zero Landfill Tour, in Yosemite National Park. But I couldn’t go without doing a wrap up from our time in Alaska! 34 days 26 events Mileage Driven: 5,250 miles Nights Camping: 6 Miles Hiked: 45.2 Miles Paddled: 10.5 Denali Sightings: 6 Black Bears Spotted: 3…
We just made it to Alaska, but before I get too behind, let me recap our first leg of the Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Tour in Wyoming/Idaho (Teton Valley). We really love this area—and are reminded of that each time we return—but our 3 weeks there went way too fast! Official Stats: 21 days…
Currently living/working in: We’re back on the road this summer (until Oct. 15) as the Subaru/Leave No Trace Zero Landfill Team!!! So we’ve been in Teton County, Wyoming/Idaho since mid June (mostly Grand Teton National Park) and are leaving 7/5 to head up to Alaska, then will be in California most of September. Current mood:…