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Lake Clark National Park and Preserve: Four Million Acres of Solitude

Lake Clark National Park and Preserve: Four Million Acres of Solitude

Lake Clark National Park isn’t an easy place to get to. Without any access roads or ferry service, a bush plane flight or boat ride is required to get here. However, we found it well worth the effort. In fact, traveling to and from Lake Clark was one of our favorite experiences on our entire Alaska road trip. The rugged beauty and wildness here are astounding. Lake Clark National Park is home to active volcanoes, craggy jade mountains, glacial rivers,…

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Exploring Glacier Bay National Park by Land (and Sea Kayak)

Exploring Glacier Bay National Park by Land (and Sea Kayak)

Where are the glaciers? That was our first question when we arrived at Glacier Bay National Park. As it turns out we didn’t have the typical experience here. In fact, we’re part of the 10% of park visitors that set foot on land in Glacier Bay National Park. The other 90% see the park from the deck of an Alaska cruise ship and spend just 8-10 hours in the park. Glacier Bay National Park is the first official national park…

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Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Hiking on an Ancient Sea Reef in the Sky

Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Hiking on an Ancient Sea Reef in the Sky

Guadalupe Mountains National Park is one of those parks that doesn’t get a lot of limelight. In fact, a few years ago, before we started our quest to visit all the US national parks, I hadn’t even heard of Guadalupe Mountains. It’s neighbor in New Mexico—Carlsbad Caverns—gets a lot more attention and when you think of a national park in Texas, it’s usually Big Bend that comes to mind. It may be due to its modest nature, but Guadalupe Mountains…

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Day Trip to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico from Big Bend National Park

Day Trip to Boquillas del Carmen, Mexico from Big Bend National Park

A Day in the Border Town of Boquillas del Carmen We’ve already established that Big Bend National Park in Texas is one of the most diverse, beautiful, and all-around kick-ass awesome parks we’ve been to yet. As I mentioned in my last post, a highlight of our time in Big Bend was taking a day trip across the border to the town of Boquillas del Carmen (often referred to as just Boquillas) in Mexico. The trip included a rowboat ride,…

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What to do in Big Bend National Park in a Week

What to do in Big Bend National Park in a Week

I’m not sure if it’s the honeymoon period of the first couple weeks back on the road, but it’s safe to say I’m obsessed with Big Bend National Park. In fact, it quickly earned a spot on my list of top 5 favorite national parks. I’m sure the folks at Big Bend will be thrilled—after all, it’s a very prestigious list 😉 Pin this post for later > “Big Bend” refers to the 90 degree turn that the Rio Grande…

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Death Valley Travel Guide: Our Favorite Places (and Where We Wish We’d Gone)

Death Valley Travel Guide: Our Favorite Places (and Where We Wish We’d Gone)

Death Valley. The name alone conjures visions of a desolate wasteland strewn with the bones of unfortunate wildlife and a few lonely tumbleweeds rolling in the wind. While we did drive through a dust storm to reach Death Valley National Park, what we found was a place teeming with geological marvels, diverse terrain, and one of the cutest wildlife encounters we’ve had yet. Pin this post for later > Why is it Called Death Valley Anyway? Before we get into…

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Italy Less Traveled: Aosta, Bologna, and Umbria

Italy Less Traveled: Aosta, Bologna, and Umbria

I hinted before that we’re still not done writing about our time in Europe. This post in particular, about Aosta, Bologna, and Umbria, has been brewing for some time. During our two months backpacking through Italy earlier this year we were able to see a lot of the country. We hit the main stops like Rome, Venice, Florence, and Cinque Terre but also many less visited places. Three especially—Aosta, Bologna, and Umbria—captivated us in a way that the busier more…

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Fall in The Rockies

Fall in The Rockies

Phew! It’s been a busy 7 weeks since we hit the road again in Stan the Tan Van. You already know about hiking the Badlands or as Tom likes to call them, the Radlands (Instagram stories peeps, you know what I’m talking about). This week we’re sharing an update on exactly what we’ve been up to and announcing some changes to the blog. Pin this post for later > Fall in and Around the Rocky Mountains After spending time in…

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8 Incredible Things to do in Jaco, Costa Rica

8 Incredible Things to do in Jaco, Costa Rica

We recently got back from a trip to Jaco, Costa Rica. Since we started traveling last year, this is the first big “unplanned” destination we’ve visited. What I mean by “unplanned” is that just a few short months ago it wasn’t anywhere on our radar of 2018 travel destinations. Learning to Say “Yes” Last year our travels were mapped out ahead of time. We quickly discovered that we’d way overbooked and had to cut things out. Even after trimming down…

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A Story of Sand and Snow – Great Sand Dunes and Rocky Mountains

A Story of Sand and Snow – Great Sand Dunes and Rocky Mountains

Sand and snow are the themes of our next two National Parks. No, I’m not talking about children born out-of-wedlock in Westeros. After spending a warm long weekend in Cortez, CO and Mesa Verde, the next stop on our eastern journey was Great Sand Dunes National Park. Wolf Creek Pass The Great Sand Dunes are located in southern Colorado about smack-dab in the middle of the state. To reach them, we must cross the Great Divide. We get a tad…

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