This fall I was lucky enough to make a trip to Australia to visit my sister, Bri, who has decided to call Brisbane home. Now in the Southern Hemisphere, fall is the beginning of summer, so a trip to the beach was mandatory - to me anyways. The main beach options from Brisbane are to head north to an area known as the Sunshine Coast, or south to the beaches near the city of Gold Coast. I never realized that the Gold Coast was actually a city! I thought it just referred to a stretch of beaches, but apparently Gold Coast is the second most populous city in the state of Queensland. Anyways, we decided to visit both areas, first with a trip south to Currumbin and then with a trip north to Caloundra.
Read moreA Visit to the San Juan Islands
Just got back from a much needed trip to the San Juan Islands. I say much needed because a) we're always antsy to travel and b) this trip was the first vacation Justin's gotten in the six months since he started his residency program. Bummer that it was just one week, but we'll take that over no break at all! A week is too short for an international trip (at least in our opinion) and so we looked closer to home and chose the San Juan Islands, located off the coast of Washington.
Read moreTraveling Without Regrets
All we want to do is read...
Have you ever gotten back from a trip and realized you could have made more of it? That you could have had a richer experience? I hate that and sadly it's happened to us more than once. A few months ago we traveled to Mexico and stayed in the beach town of Playa Del Carmen. It's super close to Cozumel so we were going to go over there to dive. We didn't end up going. Instead, we pretty much just sat in our hostel reading books and eating cheap food from the mini mart down the road. We're still filled with shame just thinking about it!
Read moreAdventure Misery: Is It Worth It?
Justin's toes rubbed raw after hiking the Narrows
Ever wonder why we do this kind of stuff? Why you do this kind of stuff? Seriously. We could just drive somewhere epic, but we choose to walk for days. We could be at home going out for a nice dinner and coming home to a hot shower, but instead we cook some ramen at the end of a long day and crawl into our sleeping bags caked in sweat. There's blisters, rain, intense heat, unexpected snow storms, and usually some serious B.O. I've lost toe nails, hoisted a pack onto bruised hips day after day, woken up to find ice sheets on the inside of our tent from our condensation, and nearly cried a few times. I don't know about you guys, but we do it because we can't imagine how boring our lives would be if we always did things the easy way - only focused on living a comfortable life.
Read moreTwo Days in the Enchantments
We left Friday evening and drove up to Leavenworth (WA) which is the nearest town to the Enchantments. The Enchantments is not a loop, so it can be hiked either direction from two different trailheads. We decided to hike straight into the Upper Enchantments via the Stuart Lake trailhead since this route reduces the total elevation gain by 2,600 ft. The bad part is that you have to climb Aasgard Pass, which rises 1,900 ft in less than a mile. Regardless of which route you take, to reach even one lake the minimum price is a seven mile hike with at least a 4,400 ft elevation gain. The Enchantments are not for the faint of heart.
Read moreTen Tips for Backpacking the Enchantments
This October we had the privilege of backpacking part of the Enchantments, a series of alpine lakes located in Washington. They were so magnificent that we decided to compile a list of tips to encourage other people to get out and experience them!
Read moreEating My Way Through Brisbane
A month ago I decided to take a rather impromptu trip to Australia to visit my sister, Bri, who lives in Brisbane. I'd visited her when she lived in Perth and we'd eaten our way around the city. We had delicious Aussie breakfasts like eggs and avocado on toast, decadent coffees, and visited a fish and chip shop in which sheets of newspaper were laid on our table onto which the chips were poured. That was three years ago and I was determined to make a trip out to see her life in Brisbane. When she found out I was coming she assured me that like before, we'd eat our way across the city.
Read moreImpressions of India
Riotous colors, sweeping architecture with an intricacy that has been lost by the modern world, sleek displays of wealth and burgeoning technology. And yet in the same day, images of desperate poverty, a constant scent of manure and sweat, piles of garbage getting trampled down in the street. This extreme juxtaposition will remain my greatest impression of India. What a country. It has it all - both good and bad - and managed to flood me with almost every emotion. Wonder, fear, sadness, helplessness, anger, excitement.
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