a year of travel through ornaments

If you can believe it, I almost didn't do a Christmas tree this year. Things are a bit complicated by the fact that Tom and I are in a long distance marriage again. For one, I wasn't feeling like decorating just for myself. And it so happens that our Christmas ornaments are at his place…well not all them.

Somehow, I ended up with the ornaments that we've picked up during our travels this past year. I did decide to do a tree, knowing that it would be a bit sparse, but it turns out that we accumulated enough ornaments this year to cover a 6 foot tree! Who knew? Especially since we only picked up ornaments at about half our travel destinations. Here's a peak at some of the ones from my tree this year.

UTAH
I loved this Mighty Five Trip through Utah, hiking through all five of Utah's national parks in 7 days. We picked up 3 ornaments while we were there.

This first one is from our adventures in Zion National Park, definitely one of our favorite national parks of all time. And I still can't believe that we did one of America's most dangerous hikes together. That was a bucket list moment that comes with bragging rights and now we have this ornament to remember it by. 

This ornament that we picked up in Bryce Canyon does the best job of capturing the spirit of our day there. It was handmade by the Sioux Native Americans. The teepee and horse are perfect since we took a mule ride through the canyon and slept in a teepee that night. These are the crazy kind of adventures that we live for right now! 

And last, but not least is this ornament from Capitol Reef to remind us of the awe we felt getting to see the petroglyphs there.


MASSACHUSETTS
Lucky for us, Husband is currently based in Boston, giving us access to some great art museums. We picked up this Rembrandt ornament as a reminder. With Wednesday nights being free at the Fine Arts Museum in Boston and the fact that we can get into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for only $5 for the two us...we are frequent visitors of both.

We also made several visits to the North Shore of Massachusetts to explore the towns of Cape Ann and to the South Shore of Massachusetts to explore the towns of Cape Cod.

RHODE ISLAND

Took a daytrip to Rhode Island and ferried over to Block Island. Had foggy and sunny views in Block Island, saved a turtle, ate lots of lobstah rolls, and rode on moped for the first time! There's no better way to remember a new england island visit than with a buoy ornament. 

MAINE 

Maine is my favorite state to travel through and it's easy to see why. Camping along a magical lake and hiking with my pup in Acadia National Park + visiting through the nearby mountain town of Bar Harbor. And let's not forget having the best and cheapest lobster dinners in Portland. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE 

The {white} mountains were calling to us to come to New Hampshire! Climbed Mount Washington-the highest peak in the Northeast and visited the famous flume gorge while we were there. And I will never forget the black bears right outside of our tent. What a Perfect Trip this was. 

CHICAGO

I love this Chicago ornament that does such a great job at capturing the city's iconic buildings. But it is missing the The Bean ;) 

WASHINGTON

My favorite adventure of 2016 was our anniversary trip through the Pacific Northwest. 

The first snow of the year in Mount Rainier National Park! We also managed to encounter quite a bit of hail and torrential rains while we were there too. 

Also, seeing Roosevelt Elk in Olympic National Park! 

And let's not forget about our time in Seattle or the cutest German town of Leavenworth. 

MEXICO

I still have lots to share from this magical time we spent through Mexico. So lookout for more coming soon because there were lots of Maya ruins, snorkeling, jungle roaming, and visiting a Wonder of the World. Because this Mexico trip was our Christmas gift to each other this year, we of course had to have Christmas ornaments to remember it by. Loving the uniqueness of these hand painted ceramic ones we picked out. 

Christmas ornaments are my favorite type of souvenir when traveling. When the year comes to an end, you have a tree full of memories. I love this tradition or ours and that every year our tree reflects the best moments from the year.