french canada :: quebec city

Oh Quebec! 

This city with it's cobblestone streets, dramatic châteaus, and gourmet cafés that is right in the heart of French Canada feels even more french than France does. I know that sounds crazy, but it's true.  

Everywhere you turn there is a piece of history and culture. And while so many modern cities are losing that, Quebec revels in it. It's a slice of Europe right here in North America. 

neighbors to the north

The last time we visited Canada (VIDEO!:), it was a whirlwind bucket list kind of trip. We hung from one of the tallest buildings in the world, visited Niagara Falls from behind and above with a helicopter ride. We even had our hearts stolen by Toronto. But with all that, we haven't had a chance to make it back since.

This year Canada is celebrating their sesquicentennial, 150 years! And we thought we would help them celebrate. So Tom and I (and the pup) took the quickest weekend trip to French Canada with 3 days spent visiting Quebec City. Between travel, we enjoyed half a day in the city on either end of the trip and then one full day in between. I'll be sharing more details about our Canada trip later this week, but for today, I thought I'd share some random photos all from my iPhone.

a week of wear: vol 3

I've been doing a little more shopping lately and have been enjoying putting together bright fun outfits for this warmer weather that are still professional enough for grad school. Per usual, I live in university issued scrubs most days, but once a week I gain control over my wardrobe. So here's to a fun summer inspired week of wear...it only took me a month to wear all these outfits! 

the cost of visiting Florida's national parks

If you're a regular reader around here, then you may have noticed how much we love the national park system. And it's our goal to visit all 59 of America's national parks. This will probably take us a decade, but is a fun adventurous goal to have.

Lately, we've started visiting all the parks within a state at once, like hiking through Utah's Mighty Five in Seven Days or Wandering Washington. So it should come as no surprise that we visited all 3 of Florida's parks within as many days. One thing I noticed compared to other national park visits is that we had to do a ton of research with trying to sort out our options for each park. Florida's national parks are unique and don't have as much hiking emphasis as others, so it can get costly with paying for activities in each park. I thought I'd share our budget friendly cost breakdown for visiting each national park. 

a camper's guide to dry tortugas national park

With our trip through the sunshine state, we visited all 3 of Florida's national parks. We spotted alligators in the everglades and went boating in biscyane, but by far our favorite was our visit to Dry Tortugas National Park.

This national park is actually an island off the coast of Florida that just so happens to be surrounded by the world's 3rd largest coral barrier reef. Even though the island is closer to Cuba than it is to the US, it used to serve as a major line of defense in the 1800's so it's chalked full of history. 

Dry Tortugas is one of the least visited national parks. This isn't because it's not worth visiting. Trust me, it is. But the only way to access the park is by boat or by seaplane. Add in the fact that the island has no electricity, no internet, no fresh water---most people only visit as a day trip. But Tom and I pride ourselves on not being most people. And a night of dry camping on a secluded island sounded like paradise to us. We spent our time laying out on the beach and searching the fort for hidden treasures. So I thought it would be a fun idea to share what we learned. 

every point counts

I'm doing all the things this week with grad school. I have so many projects due (crown & bridge preps + denture set-ups) and an exam that I will definitely be cramming for tonight as I haven't even started studying. Yet, I'm taking the time to write this quick post because I wanted to acknowledge hitting a big milestone with dental school. 

a week of wear: florida edition

I'm normally stuck in scrubs all day every day. While I kind of hate it, one thing it's taught me is that clothes are meant to have a function, not just be pretty. So with packing for our recent trip to Florida, I made sure to not only consider the cuteness factor, but also what would function best.

I literally packed based around what activities we were doing each day. And I was much happier with the outcome, so I thought it'd be fun to share a vacation edition of a week of wear.