"I'm not doing a hike with the word 'misery' in the trail name!" I said to Bryce as I carried our 20-pound baby on my back. We had just crossed the footbridge over the river at Smith Rock State Park and the trail sign in front of us was for Misery Ridge Trail. There were… Continue reading Baby’s first canyon hike
When we received the save-the-date in 2021, we were hopeful we'd be able to attend our friends' March wedding reception. All events would be outdoors. Our baby would (fingers crossed) be vaccinated by then! (I know, I know ... you're eyerolling at how naïve I was!) Before the news broke that more research would be… Continue reading Fun while it lasted
A few years ago if you had asked me what my "travel goals" were, it would be going to new cities and/or countries. I'm not one of those people who has any desire to visit all the countries in the world. (Let's be real, that would be cool, but that also would take a lot… Continue reading This looks familiar
She stared at us from inside her presumably heated car as we walked by in rain gear and a rain cover over the baby's stroller. Saying it was pouring rain would have been an understatement. It was dumping buckets sideways. We had just parked in the lot for the Heceta Lighthouse in Florence, Oregon. It… Continue reading Torrential rain won’t stop us
"How was Osaka?" "It was good. Well, I prefer Tokyo though," I replied. My mom's reaction to my response was a burst of laughter. She then followed with: I'm not surprised. Because we are Tokyo people. This conversation occurred more than two years ago. Bryce and I had just returned to my grandma's house in… Continue reading Osaka v. Tokyo
Sometimes I see the notifications comes into my email that I gained a new blog follower. "Oh, that's nice," I think to myself. Nice that someone out there is interested to subscribe to a blog that has been dormant for 12 months. How did this even happen? There are a few factors. The first half… Continue reading The last 12 months
Being from Seattle, we scoff at people who use umbrellas. We don't need umbrellas! Yes, it rains but it's usually just an off-and-on type of rain, or a light drizzle. Nothing our rain jackets, or even a hoodie, can't handle! However, I was grateful I brought my grandmother's umbrella with me on our trip to… Continue reading Kyoto: Sloshing about at Fushimi Inari
I've been back home in Seattle for four days and am still trying to recover from my jet lag. I enjoyed a fantastic two-week vacation in Japan visiting family and also exploring new places. Isn't that the best though? When you get to see family and also see new cities you have never been to?… Continue reading Japan: bullet trains, family time, good food and lots of walking
I won't bore you with all the itty-bitty details, but this past year was pretty great travel-wise! January-February: Three-week honeymoon in New Zealand. We book-ended the trip with stops in Hawaii before and after, which nicely split up the travel time from Seattle, and allowed us to visit family. New Zealand is AH-MA-ZING. We drove… Continue reading 2019 Travel Year in Review
I couldn't figure out why my husband's phone was telling us we were 15 minutes away from the visitor center. When we had entered the national park, we thought we'd be at our destination in a mere five to 10 minutes. "Are you sure you inputted the location correctly?" I asked him as he continued… Continue reading An impromptu Denali afternoon
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