This tweet appeared at random one night during my social media scrolling and made me literally laugh out loud. It’s timing could not have been better as our interest in birding seemingly erupted out of nowhere. Logan and I have been diving deeper and deeper into our photography and sure, taking pictures of birds is challenging and birds make pretty subjects. But only recently have we actually started to care about tracking species, rarity, etc.
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Giddy on the high that was Grand Teton, we headed north into America’s first and most visited national park: Yellowstone.
Truthfully, Yellowstone is everything you have ever heard about and more. It is epic, vast, and otherworldly. There are times when you honestly believe you must be on another planet. For example, Mammoth Hot Springs felt like we were on the set of a post apocalyptic, sci-fi movie. We tried to imagine what the first people who explored this land must have thought. The indigenous people considered the land sacred. And it is said that when white explorers returned to their homes with tales of what they had seen, no one believed their stories of boiling mud pits and explosions of water and steam erupting from the very earth. This is in no way surprising.
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When Logan and I were married in the fall of 2018, our original plan was to honeymoon in Italy in the spring of 2019. But as spring rolled around, we found ourselves still reeling from all the major life changes that occurred in 2018. So, we decided to postpone our honeymoon for a year. Then of course came COVID-19 and international travel became a no-go for the foreseeable future.
CONTINUE READINGThis past fall, because all other vacation plans were crushed by the pandemic, Britt and I decided to take a trip to Badlands National Park. I love National Parks but have never planned a full trip around one. As part of our preparations, I recalled that visitors to parks could keep track of their travels with a passport. Visiting more National Parks has long been a goal, so I decided to look further into this.
With COVID-19 came the cancellation of almost all of our planned adventures in 2020. California? Cancelled. Canada? Cancelled. Walt Disney World? Cancelled. That last one hurt the most. Partly because it was to be my first ever WDW experience, but also because it was planned almost a year in advance for February (right about now). The moment we grudgingly and mournfully pulled the plug on that trip it finally sunk in that we would be in this pandemic for the long haul.
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Bachelorette Weekend? Count me in!
Logan and I were about to get married, so a weekend getaway with my closest friend (and Maid of Honor) seemed like the perfect way to celebrate the end of single life. Erika, my dearest friend since the age of five, has been my long time travel companion and currently lives in Chicago. We haven’t lived within driving distance of one another for many years, so my moving to St. Paul has opened up a whole host of opportunities for us to meet up more often. Our goal for this particular three day weekend was to find a budget-friendly, relaxing destination that was a mostly equidistant drive for both of us. That leaves the great state of Wisconsin. I was told that Door County was a favorite Midwestern destination and Erika had been there before for business and gave a great endorsement.
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Mountains to Midwest 