Hi there! I am so glad you found me! My mission is to empower you to #TakeYourTimeOff and explore the world. I started this blog as a way to keep family and friends in the loop when I went on a 3-week trip to Asia in 2011. Although I’ve always enjoyed traveling, it wasn’t until a trip to Peru in 2012 that I started to think about ways to make travel a… Read More
[Mt Baker, Sep 4, 2022] Chain Lakes Loop trail has it all – gorgeous views of Mt Baker and Mt Shuksan as well as a few beautiful alpine lakes along the way. The biggest challenge with it was picking a starting point and direction. Many people start this hike at Artist Point, which was where I started both Huntoon Point and Ptarmigan Ridge from. After reading a ton of Alltrails reviews, I… Read More
[Mt Baker, Sep 3, 2022] For my first full day at Mt Baker, I wanted to do the longer of the two trails on my list – Ptarmigan Ridge. It gets you ridiculously close to Mt Baker. However, it’s almost 12 miles roundtrip and the elevation gain is almost 2,500 ft. In other words, it’s not an easy trail! The trail began at the same spot, Artist Point, as yesterday’s little hike… Read More
[Deming, WA, Sep 2, 2022] For Labor Day 2022, I finally visited a national forest that had been on my list for almost a year – Mt Baker. Hiding near the Canadian border just 2 hours North of Seattle, Mt Baker is best known as a ski resort. The ski area is home to the world’s greatest recorded snowfall in one season, 1,140 inches (95 ft or 29 m), during the 1998–99… Read More
Colorado is a beautiful state with a lot of amazing scenery to enjoy. You could easily spend a month here. This itinerary is a giant clock-wise loop starting and ending in Denver. It focuses on two of Colorado’s national parks – Rocky Mountain and Black Canyon of the Gunnison – with the classic mountain resorts of Aspen and Vail sprinkled in-between. There is a precarious drive to a 14-er in there, too…. Read More
[Estes Park / Rocky Mountain National Park, Jul 30, 2022] Finally, the day this entire trip was centered around arrived. It was time to run 13.1 miles in Estes Park, just outside Rocky Mountain National Park. The only problem? We were all tired from all the hiking, and severely undertrained! And with the course being at altitude with significant amount of elevation gain for 3 miles straight, we were in for a… Read More