Adventure Highlights of our Year
12/7/22 I have been reflecting a bit on our crazy year now that things have slowed down. This year has been incredible with the places we’ve been able to see; driving almost fully across the country; moving to the East coast; changing jobs; everything all at once. I’ve checked off some new states – Utah, North Dakota, Arizona, and Kansas. I don’t want to just check off experiences. I want to remember them, appreciate them, and document them in every way that we can. So, I’m going to write little snapshots of several highlights of 2022 in no particular order.
5/21/22 Once we got to Arches National Park, it felt like we could enjoy ourselves a bit. It was our first taste of Utah and we quickly realized that Utah National Parks aren’t dog-friendly. We took turns with the dog and went off on our own exploring the trails. We saw Delicate Arch, Double Arch, Tunnel Arch, and so many others! While I was eating one of our backpacking meals in the parking lot, I talked to a guy that came up and said, “Michigan Technological University?” as he looked at our MTU plate; I said, “Yeah?” Turns out he knows a professor there! I guess you find Yoopers everywhere. I appreciate how small of a world it is.
5/28/22 Copper Mountain, CO – The most scenic gas station I’ve ever seen. There was a little park across the way.
5/26/22 Angel’s Landing Trail, Zion National Park, UT – After maybe 6 tries? We landed a permit to hike Angel’s Landing bright and early in the morning. We stopped at our favorite coffee place in Springdale (Deep Creek), joked about missing our time, stressed a little bit, and hiked all the way to the top all while recording the experience. I think this was the most epic hike of my life.
9/3/22 Grayson Highlands State Park, VA – Virginia never ceases to to disappoint us. We made it there for our 46 Climbs summit. Along the way, we saw so many wild ponies and longhorns. It was awesome to see another section of the AT. People call the AT a “green tunnel,” but yet there are such unique sections.
3/5/22 Appalachian Trail Section, MD – Sometimes you get a little excited about Spring weather and go backpacking unprepared for how cold the ground is. That describes the trip in a nutshell. It made it to our highlights because it was our first time backpacking on the AT.
7/2/22 Somewhere near Carlisle, PA – Kealy’s 30th Birthday! I got him a discovery flight through our local flight school. I can’t speak to his experience, so I’ll share mine. We pulled up to this tiny airport – there was literally no one else there other than a guy doing some landscaping work. Eventually, the guy doing the discovery flight arrives. We all walk up to the plane and Kealy gets to learn about pre-flight stuff. As I was looking at the plane, I suddenly got anxious. I realized that I’ve never been in a plane this small. When we took off, my anxiety faded as fast as it came on. It was so cool that Kealy could get a sneak peak of flight school before signing up. I was in awe as we saw views of the valley and mountains. When we landed, Kealy’s eyes were lit up with excitement. He was giddy and this was the point where everything changed. Kealy signed up for flight school immediately after. I was so proud.
9/18/22 Michaux State Forest, PA – Another first. Our first time rigging a natural anchor and climbing without the assistance of an REI instructor. We unfortunately didn’t stay for long because of baby copperheads, the heat, and lack of routes as a big group had the main wall. Nevertheless, it felt ground-breaking to go out on our own!
10/28/22 Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND – This national park was so cool! We loved stopping on our road trip both ways. We saw the Painted Canyon, I got a stamp, and we saw bison! It boosted the mood after getting stuck in Chicago and driving through monotonous landscapes.
5/23/22 Bryce Canyon National Park, UT – Bryce Canyon is a dark sky park, so we decided to go stargazing one evening. This is one of those experiences that you look back on fondly, but in the moment, you’re really uncomfortable. It was so cold and windy. We wandered around with blankets and headed toward a cliff. We all laid down next to the cliff edge, which was kind of disorienting. It was mind blowing how many stars we could see. We also got to see a shooting star!
11/2/22 Queen Anne’s Waterfall, UP MI – Our unplanned trip to the UP involved hiking to a new waterfall, four wheeling for the first time in years, and driving around the Keweenaw. It was surprisingly lovely weather for the most of the trip, which wouldn’t have been the case for Thanksgiving. Finding the waterfall was interesting, but we had it to ourselves so we enjoyed and took lots of pictures.
10/22/22 West Glacier, Glacier National Park, MT – There was good news and bad news for this trip. The bad news was that due to weather and construction, we didn’t get to see parts of Glacier that we planned to. We also didn’t see any bear or moose. The good news was that Glacier, as always, was epic with the bright yellow tamaracks, lack of crowds, and mysterious mountain views. We explored lesser known parts of Glacier including Polebridge and Bowman Lake. I ate all of the huckleberry things.
That’s a wrap on our year of travel highlights. We’re excited to see what 2023 brings.
