Touring Tennesse

In my mind, there is no better way to celebrate than with a trip. Anyone else agree? We pretty much travel to mark every good occasion. And last week was one worth celebrating.

After presenting and defending his doctoral thesis, Tom put the finishing touches on his dissertation last Wednesday, which means that he is officially finished with his PhD in finance. Woohoo! Then on Thursday, we hopped in the car and made the 8-hour drive to Nashville Tennessee because first thing Friday morning, I took the first half of my dentist licensing exam and PASSED! We have so much to celebrate and be grateful for after all this stress being melted away, so instead of driving straight home Saturday-we decided to make a trip of it and add in a few stops through Tennessee with camping and hiking our way through some of the state parks there. It was only 24 hours, but we made the best of this time and took the opportunity to see something new. Here’s a glimpse of our time Touring Tennessee.

sunset at cholla cactus garden

I'm a bit overdue to share more from our spring break trip to the Great Southwest. I thought I'd do things a little out of order by starting with our last stop in Joshua Tree National Park first. Because when it comes down to it, I'm a girl who would prefer a sunrise to a sunset any day of the week, but this one has me re-considering.

the great southwest by the numbers

Just back from a week in the Great Southwest where I squeezed every drop of fun out of my spring break. I made it back home at 3AM this morning, so today was an extra-long day for me. It's back to business as usual now, but first, I wanted to share a little taste of our week out west...by the numbers. 

where the neon lights go to die...

Hello from Las Vegas!

We’re currently road-tripping through the west coast for spring break. We’ve already seen so many amazing things and had so many unique experiences that I know there will be lots to share from this trip. So, I’m attempting to blog in real time to kick off sharing our adventures sooner.

winter road trip--the golden circle

our first day in Iceland involved a very jet-lagged very snowy winter road trip that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world! 

autumn road trip: the blue ridge parkway

Tom and I have both been on the parkway dozens of times passing though to here or there. But this time was different. We took the long route and really enjoyed our time hiking, camping, and cruising along the blue ridge parkway. After all, it is America's best drive. 

I think driving the parkway during autumn foliage was the best timing. The leaves hadn't changed too much yet so there was still the perfect contrast of green and changing falling leaves. We overdosed on fall thanks to this road trip with the best stops along the parkway in between. 

Florida Road Trip

One of the best parts for me about this space is having the chance to reminisce. And I've especially loved being able to look back and relive an entire trip simply by reading through our itinerary, so I want to share one here for all of our big trips. 

After 3 years of putting it on the back burner, the stars aligned and we were finally able to make this trip fit into our schedule and our budget. I'm sharing our exact itinerary here so I don't forget a single detail of this epic adventure through the Sunshine State. 

Vibrant Valladolid

While visiting the Yucatan in Mexico, we spent the majority of our time along the coast soaking in those crystal blue waters. But we also took the time to go more inland in order to visit some of the larger Maya Ruins. And while we were there, we made the cute city of Valladolid our home base.

This city surprised us and turned out to be a total show stopper. We had initially planned it just to be a place to rest our heads at night, but each day we found ourselves making excuses to spend as much time as possible exploring this city.

Climbing Coba

Yep, we climbed this! 
Still can't believe we followed in the path of thousands before us by climbing the tallest Maya pyramid in the Yucatan of Mexico. 

Figured that it was a good time to warm things up around this little space by sharing more on our time in Mexico. It was the quickest trip, but we managed to explore several sets of Maya Ruins. While Coba is the least popular of all the ruins we visitied, it was also a favorite of ours, so I thought I'd start the recaps here. 

Coba truly was a city and the paths we walk there today are the original scabe (white roads) that the Maya people followed. Most of the complex has yet to be excavated, which adds to the wonder of this gorgeous place. Because what you can see there just scratches the surface of the world that was once here. 

merry in mexico

I will forever be in love with our holiday tradition of gifting each other an adventure for Christmas. We started doing this years ago right after we got married. While I love giving and receiving all the things at Christmastime, nothing beats creating memories and once in a lifetime experiences that we will have forever. 

snow, rain, and hail at Mt. Rainier

We encountered every weather condition you can have during our time in Mt Rainier. Well everything except sunshine. As we went up and down the mountain, we alternated between torrential downpours, wind, fog, hail, and snow. Even still, I would never trade in this amazing day. Yes, I would have appreciated a little sun (and warmth), but nothing could stunt the beauty of Mount Rainer National Park. 

Thanksgiving in Tulum

I'm pretty sure that Thanksgiving 2016 is one for the record books! Our Christmas gift to each other this year is a road trip through Mexico. But with December already being so booked up, the timing just worked out better to go over Thanksgiving.

In case you're wondering where Tulum is, it's along the Yucatan Peninsula, an hour and a half South of Cancun. It has the same gorgeous beaches and year round perfect weather that you'll find in places like Cancun or Playa del Carmen. But there are a whole lot less tourists and big resorts. It's definitely got more of a local feel, which is why we fell in love.

Lake Crescent

Wanderlust Wednesday-Week 32
During our anniversary road trip through the PNW, the place I was looking forward to visiting most was Olympic National Park. In fact, our main motivation for flying across the country stemmed from this desire. 

day trip diaries: the north cascades

Wanderlust Wednesday-Week 31

After our time in Seattle, the next stop along our anniversary PNW Road Trip was North Cascades National Park. We originally excluded it from our itinerary, but at the last minute, we realized that we had to go. Because how could we be so close to a national park and not visit it? I knew we would regret it if we didn't stop by, so we ditched our last day in the city and took a day trip out to the north cascades instead. So glad that we did. 

Hiking Zebra Slot Canyon in Underwear

Wanderlust Wednesday-Week 19
We do a lot of hiking, but this trek was full of big risks and lots of firsts for us. 
it was our first time hiking in a slot canyon
it was the first time experiencing a flash flood and the first time hiking in underwear

How did this happen? Let's start at the beginning shall we?

During our Mighty 5 Southwest Road Trip, we decided to take the scenic route through grand staircase-escalante monument in order to hike zebra slot canyon.  

Mule Rides in Bryce Canyon

Wanderlust Wednesday-Week 15 

Day 2 of our Mighty 5 Road Trip landed us in Bryce Canyon National Park. After this crazy hike and all our adventures in Zion the day before, we were feeling exhausted by the time we arrived. Thus, we decided to give our hiking boots a little break and do a mule ride through the canyon.  

There are a lot of options for horseback and mule rides around Bryce Canyon, but Canyon Trail Rides is the ONLY company authorized by the National Park Service to enter the actual canyon. We did their half day ride, which takes you through the most iconic spots in Bryce Canyon including Queen's Garden, Fairyland Loop, and the Peek-a-Boo Loop. 

Adventures in Zion National Park

They say to save the best for last, but on our mighty 5 road trip, Zion was the first place we visited and also our favorite. We saw mule deer, desert cottontails, and rattlesnakes. We did some epic hikes and stayed at the best campground. Our time at Zion was perfect and I'm already trying to figure out a way for us to get back there. 

Mighty 5 Southwest Road Trip

Wanderlust Wednesday-Week 13
I cannot believe the amazing week we just had adventuring in Utah. It definitely earned it's title as the best travel destination in the world this year. We climbed mountains, rode horses, and submerged in waterfalls. We trekked over 40 miles on foot through the desert, hiking our way through all 5 of Utah's national parks! 

Lake Tahoe

lake tahoe is without a doubt one the best places that I've ever been 

the smell of fresh pine trees in the air 

mountainjays flying everywhere 

and the clearest blue waters 

tahoe is pure serene perfection

it's no wonder they call it the lake of the sky

Old Sacramento

After spending an amazing morning air-balloning in Napa, we hopped in the car and drove to Sacramento. Sacramento is only a hour drive from Napa and it's also the state capital of California. So even though it wasn't originally on the itinerary, we decided that it could be a great place to be. It's very much outside of my comfort zone to deviate from our scheduled plans, but there always needs to be some spontaneity involved when traveling.