"Excuse me, ma'am. Please stop!" the volunteer shouted to a woman who was oblivious to the fact that she was about to walk into a turtle. "Oh, I am just trying to get over there," the woman responded while pointing in the general direction in front of herself. She almost took another step and the… Continue reading Hi, mama turtle!
One of my first thoughts when we secured our (what would later be moot) visas for Japan was, “I’m introducing my baby to the happiest place on earth!” I mentioned this early on to Bryce, the anti-Disney member of our family. “But, she won’t remember anything,” was one of his first responses to my idea. … Continue reading We’re going to (Tokyo) Disney!
I somehow am having a hard time coming to terms that it is already 2023. I can't keep up. I had my 2022 travel year in review blog post started and saved as a draft. It never got finished. I'll just say that last year was all about travel for my family and I. After… Continue reading New year, same me
As I scrolled on my phone to learn more about the aquarium we'd be going to the next day, I stopped at a picture of an Asian small-clawed otter sticking its paw through a small hole in its enclosure. You can feed slash hold hands with otters at this Japanese aquarium?!?! I turned my phone… Continue reading Dreams coming true: making friends with otters
I had honestly never heard of Karuizawa before. One of my cousins informed me that a season of Terrace House was filmed there though. It's "in the mountains" and is pretty was all I had heard from family members. They were not wrong! We flew into Japan on a Wednesday afternoon and already the next… Continue reading Karuizawa: a trip within a trip
For fellow parents who care, here are the "boring" tidbits of our flight experience with baby in September. This is what worked for us and what I decided to do after some research (i.e. scrolling IG travel/parent accounts) and of course, talking to my trusted sources (aka friends who travel with babies/toddlers.) Car seat -… Continue reading First flight essentials and notes
"Wow, look at that!" Now thinking back to this moment, I'm not sure if it was Bryce or me who said this. We just came out from under the old railroad section of the Iron Goat Trail when you start at the "haunted" old Wellington Ghost Town. The trail was all dirt and covered with… Continue reading The wild, wild Cascades
Even as a 35-year-old (mother of a 1-year-old), I still get mild anxiety when I see all the "Back to School!" ads. The "Back to School! Back to Cool!" ones just make me eyeroll. (Note: neither my 1-year-old nor myself are going back to school.) How is it already August? How is it already back-to-school… Continue reading Can’t keep up with summer
I had grand plans to have blog posts written and published on our April Bend trip by May ... Well, I have one published so far. It's the thought that counts, right? I also had lots more to say about our Oregon Coast trip in December! And, who remembers New Zealand from 2019? I have… Continue reading I don’t know why this keeps happening
"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
otter travel more 