trick or teeth!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN! 

I wish I had an epic halloween share for the day, but that would require having my life organized. Plus, we traded in the traditional halloween celebrations this year for a few days in the mountains instead. More on that later this week. 

autumn camping

I'm just back from a weekend of hiking and camping in the mountains. And while it was nice to wash the campfire smell out of my hair and sleep in an actual bed last night, I already miss it. 

how much does an Alaskan Cruise really cost?

I never would have imagined that we could swing the cost of an Alaskan Cruise at this stage in our lives. Because with the husband and I both in graduate school, we feel fortunate enough to afford a day trip to the beach, yet alone a week long luxury cruise. I've always assumed that an Alaskan Cruise would cost at least $5k. And I was right. It was $5,305.24 to be exact. Thankfully, we found a way to do things on a much smaller budget. 

 Everyone's budget for an Alaskan Cruise will obviously look a bit different depending on the type of room you chose, the time of year (peak vs. shoulder season) you travel, and the types of excursions you chose to do. We held off on taking this cruise for a long time because we thought that we couldn't afford it. And boy were we wrong. I wanted to show how we made things a bit more reasonable by sharing our exact budget here.

Alaskan Anniversary Adventure

I always tell Tom that anniversaries are extra special when you're practicing a long distance marriage the way we do. Simple things that other couples don't have to think about take work for us with being over 700 miles apart on a daily basis. So we were happy to celebrate four years of marriage together in this extra special way with an Alaskan Adventure. 

Since, I've been sharing a lot from our Alaskan Cruise this past week, I thought I would put things into context by detailing our exact itinerary here. Though if I'm honest, I'm mostly cataloguing this for myself so I can always look back and reminisce. Either way, here's our itinerary for a 7 day cruise through Alaska...with a few travel days tossed in. 

facing failure

As is common amongst us millennials, we share everything. Well not everything. We share what others will envy, we create picture perfect facades on instagram, present pretty packages on twitter, and we do it all without telling the whole story. Basically, we share everything, but we don't really share anything at all. 

a week of dental surgery

If you follow my insta-stories, then you know I had the opportunity to do dental surgeries last week. It's one thing to drill on someone's tooth and place a restoration. But it's a completely different story to cut away someone's gum tissue, remove parts of their jaw bone, teeth, and then stitch them back up again!

day trip diaries: juneau

Of all our port stops, we had the longest day in Juneau, but it flew right by with everything we packed in. I must have been exhausted in the moment, but when you're in a new place for such a short period of time, you really learn to appreciate every second of it and really soak in all in. 

  We kicked off our day at Mendenhall Glacier; standing on a beach....at the base of a waterfall...with ice glaciers in view, I'm a fan!

hello ice glacier!

misty fjord

fjord: a long, narrow inlet of the Sea between high cliffs 

As a girl who loves her nature, is always looking for a mountain to climb, a new place of harmony to traverse...I have always wanted to venture to a fjord. Mountains that are literally popping up right out of the sea, no one could dream up a place as glorious as this, yet it exists.   

KETCHIKAN ALASKA

Yea, I had never heard of it either

But it's most known for being Alaska's first city

This place may have boomed with the establishment of the salmon industry, but I still see it as a sleepy little fishing town constantly surrounded by mist and fog and rain. 

Basically, I'm in love. 

a train ride to nowhere

My absolute favorite adventure during our Alaskan Anniversary Adventure was our train ride to nowhere. We followed the White Pass & Yukon Route along the original track that was built back in 1898 during Alaska's Klondike Gold Rush. 

pumpkin cornbread & sweet potato crockpot chili

This is how we celebrate fall in the South...taking classic Southern recipes and adding a taste of Autumn into the mix. 

4th anniversary weekend

With being apart right now in a long distance marriage, it makes marking the milestones extra important. And since we always love to celebrate with experiences, we ended up on an epic Alaskan Anniversary Adventure this year for our big gift to each other a month before our anniversary. But we wanted to acknowledge the actual day too. 

weird places I've lost my wedding ring

Tom and I celebrated four years of marriage at the end of September and husband gave me another wedding band, which I love and will happily add to the stack. But I also think it's kind of funny that was the gift he chose considering how many times and how many places I've lost my engagement ring/wedding band.

 Well, not lost so much as got them stuck in the craziest weirdest places. Here's just a few.