Lessons From Our First Backpacking Trip

We embarked on our first backpacking trip recently and chose White Sands National Monument as the location. One of the reasons we selected White Sands for this trip is because the backcountry sites are only 3/4 – 1 mile from the parking lot. You are walking through sand dunes but overall it is not a hard or long hike. We learned so much from this trip and I thought I would share our lessons learned in case backpacking is of interest or in case you would like to laugh at some of our silly mistakes. Read more

Backcountry Camping in White Sands National Monument

We spent an incredible two days in White Sands National Monument. The monument is incredible, but this is one that you really need to get off the beaten path to fully enjoy.

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White Sands has been on our bucket list for years. Literally. We were planning to visit in 2013 and it didn’t work out, but I’m happy to report that this trip was a success! Not only was it a success; it is one of my all-time favorite things that we’ve done. Read more

Summer Road Trip (Part 1 of 4)

On each of our trips my favorite parts almost always are not the reason why we are on the trip. That was once again the case on our most recent road trip.  Our destination for this trip was South Dakota and the trip centered around Mount Rushmore.  In looking for a place to stay about halfway in between our house and South Dakota I came across Great Sand Dunes National Park in southern Colorado and boy am I glad I did!  It was the perfect start to our vacation. Read more

Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM

For the first half of this trip read the making the best of a situation post.

We had such a good time in Albuquerque and wish we would have spent our entire week here.  After a rough first half of the trip Albuquerque was a breath of fresh air.  Our reason for visiting Albuquerque was to attend Balloon Fiesta but we found there is so much more to do! Read more

Making The Best Of The Situation

The theme of this trip was go with the flow.  The trip didn’t exactly go as planned but if you do something often enough things are bound to not go as planned occasionally. Read more