City girl. Traveling soul. Always hungry.
Iceland has been on Katie’s and my bucket list for a long time. We are road trip fiends and suckers for mountain views, so it was essentially a given. It has been a little hard to get excited for the trip though over the past week, with the gut-wrenching and highly personal tragedy that occurred... Continue Reading →
Being out of class for the summer has been extraordinary. I feel like I just emerged from a thick layer of endless fog that I had been blindly flailing inside of for the past few months. I remembered that I had actual friends. I remembered what it felt like to be free to make plans... Continue Reading →
Waking up in Seward felt like I was truly in Alaska. I could hear birds outside and rain falling, with misty mountains and gravel streets. We grabbed some breakfast and walked up to the water’s edge to take it all in before leaving town. The mountains behind Resurrection Bay were so beautiful that it scared... Continue Reading →
We had one more night in Anchorage before heading south towards Seward. We were fortunate to have one “lazy day” in town before we went, which is rare for us when we travel. We had an awesome breakfast at Snow City Café--bangin’ stuffed French toast with mandarin cream cheese and tangy raspberry butter. Afterward, we... Continue Reading →
The next day we got up early for our Salmon Berry tour pickup to hike the Matanuska Glacier. Today was also Katie’s 30th birthday, and she informed me months ago that all she wanted to do on her birthday was hike on a glacier. We were pretty stoked. Our tour had about 4 others on... Continue Reading →
We woke up early in Anchorage and went to pick up our rental—a pickup truck. Katie is truck-obsessed, but they are normally one of the most expensive types of car that you can rent. Only in Alaska would they be the cheapest option—and only in Alaska did we feel it was absolutely nonnegotiable. The guy... Continue Reading →
The next morning we were a bit rough for the wear. My body isn’t as resilient as it was when I was 21. We got a slow start and went for a walk in search of Mill Ruins Park, stopping for food at a place called La Belle Crepes. The reason we walked inside is... Continue Reading →
The first thing I noticed the next morning was the wind. When we had done our big road trip a few years back, I remembered the fierce nature of those high planes winds in South Dakota, especially by the Badlands. North Dakota bore a striking similarity, and our car teetered back and forth along the... Continue Reading →
This next trip is an especially important one. Katie turns 30 on April 26, and she has 3 more states to cover to complete her 50 by 30 Challenge. On this trip, we will hit Minnesota, North Dakota, and finish with the crowning glory—Alaska. I will bring my total up to 44 states by the... Continue Reading →
I knew that going back to graduate school would be a wild ride. I graduated college in 2009 and left my ability to cite scholarly research articles or study for a midterm behind with my days of drinking kegs of Keystone light and sleeping until 2pm. College was an oh-so glorious, slightly destructive, ride-or-die kind... Continue Reading →
Chaos & Coffee Beans 