Acadia National Park lies along Maine’s midwest coast, just south of Bar Harbor. It is the only national park in the northeast, but with a park this amazing, who needs another? Acadia National Park spans a huge portion of Mount Desert Island (pronounced like dessert), part of the Schoodic peninsula (the only part attached to […]
Your Guide to Bar Harbor Ice Cream and Fudge
Bar Harbor is the gateway to Acadia National Park and it offers no shortage of calories to fuel you up for your hiking. Like any good resort town, quaint homemade ice cream shops and country stores peddling fudge-y goodness abound. Here’s a quick guide to the best and the less best. (Spoiler alert: they’re all […]
Crossing the Bar Harbor Land Bridge to Bar Island
The small community of Bar Harbor is full of things you’d expect from a Maine resort town: lobster restaurants, ice cream, homemade fudge, souvenir shops, and tourists. But there is one unique and magical thing you can’t find anywhere else: the land bridge to Bar Island. The land bridge linking Bar Harbor to Bar Island […]
Bar Harbor, Maine: Welcome to Vacationland
I didn’t know that Maine’s unofficial nickname was “Vacationland” until Brian and I visited Bar Harbor this summer. Ostensibly, it refers to all of Maine, but the slogan felt especially apt for Bar Harbor, a compact little town full of shops, restaurants, ice cream parlors, and of course, tons of milling tourists! This adorable resort […]
Savannah, Georgia: The Good, The Bad, and The Southern
Savannah, Georgia is the state’s oldest city and is veritably bursting at the seams with history. The historic downtown is dominated by old mansions and quaint squares shaded by massive live oaks draped with ropey, eerie, Spanish moss. Walking around the city, I was struck by the sort of gothic Southern charm that oozes out […]
Channel Islands National Park: Is It Worth It?
The Channel Islands national park is an archipelago of islands about an hour and a half away (by sea) from Ventura, California. The islands are beautiful, but if you’re coming just for this, it might be a little disappointing. That sounds harsh, but they are hard to get to unless you’re local to the area. […]
Don’t Miss Wiesbaden Hot Springs in Ouray, CO
The Wiesbaden Hot Springs is the oldest commercial hot springs in Ouray, Colorado. There’s a reason it’s been around so long: it is absolutely the best. There are several places in Ouray, Colorado, where you can visit natural hot springs. I was surprised to find that most of them look like regular swimming pools that […]
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Western Colorado is not quite as hard to get to as Big Bend, but it’s not exactly a walk in the park, either. (Except, it kind of is.) The nearest airport is Montrose Regional airport, which is just 21 minutes away. However, if you’re making a special effort to […]
Visit Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico from Big Bend National Park
Yes, you can turn your Big Bend hiking trip into an international vacation! Just head to the Boquillas Crossing inside the park, roll up your pants, and wade across the Rio Grande. 🙂 Don’t worry, if you don’t feel like getting your feet wet, you can take a little rowboat for only $5. How do […]
Hiking Trails Guide: Big Bend National Park
Yes, there are apps with information about Big Bend hiking trails, but they can be a little clinical in their descriptions. I’m breaking it down for you in real-people-who-hiked-it terms and including simplified maps and visuals of where things are. If you’re like me, being able to see a bird’s eye view of the layout […]