The 2015 Blog-tember Challenge: 10 Items Off Your Bucket List

So the other day I was browsing on Kylie’s blog and I saw she was participating in The 2015 Blog-tember Challenge from Brave Love Blog and I had to check it out. Make sure you click over to see the daily prompts! Having topics to write about makes is so helpful when you occasionally have mental road blocks.

Thursday, Sept. 10: 10 items off your bucket list. If you haven’t made one, now’s a good time to start!

I’ve had a running bucket list for many years. I am always adding to it and checking things off. I’ve actually been meaning to add a Bucket List Page to my blog for a little while now (I will get to it eventually!) So this prompt today is right up my alley.

I think one of the fun parts about writing and blogging is you can interpret things the way you want. So instead of going in the direction that a lot of people go with bucket lists like getting married, having kids, buying a house, finding a job I love, etc all things I want, but I thought I’d share 10 places that I want to travel to:

1. I’ve been obsessed with the Eiffel Tower and Paris for as long as I can remember. I can not wait to get there someday (hopefully very soon!) and take a picture in front of it, have a picnic there, and just marvel at it. 
2. I’ve seen so many beautiful pictures of Moraine Lake, in Banff National Park in Canada and I’m so eager to see it in person.
3. Cracker Lake, Glacier National Park in Montana
4. Capilano Suspension Bridge in Vancouver. Years ago Dave and I spent one day in Vancouver on a road trip to Seattle and didn’t have enough time for this bridge, but now that we’re moving to Seattle next month, we for sure have to check this place out!
5. A few of our friends have made the trek to Iceland and Dave and I can’t wait until we make it out there. It’s supposed to be a photographer’s dream in terms of stunning landscapes like this one at Haifoss waterfall.
   
6. London town! I’m obsessed with the UK and the royal family. I can’t wait to go to London and see all the famous landmarks, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The London Bridge, Parliament, etc.
7. Emerald Lake in Yoho National Park in Canada look stunning. Looks like we are going to be so busy road trip in and out of Seattle in the upcoming months 🙂
8. Maligne Lake, Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada
9. Lake Lucerne, Switzerland looks so magical! 
10. Hike Cinque Terre. Those colorful houses and the mountain side is breathtaking.  

There are so many places I want to go to and the list just keeps on growing 😉 Hopefully Dave and I will get to hit some of those beautiful places up in the Pacific Northwest and Canada in the coming months. But for right now, Europe still eludes me.

As you can see I prefer the mountains to the beach. Yes it’s fun to see the palm trees and the ocean but the sand gets everywhere! Hah (first world problems!) But the mountains have a way to putting things into perspective for me. It makes me feel small and humbled. I love the view you get when you do an epic hike.

Super excited about this Blog-tember challenge and to get to read some items on your bucket lists and find some new bloggers!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My Alaska Trip Part 2

So yesterday I blogged about the first part of our Alaska trip in Fairbanks and Denali National Park. We drove about a third of the entire road of the park. We made it a little past Sanctuary River on day 1.   Day 2 of our trip into Denali, we drove to mile 66 at Eielson Visitor Center.

At mile marker 47 is the Polychrome Overlook which was so gorgeous. There is a little walk way and the view is epic.

I love this picture I took of Dave, because it really puts the size of the mountain in perspective.

Here is the road that leads up to the Polychrome Overlook. Most of the roads don’t have guard rails and I definitely have a fear of heights.

We had so much fun with more jumping poses.

Dave calls this the Walmart photo because it looks like a fake background it was so pretty.

This is Dave in action. He wasn’t messing around 🙂

The remoteness and openness of Denali is so cool for lack of a better term. It was so nice to be in the car with just the two of us away from everything, and to unplug from our emails, texts, and work even just for a few hours.

It’s pretty hard to see in this picture because it’s so tiny but there is a sheep at the top of the mountain. There were white sheep all over way up in distance and they mostly stuck together.

It rained on and off again on Saturday and for a few moments the sun came out and it was breathtaking. The sun acted like a spotlight and it was a really pretty.

The next moment it is cloudy but the snow capped mountain make for such a great background.

The entire trip we were hoping to see a bear and we talked to another guy on the road who mentioned he just saw one past Sabel Mountain. So we were adamant that we would find it. We had our eyes peeled and we did see it! It was absolutely surreal and I could not believe. I was in shock.

It did not seem affected by our presence or the buses that stopped by. We were about 100 yards away from it or a football field. We felt safe in the car and it was amazing to enjoy the bear’s company and not fear for my life. 🙂 I cannot imagine seeing one while hiking.

And if it seeing the bear wasn’t amazing enough, Denali also treated us to a rainbow to end our beautiful day.

This was the view of Sanctuary River and it was so pretty to see the leaves changing colors.

I love that it is so light out even at night time in the summer, it is just so cool. And gives you so much time to be outside and get things done!

We tried to get dinner at 229 Parks Restaurant & Tavern but they were closed so they suggested Prey which was right down the street. It was really good and a super cute restaurant. 

 

Sunday

One of Dave’s outfitters he worked with said that 229 Parks had the best food in Denali. So after getting there too close to closing the night before, we made sure to make reservations for brunch the next morning. It was really good and we always love to support local establishments that have sustainable practices.

The food really was delicious and the omelette Dave got had lemon zest in it and it was so good! 

After brunch we headed back to Fairbanks with a quick stop back to the coffee shop for drinks for the road.

We stopped by Fred Meyers again to grab some snacks for me for the plane ride home. We had dinner with Dave’s work friend Ross at the hotel’s restaurant Lavelle’s which was also really good. I had the scallops and calamari and Dave had the lamb. Then we caught up with our friend Johnny CC, it was so good to see him I can’t believe it’s been over a year. Soon we will all be reunited in Seattle. 🙂

That night Dave dropped me off at the airport at close to midnight and I made it home to LA at 9:30am with another layover in Seattle.

(I know some of those details aren’t super important or interesting to you all but I want to remember these things when I look back on this trip, so thanks for bearing with me!)

Alaska is a huge state and I still can’t believe I got to experience it with Dave. I totally get why people love it up there. There’s so much to see and do. Granted we only had a few days together but it was so awesome and just what we needed. And now I get to check Alaska off my bucket list! (But of course I’d love to go back and see so many other parts of the state.)

 

Linking up with : 

My Alaska Trip Part 1

I had the best time in Alaska this past weekend. It exceeded my expectations. Dave and I got to see so much wildlife, drove all over Denali National Park, and took lots of pictures and made great memories. So be warned friends, there are a lot of pictures in this post and tomorrow’s. 🙂 Hope you enjoy them.

Thursday August 20th, 2015

Right from work I drove to LAX, parked the car and headed to my flight with Delta. I had a layover in our future home of Seattle for an hour, ate a quick salad then was off to Fairbanks.

I got in late at 11pm and Dave picked me up at the airport in Fairbanks which was small and super easy to navigate.

Friday

Dave and his film crew are staying at the Springhill Suites in Fairbanks.

In the morning I got to see the town a little on the way to the airport to grab our car rental. We also stopped by Starbucks and Fred Meyer (their grocery store) to get a few things for our time in Denali and our mini 2 hour road trip there. We got bananas and nectarines. I also brought dried apricots, Goldfish crackers, dried bananas, coconut almonds, and mixed nuts. Side note I love snacking on road trips.

We got to our motel which was cute and $150 a night.

The receptionist suggested we go to the cafe next door called Rose’s. It was simple diner type food but had such a great outdoor patio.

Right before we went into the park, we stopped by the coffee house and grabbed some drinks. We love going to local coffee shops on our road trips.

Here we are at the entrance of the park. Throughout the day it was sunny, cloudy and rainy. It was about 45 degrees out.

 

There were sweeping views of the mountains and it was really cool to see sheets of rain in the distance.

Here is a fun pic I took from our car window.

This was at Mountain Vista at mile 15, near where private vehicles are restricted and you need a permit to go in your own private car, or you can go in the park buses. Because Dave is currently working with Animal Planet, we were able to snag a permit so we could lug all our camera gear in the car.

 

We decided it would make the most sense to drive through the park since it’s 6 million acres! We wanted to cover the most ground and have increase our likelihood of seeing wildlife. We also had a lot of camera gear that we wouldn’t have been able to hike with.

We stopped at Sanctuary River and did our traditional jumping photo 🙂 And in case you were wondering, Dave is holding a can of bear mace just in case.

The road that goes through the park is 90 miles and around mile 30 we turned around and headed back out and headed to dinner.

And of course on the way out we finally spotted a moose!

We went out to dinner and had delicious oysters as an appetizer, and there was such a nice view from the restaurant. We went to eat at Overlook which is part of the Crow’s Nest Cabins.

It was also cool to see how light it still was at almost 10pm.

The first two days in Alaska were awesome. We had so much fun and it was surreal to be in Alaska together, especially in Denali National Park! Tomorrow I’ll go over Saturday and Sunday of our trip. Get ready there’s a lot more pictures 🙂

Linking up today with Bonnie Rose blog and Sweet Little Ones:

 

 

 

Travel Thursdays – Joshua Tree National Park

In April of 2014 Dave and I went to Joshua National Park to celebrate one of our best friend’s birthday with a camping weekend. This was our first time there and it did not disappoint. It was a little hot in April but it was so much fun. We hung out, ate great food, had birthday pie, talked about our childhoods around the fire, and went off roading.

Here we are saving a spot while our friends check out the other campsites.

We used the tarps to hide from the hot, hot sun.

Here’s a picture to show how far away we were from everything and everyone. We were surrounded by these huge boulders and the Joshua trees, so peaceful and awesome.

We of course climbed the boulders and took our Pinterest Inspired Feet Picture.

Off Roading

We love our friends, national parks, camping, and off roading, so it was a really great weekend, one for the books!

Travel Thursdays: Arches National Park, Moab Utah

The Arches National Park in Moab, Utah was really incredible. I was so impressed with the entire park. It is so beautiful everywhere you look. It was a gorgeous sunny day out when we were there which made for great pictures.  We went for a mini hike around the arches and snapped these pictures. Make sure to bring water with you, it’s so dry out there! It was my first time in Utah and I was enamored.

Canoes at Lake Louise in Banff National Park, Canada

Lake Clark National Park, Alaska

Slopes of the Skala, in Jostedalsbeen National Park

Lake Louise Alberta, Canada

Winter in Yosemite