Author: admin

I honestly can’t believe I am sitting here at the end of another assignment. Three travel assignments in the books. My mom flew into Boston on Saturday to drive home with me. We arrived back in the good ol Burg of Schaum yesterday afternoon. As I have been with all my assignments thus far I was sad about leaving. I very much enjoyed my time out in New England and am SO happy I decided on this area for the fall and beginning of winter. Though I do wish there had been more snowfall before I left but oh well. 

My coworkers from the hospital were all so wonderful and I really enjoyed working and hanging out them while I was here. Of course exploring New England was fantastic. I snuck in one more afternoon and evening of exploration after picking my mom up from the airport on Saturday. We went over to the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. This neighborhood is beyond adorable. The buildings are so cute I could die and everything was decorated for Christmas. It looked like we were walking in a production of the Christmas Carol with the old brick buildings and cobblestone streets. We both loved it. I also had this unaccomplished mission of seeing and visiting Cheers, the bar. I started watching the show when I got out to the East Coast (though I only made it through season one) and really wanted to visit the actual set. SO, we did! We had a beer and lunch at the Cheers set. Super touristy of us but fun nonetheless :).  

As I posted on Instagram with my photo yesterday, I feel extremely lucky to have found a condo with an ocean view while being here. I LOVE the water and to be able to see and hear the ocean every day for the last three months has been an absolute treat. Probably every other day I made a point to spend time by the water. Typically I would go for a run along the coast to enjoy the waves and the sunsets! I’ll always be so happy I was able to experience this. Luckily, I am heading to Portland and the coast is only an hour and a half away 🙂

On a completely different and out of order topic, I thoroughly enjoyed my night in Boston a few weekends ago with Aimee and her girlfriend at the symphony! It was an all Beethoven show and it was absolutely wonderful. After the symphony we went to a chocoloate restaurant. I believe it’s called Max Brenners. The menu was about half an inch thick of just chocolate related food and drink items. I could have died and gone to heaven. 

Last weekend was Brad’s sister’s wedding in NYC. It was a very, very nice weekend and we had a lot of fun. I was able to meet basically Brad’s entire family on both sides so that was nice. The wedding was beautiful and held at the New York Athletic Club. The club is located directly across the street from Central Park which made for a really nice day on Saturday prior to the wedding festivities. We walked around the city quite a bit and visited the Museum of Natural History, which was super interesting. The building itself was beautiful as well. The wedding was wonderful. I think my favorite things about the actual wedding was the fact that I got to wear a gown, the cocktail hour included a full on sushi bar and there was a live band playing music from the 60s and 70s. Oh and the fact that Brad’s 90-something year old grandma was out dancing us on the dance floor and lasted longer at the party than us. I aspire to be her when I grow up. 

Oh my gosh. I can’t forget to mention the fact that we did a midnight walk after the rehearsal dinner on Friday to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller. I was SO happy. Our timing was fantastic because they apparently turn the tree of at 1230 or 1am. So I had just finished taking five million of the same photos when the lights went out. Such a pretty tree though and so. many. lights. Love it!! 

Ok well, that’s all I have to say about that. I plan on spending some time writing a sappy AF end of the year post as a reflection of everything I have accomplished and learned this year. Next month will already be a year since I started this whole travel adventure and I can hardly believe it. My brain still has not comprehended everything that has happened this last year so it will be fun to look back. Stay tuned for that bundle of love coming up here in the next few weeks. 

Cheers! 

I last left you guys with my palpable excitement of going out to Montana to visit Brad for a few days. That already came and went. My time out there was way too short but I’ll take any time I can get right now. We had a really nice and extremely chill weekend which is exactly what I wanted since it was so quick.

I rolled into town on Friday and we went out and met some people for a beer right away. In between that and trying a new tapas place in town we stumbled upon a super cool little wine tasting room. This guy had just opened it and the space was super neat. He had a local photographer on display throughout the room and the photos were unreal. The wine was pretty tasty and he had quite a decent little snack menu. We ended up getting a mushroom spread that was SO GOOD. I told Brad he needs to tell everyone about that place so that it does well. Post tasting room we rolled next door to a new tapas restaurant called Barley and Vine. It wasn’t bad considering they had just opened. Our last dish was a pasta dish that a two year old could have done a better job on but I was trying really hard to be optimistic. Other than that failure the other dishes were both quite delicious – a salad and then a salmon dish.

Saturday we literally did nothing except take a drive up in the Bridgers. It was great. Sunday though we met up with Sam and Madison and ventured in to Yellowstone to soak in the Boiling River for a few hours. It was so cool! The Boiling River is a spot where a natural geothermal pool flows into and mixes with a regular old river creating perfect hot tub like water. It’s interesting though, because as the river flows depending on the current and also where the hot spring is feeding into the river you can either basically be burning your skin off or be freezing or both at the same time. So you kind of have to move around as the current moves so you stay in temperate water. It was a ton of fun though and it was such a nice day out. The four of us wandered through Mammoth Hot Springs afterwards and that was such a crazy thing to see. I am looking forward to viewing more of Yellowstone next year when the whole park opens again. I am hoping Brad and I can make it back in December when I am out there to see a little of it with snow. I hear it is pretty awesome.

Anyway, per usual it was a good weekend. I think at this point you all know I cried at the airport blah blah blah. I’m already looking forward to being out there for Christmas and New Years. 🙂

Did I talk about whale watching in my last post? I can’t even remember. I don’t think so. I am backtracking here but Casey and I went whale watching the weekend before I left for Montana. We ended up following  a group of four humpback whales! It was so great! THEY ARE SO BIG! I was telling my mom the story this weekend of everyone sprinting back and forth on the boat between starboard and port side to see the whales. If anyone was video taping that from the upper deck the footage has to be hilarious. The ocean was pretty choppy that day too. So, someone would spot a whale and the captain would tell us which side and the boat would take off at 100mph towards the whales. Meanwhile we are all getting slapped in the face with eight foot waves while trying to sprint to the otherside of the deck and stay on our feet all at the same time. Hilarious. It was a fanstastic experience though and I would highly recommend it to anyone. We used 7 Seas Whale Watch in Gloucester, MA.

This past Tuesday I finally made it down to Boston. Michelle, Lauren and I went down to visit the Boston Museum of Fine Arts! I was so excited! Michelle and I discovered that we both like to visit the art museum in whatever new city we are living in or near. There happened to be a Winnie the Pooh exhibit going on when we went. This sounds ridiculous but it was actually super cool. It was all the original sketches and art work. The history and story behind how this came to be is extremely interesting. A lot of it is based off the author’s real life. After the art museum we took the subway out to see Harvard. We just felt it was really necessary. Obviously the campus was beautiful and made me wish I could go there. We explored a little of Harvard Square and ended up eating at this really cozy little brewhall in a basement. Don’t ask me why but when I picture eating or drinking at Harvard I imagine all the places being cozy little brewhalls in basements or older buildings with exposed brick. So this was so perfect!

The following day I got up early and headed up to meet Casey in Bar Harbor. I got into town early and ended up going into Acadia to do a hike before Casey rolled into town. It was absolutely FREEZING. I did a nice loop around a lake and during the loop decided to do an off shoot trail up to Bubble Mountain. I had read about this “Bubble Rock” and thought it sounded so dumb but decided to check it out. Turns out it’s pretty darn neat. There is this HUGE boulder that is literally just hanging on by a thread on the side of a cliff. It looks as though you should be able to walk up to it and push it with your pinky and it will fly down the mountain but, nope. It doesn’t budge. I guess when glaciers were passing through this area it carried all these boulders with it and this one so happened to be left behind on this cliff and has somehow stayed like this!

The next day Casey and I got up at 4:30am to go watch the sunrise. Cadillac Mountain is the first to have sunlight in the US from October through April. So we planned on heading up to the summit for that. No such luck though. It was closed because of too much ice which was such a bummer. We ended up watching it at Thunderhole, another lookout spot in Acadia. We were very lucky and had a beautiful show for the sunrise. Immediately afterwards we went to hike Precipice Trail. This trail was recommended to me by a few people. It is known for how dangerous it can be because you are climbing up these iron ladders and inching along cliffs to get to the top. It was so fun to have to figure out how to maneuver your body to get up these boulders but we only made it about half way. We reached a ledge that was absolutely covered in inches and inches of ice. I made it up onto the ledge and at this point we decided to turn around. The ledge was at a downward angle and if we had slipped we would have fallen over the edge. Also, when we looked up it seemed as though this would probably be the problem through the entire hike. We were both pretty bummed out because it was so much fun to start.

Instead we went into dowtown Bar Harbor for breakfast and coffee at this cute little place and found an alternative hike. We actually made it through this whole loop that went up a mountain with beautiful views of the ocean at the top.

We left Acadia that afternoon for Camden. SUCH A CUTE TOWN. Also we stayed at the most adorable hotel. Lord Camden Inn. Check it out if you’re ever there. It snowed overnight so when we woke up to walk around we were in a winter wonderland. It was awesome. After this we headed on down the coast to Portland. Visited a brewery there and I finally got my donuts from Holy Donut. They used mashed potatoes in their donuts. Pretty tasty! We did a bit of shopping around and then ended our coastal get away with a drink at a cute little basement tavern.

This was the last time Casey and I will hang out for awhile probably! It was weird to say goodbye. We have spent the last two assignments adventuring together and it’s been the best! I am heading to Portland, Oregon for my next assignment. I start in January at Oregon Health and Science University Hospital. I’ll be on an epilepsy research unit. Pretty nervous about that since I have zero experience in that area but it also sounds extremely interesting and a great learning opportunity. The manager told me they actually get excited when people have seizures on this unit because then they can track their brain activity. She also told me I can be involved with the research if the opportunity presents itself. All around it sounds like a challenging but interesting assignment. I’m also excited to explore Portland and more of the PNW! This will probably be my last travel assignment so it has to be a good one!

That’s pretty much it for now. This upcoming Saturday I am going down to Boston again to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra with Aimee – a nurse from my UWM nursing class who now lives in Boston. I’m so excited to see that! Then that next week Brad is flying in on Thursday and then we head down to NYC on Friday for the weekend for his sister’s wedding. I’ll get to meet his whole family which will be nice. And also I get to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller so my life is basically going to be made.

Pictures below.

Happy trails everyone.

 

The title of this is a direct quote from a fellow travel nurse’s husband in regards to how pretty the fall colors are out here in New England. I thought it was very appropriate as all I have been doing the last week and a half is chasing color. Also, it’s hilarious. Or it was funny when he was shouting it in the car while driving down the Kancamagus Highway. And with that, we begin..

I just finished reading The Alchemist last week. Perhaps now one of my favorite books I have ever read. A quote that I had  marked from the novel goes as follows: “You dream about your sheep and the Pyramids, but you’re different from me, because you want to realize your dreams. I just want to dream about Mecca…I’m afraid it will all be a disappointment so I prefer to just dream about it.” A merchant says this to Santiago (the main character) while he was trying to explain why he himself was not making his dream a reality.

I really identified with this quote because more often than not I have a very difficult time understanding why people carry on complaining about something they do not like about their life instead of doing something to change it. I think, after also reading about half of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck, that this is a fault of mine. Nonetheless, I feel bad for those who do not change things they would like to or those who only dream about what they could make a reality. I guess this is my life thought for today. I was watching CNN last night and they were doing a show on the impact Anthony Bourdain had on the world. Tony (I feel I have invested enough of my life into his shows that I can call him that) used a quote during one of his episodes saying “certainty is the enemy of growth.” I have never understood this more than I do now after traveling the last ten months and learning SO MUCH. I have never been more uncomfortable or tried so many new things but I have also never learned as much as I have this past year. I plan on continuing to push my limits and wander outside my comfort zone for as long as life allows. I HIGHLY recommend allowing yourself to be uncomfortable and learn something new. A comfort zone is great but there is a lot to take in from the world out there 🙂

Back to the fun stuff! Last Monday I ventured out to the White Mountains with Michelle and her husband, Roger. Michelle is another travel nurse I met at work. Ironically, she worked on the same exact unit I worked on in Montana. Turns out as she left Montana I arrived, so we just swapped spots. Small world.

The Kancamagus Highway here in New Hampshire is THE SPOT to drive during peak colors in the mountains. The day we drove it was fairly foggy and misty but we were all kind of excited about this because the drama factor increased with the color of the leaves against the fog. The highway is a 35 mile stretch of uninterrupted beauty. Seriously though, it is actually worth all the hype. We made quite a few photo pit stops along the way and then at the end of the highway we did a nice little hike along what used to be an old logging railroad. It was a beautiful hike that followed a river and ended at a waterfall. We had a really great day together and were all excited to be able to witness peak foliage in the mountains.

The following day I decided to solo trek back to the mountains. It was a beautiful day and the sun was showing it’s face. The whole reason I decided on New England for this time of year was to see the foliage so I am chasing it as much as time allows! As I had posted on my instagram photo, I also set out that day with the intention of summiting my first 4,000 footer here in New Hampshire. New England has a whole slew of check lists that involve “peak bagging.” There is no way I will accomplish all 48 peaks over 4,000 feet in the time I am here but I thought it would be fun to say I did a few. I started with the smallest of the 4s, Mount Tecumseh. I may have mentioned this before but the hikes out here are no joke. You want to be in shape? Come out to the Whites and hike or trail run. These trails are quite rugged and so. many. boulders. you have to climb over and around. In addition, the hikes are straight up with no switchbacks. Mount Tecumseh is 2,200 feet of elevation gain and most of that is in the last mile and a half or so. I reached the summit, which was in a complete fog but I bagged the peak nonetheless. By the time I reached the summit I was cold, wet and full of dirt. The top was foggy, misty and literally no view but I sat there on top of a rock and ate my apple and soaked up the Christmas tree smells! I refuse to not enjoy the climb! I had the peak all to myself which is always my favorite, so peaceful. Afterwards I hurried back down so I could enjoy the view I had half way which is the photo I posted on IG. Always a good day when out in the woods and hills.

Saturday, I met up with Casey my friend from Billings who is completing a travel assignment just up in Vermont. We went for a hike to a smaller peak but the views were insane. I also posted a photo of that. It had been rainy earlier that day so the clouds were pretty dramatic against the mountains. Beautiful. Post hike we went to a local brewery in Lincoln, a cute little mountain town. We had to have our standard post hike beer and meal.

Overall a really solid week of outdoor adventures. Friday I am meeting up with Casey again and hopefully doing some whale watching and more exploring. Then I won’t really be doing much until I head to Montana at the end of next week! I AM SO EXCITED I COULD CRY. Let’s be honest, I have cried. 🙂

I am currently listening to opera music whilst watching the Brewers hopefully win this game. What a life I lead. Photos below.

Cheers!

 

 

I would like to welcome you all to another rendition of me spewing my mindless thoughts. A major focus of mine while being here has been the extreme amount of dead squirrels on the road. I mean EXTREME. It honestly looks like a squirrel massacre. It’s very upsetting. I expressed my concern to my coworkers a few weeks ago and last night one of them came up with a legitimate researched answer as to why the roads are littered with ghosts of squirrels past. Seriously. It’s such a problem that the news has done segments on it and there are newspaper articles on the subject. So here is my educational topic for you all today. Apparently, 2017 was an excellent season for acorns and other nuts that squirrels like to consume. This then caused an increased mating season for squirrels and resulted in an explosion of the squirrel population in 2018. Unfortunately, the acorn and nut supply is back to “normal” this year and so the supply vs demand is a bit skewed. The squirrels are “displaying erratic behavior” while trying to fend for themselves and find enough nuts for the winter. Part of this erratic behavior is them darting out in front of cars in their hurried efforts to find food (farmersalmanac.com). So there you have it. RIP little guys.

Moving on. Two weekends ago now I was back in Milwaukee for Brad and Nick’s wedding! It was honestly one of the most fun and enjoyable weddings I have been to in a while. It was a beautiful fall night and of course it never hurts when you get to reunite with the best of friends. Plus the major highlight of my weekend is that I got to see Brad (my Brad, not the groom – though that was also nice). I was THE HAPPIEST person that he was able to fly into Milwaukee to meet me for the weekend. I actually feel like a new human. The last four plus weeks were extremely rough. I am back in New Hampshire now and feel a lot better than I have been. So I think I needed to see him and now I can chill out for a minute. It seems a minute is as long as my chill lasts these days. It’s quite amazing the power of sadness. I am not one to feel depressed so it is nice to be out of the fog a little. That being said, it’s now been just over a week and the glow is wearing off. The manager of my unit asked if I would extend my contract another three months. Needless to say I immediately declined that. I am hoping to head somewhere back West in January. These 2,000 miles aren’t really doing it for me.

Anyway, Milwaukee. We had such a good time. It was only a few days but I managed to take Brad to most of my favorite Mke spots. The weather was amazing all weekend and we just really enjoyed ourselves! Obviously I finished off the trip by crying in the airport. Only about six more months of that and I should be done with my public displays of emotion. So, that’ll be nice. Not just for myself but for the general public who has to witness me crying.

Mom and Andy visited this weekend for a few days! They just left this afternoon. We had a really nice time despite yesterday and today being very rainy and gloomy. I was hoping the leaves would be a little more changed by now but we took a day trip up to Maine and the color was significantly better up there. At least we had a little fall color to enjoy 🙂 Sunday, after picking Andy up from the airport in Boston we wandered up the coast in Massachusetts and explored an area called Cape Ann. Prior to that we stopped in Manchester by the sea because Andy and I have both seen the movie and it was necessary. Super cute little town! After that we drove up to Rockport. This town is famous for its fishing. In addition, back in the day this became a famous site for artists, such as Winslow Homer, to come and rent out fish shanties and paint. A red fish shanty in particular is quite famous for being the subject of many paintings and art pieces over the years. The old school fish shanties are still used today by artists. It was a cool little spot although it was more commercialized than I thought it would have been. I was expecting random shacks along the water with art galleries in them. The area turned out to be quite crowded and although there were galleries, it was more “tourist” galleries if you know what I mean. I did find a mean lobster roll there though and the buildings were so old and interesting!

Yesterday we went up to Maine for the day. We stopped at a forest preserve on the way up to Portland and decided to take a little nature walk. We had grabbed some sweet, sweet ponchos at a store and carried on. The rain actually made the leaves stand out more and the ocean look more dramatic so it turned out to be a beautiful walk. Once we were done we decided that chili in Portland was the perfect cure for the cooler, gloomy weather. We stopped in at the Thirsty Pig. It was so delicious! Such a cute little place too! Super relaxed and laid back vibe. As you can probably guess by the name of the restaurant, the food is primarily sausage related. I was a happy camper to see that they did have vegan chili and vegan sausage! Both were SO good. I would definitely revisit that spot and recommend it to anyone visiting. It is also down the street from what appears to be an extremely busy donut store. We had every intention of going there after our meal but it closed right as we walked up. I plan on getting in there at some point while I am out here 🙂

This morning before Mom and Andy left we went to breakfast at the Friendly Toast. A recommendation from a coworker that did in fact turn out to be fantastic! I had the vegan breakfast burrito and it was probably one of the best breakfast burritos I’ve ever had. It had all the flavor without all the heaviness. It was perfect. So overall we had a really nice trip together. I am so glad they were able to visit and see where I am staying for the next few months.

I have been moving back and forth between places since I arrived here in August.  On Monday I made my final move into the studio I am staying in until December now. SO happy to finally have a home and actually be able to unpack!  Took me about two seconds to take over and make it feel like my space. I think this may help me mentally as well. Hopefully some sort of stability will help curb the crazy because frankly two more months of me going insane all the time is probably not going to get me very far.

Anyway, a few pictures are posted below. I am heading out with some coworkers tomorrow night and then I work all weekend. The colors are starting to change big time and early next week I am heading up to the White Mountains with another travel nurse and we are going to do some famous drive everyone keeps telling us about as well as hit up a few trails. I am so looking forward to that! And then next weekend I am meeting up with Casey (the travel nurse I met in Montana and became quick friends with) and we are going to do a hike together. It will be nice to see her! So stay tuned for what I am hoping will be some insane pictures of the foliage 🙂

Cheers!

 

I am extremely happy to report that I am writing this in the company of no one. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had a difficult time finding housing. I ended up needing to string a few things together until I end up in my final “home” on October 1st. Also everything is expensive. I honestly did not at all expect New Hampshire to be expensive. I did not think anyone cared about this state. So in an effort to save a few dollars I booked a cheap air bnb for the first ten days.

The circumstances definitely could have been a million times worse but nonetheless they were not ideal. The guy I stayed with was nice enough but quickly learned he is definitely a bro. After about five minutes of being there, I was sitting on my bed and he comes to the doorway and spills his life story which included a tale about knocking up some English chick so he now has a British daughter living across the pond and he lives there in the spring. The sheer volume of his voice is enough to make you go deaf. I had to call him one morning because he dead bolted the door and I work night shift. So after an hour drive home and a thirteen hour shift I came home and couldn’t get in the condo. Anyway, his voicemail. It sounded like he was shouting through a megaphone. Oh and he finally woke up after I buzzed the place a few times. When I got in the condo and he apologized he told me that I could always scale the balcony. He lives on the second floor. What a guy.

He’s a bachelor and the place was fine enough but he had no soap and no towels in the bathrooms or kitchen. WHAT. I literally carried around a small bottle of hand sanitizer because I’m not interested in touching the bodily fluids that are on any of those surfaces. In that first five minute life story I became a part of, he told me that he is known as “the christmas tree guy.” He owns a Christmas tree farm and sells/distributes them around the area. So he comes home one night and walks in with a live Christmas tree. Proceeds to walk around shirtless and pose the tree in various parts of the apartment. All the while he is telling me a story about some schizophrenic chick he went on a date with that he picked up at the gym a long time ago. One morning I casually made conversation by asking him if he was going to be able to enjoy the long labor day weekend at all to which he replied ” I mean, am I supposed to do something? I thought until I turned 30 that if I wasn’t getting drunk and having sex with models that I wasn’t doing it right but now…” – so that’s what I was dealing with. I also woke up multiple times to him yelling profanities and slamming the kitchen table and then I would walk out and he would say “oh I hope I wasn’t being too loud.” I suppose this is what a $28/night air bnb gets you.

I am so happy I am by myself. I am sitting here drinking a glass of wine and listening to the ocean waves crash outside the condo. SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS. Just basking in my solitude.

I really just needed to tell you all about this guy. The last ten days have been a bit rough and this guy did not help. Turns out I am not handling the whole being 2,000 miles away from Brad thing very well. Despite the fact that this is totally my own doing, I am finding it difficult. I am hoping I will just get used to it and it will be fine! I really don’t know how military spouses handle this sort of thing. I would die.

My dad drove out with me again and we had a great trip! We explored several of the towns in the area and really enjoyed ourselves 🙂 I went hiking last weekend and climbed two of the mountains out here. Most the elevations of the mountains here are 4,000ft or less so the elevation is way easier to deal with compared to Montana as far as breathing goes. I did not feel like I wanted to die and I did not get nauseous at all! The only thing with these trails is that they are pretty much straight up so you are gaining quite a bit of elevation in a short distance. I enjoyed the hikes though, they were kind of fun because there were a ton of rocks that you had to actually climb up so it made it challenging. I am looking forward to working my way towards the White Mountains. Casey, one of my friends and another travel nurse I met in Montana took an assignment in Vermont so she will be close enough that we will get to continue our adventures! I’m excited about that.

I also could not be happier about being near water. I have enjoyed the beach several times already and am hoping to get a few more days in before the weather changes! The Hampton Seafood festival was/is this weekend. I went yesterday afternoon and it was such a letdown. I mean, I am in New England. So I was expecting some seriously awesome seafood vendors to be here. Turns out most of the vendors were basically the equivalent of Red Lobster – they had seafood but it was definitely geared towards tourist and places I would never eat in my life. I did manage to hunt down one decent vendor, they are a lobster pound and their lobster roll was extremely delicious. So, it wasn’t a total loss. In addition to the poor food choices, the bands that have been playing sound like a bunch of 60 year old drunk men trying to do karaoke. Woof.

I won’t really be doing too much the next few weeks in an effort to save money for my trip back to Milwaukee on the 20th so I will probably update after that. I really just needed to unload about living with The Situation. A few photos below but between crying and trying to stay out of the condo I was I haven’t done much photography so stay tuned for that as well 🙂

Cheers!

 

 

Apparently I uploaded the photos in the beginning this time. Keeping you guys on your toes I guess.

I feel like I have been saying this way too often with my blog posts lately but “saddle up” everyone. We have a lot of ground to cover. Tomorrow ends my five week vacation. I was just telling my mom tonight that I haven’t really stopped moving since I left Montana. This is not a bad problem to have but this means there is a lot of adventures to discuss.

I’ll start at the beginning. Brad traveled home with me from Montana and I am very happy to report that we did not hate each other after a 20 hour road trip through what is a terribly boring section of the United States (eastern Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois). We carried on to Michigan for a family wedding right after traveling back to Chicago (he stuck around after that too). It was so nice seeing everyone as it seems to only happen these days when someone gets hitched. Good thing there are still plenty of us to go.

I dropped Brad off at the airport and after showing quite a public display of tears I wandered on up to Wisconsin for a visit. I was not able to make it there in between North Carolina and Montana so I was a very happy camper to be able to pay a visit to my Wisco family this time! I managed to completely overbook myself and pretty much had something planned for every minute of each day I was up there but it was totally worth it! It was odd being there though. In terms of my connection to Wisconsin and Milwaukee, I feel like it is gone. It is an odd feeling to come “home” and not feel like I belong there anymore. I still love the city and the state (and of course my friends and family) and always will but I think that helped confirm my decision of why I started traveling and what I set out to do. I have been wanting to move out of the Midwest for a long time and kept sticking around for various reasons but I think we can all agree that a comfort zone is always nice and plays a sizeable role in not moving forward. Turns out once you get out of that comfort zone there is a whole world to explore and so many things to learn. I was thinking the other day, after I did fly fishing for the first time, that if I wrote down all the new things I have done this year I think my brain would be tired just looking at the list. I actually think I will make this list at the end of this year for my own personal amazement.

After my Wisconsin tour I was home for a few days and then headed to Switzerland and Austria with my mom. My mom and I have been trying to plan and follow through with a Europe trip for YEARS. Finally the stars aligned and we made it across the pond together.

First stop was Switzerland. We landed in Zurich and only spent the afteroon and night there. If any of you ever plan to head to Switzerland and fly into Zurich, do not plan on spending any more time there than this. There is an old town section of the city that is worth seeing but otherwise it is like most other cities.

We spent two days in Interlaken. This was a really nice springboard for doing day trips. Interlaken is right at the base of the mountains and basically any direction you look there is a mountain range. There is a main train station that runs through town so getting anywhere in and around Interlaken and up into the mountains is extremely easy. The first thing we did in each of the cities that we stayed in was a walking tour to get a feel for everything. During our walking tour of Interlaken we happened across a tram that went up the side of a mountain. We cut our walk short and hopped right on that tram and rode on up to the top of Harder Kulm. At the top was a beautiful view of Jungfrau across the lakes. Jungfrau is the tallest mountain in Europe. The following day we got up quite early and went to the top of Jungfrau. To clarify, we did this via multiple trains and trams – not hiking. I realized after posting photos that it may have appeared that I hiked up to the top which was not the case for multiple reasons. Nonetheless this was an awesome experience! This mountain holds the longest glacier in Europe as well and it was so fun to see all of this!

We stayed at Hotel Interlaken while we were there and it was adorable! Super cute old school rooms with nice balconies. We ended our evenings out on the balcony with a glass of wine and some Swiss chocolate each night 🙂

After a few days here we hopped on a train to Austria. Our first stop in Austria was Innsbruck. We had heard prior to our trip that only a night would be needed in Innsbruck. Honestly, I would come back to Innsbruck and spend more time here than just a night. It is a super cute little city right on a river with the mountains directly behind it. There is also a college here so the vibe of the city is fun with all the students.

Salzburg was next on the trek. The first night here we grabbed tickets to a classical music concert inside a ballroom of a palace. It was THE BEST. Salzburg is known as a huge music hub and we happened to be there during their annual classical music festival. I realize to a lot of people this probably sounds lame but my mom and I both love classical music so we were thrilled. The street music in this city was all classical music artists! After our concert that first night we came back to the hotel and opened our windows because across the way someone was practicing their cello with their windows open. Could this get any happier!?

Vienna was our final destination. I would also come back and spend a few more days in Vienna. The buildings here are just unreal. The history and the architecture are both beautiful and there was way too much to learn and see in the two days we were there. We did a tour of the Opera House since it is one of the most famous opera houses in the world. Unfortunately, the opera takes time off in August and resumes mid September so we were unable to experience this. Another major reason I would come back is just to be able to attend an opera there.

A few mishaps from the trip, because how can there be a trip without a few mishaps for some solid stories!? I was sick with a pretty miserable head cold almost the whole time we were in Europe. It was also about 95 degrees and humid the entire time we were there. I think the only time we weren’t sweating was when we were on top of Jungfrau and it was 32 degrees. We really should have relished this a bit more. By about 4pm on our last day of the trip we said screw it to the heat, sickness and sweating and ate peanut m&ms and pretzels in our room with the air conditioning turned down to about 30 degrees. Trains. We learned very quickly that if you are traveling through Europe with suitcases and can afford it, get first class tickets for trains. I didn’t know any better so bought us regular old second class tickets the first day and it is like a blood bath trying to get a seat on those trains. One train we didn’t even get a seat and we had to stand, with our luggage, in those in between car spaces where you initially walk onto the train. So that was fun standing in tiny space on a 95 degree day with no air circulating. Really, other than these things our trip was quite the success! I would absolutely go back to both of these countries for a bit more time and exploration! Oh. A few other thoughts. I was not at ALL prepared for how many people still smoke in Europe. They actually still have some restaurants where you are allowed to smoke and in every hotel they specifically told us we were in non-smoking rooms. Perhaps the only thing I did not enjoy about being over there was inhaling all the second hand smoke. Finally, these people love ice cream. I have never seen so many people eat ice cream in my life. It was extremely hot there and they were having a record breaking heat wave but the ice cream consumption was aggressive.

I’m looking forward to going back someday!

Three days after getting back to the good ol’ US of A I headed back out to Montana for five days. I was able to push back my start date a bit for my next travel assignment so I was VERY HAPPY to head out west to see Brad for a long weekend 🙂 .

I went fly fishing for the first time out there. This was on my list of goals while I was there for my assignment and finally did it! I definitely need all the practice. My muscle memory kept going back to throwing a softball instead of casting a line. For the life of me I could not keep from snapping my wrist and acting as though I was throwing a ball. I managed to randomly cast correctly and even caught my own fish so I considered it somewhat successful. Also Brad managed to not lose his mind while trying to get me to keep my arm straight, bless his soul. I’m still not totally sold on fishing but I am looking forward to practicing more and having fun with it. I did get to stand in the water in a beautiful place so it’s not all bad.

We went hiking, swimming and did an afternoon float down the Madison River with some of Brad’s friends while I was there. Per usual I loved my time out there and continue to be amazed by the never-ending beauty of that state – even when it is filled with smoke! I was of course sad to say goodbye to Brad, for now. I was totally that girl standing in the airport openly crying at the security gates as I was saying goodbye and then continued to cry while in line. Such a sap these days.

I can’t remember if I have made this announcement or if I’ve made it extremely apparent but while I was in Wisconsin I accepted an assignment out in Portsmouth, New Hampshire for the next three months. I am actually currently sitting in East Aurora, New York trying to finish this darn post before I get to New Hampshire tomorrow.

I am SO excited I got this assignment. Portsmouth is right on the ocean and what looks like an adorable little town. It is also only an hour away from Boston and only an hour away from Portland, Maine AND only an hour away from the mountains. I’ve already joined a hiking meetup so I can jump right in and start hiking. It looks like this group also does bike trips and kayaking so hopefully I can do all the things! So looking forward to experiencing the fall colors out this way. I will be out here until December 10th so I will be here when all the towns are decorated for Christmas. I am literally freaking out over this. Portsmouth was voted one of the top New England Christmas towns – FREAKING OUT. Excuse me while I live out Home Alone 2 Lost in New York; Family Stone and Christmas in Conneticut.

In other news, finding housing out here was the absolute worst and a thousand times more expensive than I thought it would be. However, I somehow managed to score an apartment right on the ocean in the town just south of Porstmouth. I will be able to see the ocean from my place. The freaking out continues.

I’ll throw a few photos up below. Otherwise, I’ll see you all when I get to Portsmouth! I am going to try really, really hard to be better about posting this assignment. I just end up doing so many activities in between my three shifts per week that I get so behind. I’m going to try though! Brad isn’t here with me so I’ll be less distracted and have more time to write my thoughts and feelings.

Cheers!

 

Disclaimer: I wrote this post prior to leaving Montana so I’m home already and am too lazy to change the post around. Also too lazy to proof read so carry on if I made all the mistakes. 🙂

I can’t believe I’m writing my final Montana post. Remember my last North Carolina post and how sad I was to be leaving there? Multiply that sadness by about 200 and that is how I am currently feeling. Ever since my initial visit West back in 2009 I felt home every time I’m here. Turns out that feeling is still there and even more so after my time here in MT. I knew I was going to like Montana but I honestly did not expect to fall in love with the mountains as much as I did. Speaking of falling in love, obviously a major reason I am sad is because I met my person here and am having quite a difficult time imagining being away from him for awhile.

My dad asked me why I am even leaving Montana and Brad. Valid question. I told myself when I started this whole traveling ordeal that I would not stay in one place for anything or anyone because I can always come back and I stayed in Milwaukee seven years longer than I wanted to for people that ended up tossing me aside. Brad is an entirely different situation in the best way possible but in my stubborn state here I am..leaving a place I love and a person I love to hopefully travel to the Northeast coast for fall! I don’t have an assignment yet but I want to be out that way for the fall colors. I think it would be awesome to be near Acadia for hiking in the fall. 🙂

Moving on. I’ll do a quick synopsis of what I’ve done since I last wrote. The last three weeks have mainly consisted of me trying to get through my three work shifts as quickly as possible so I could move on to the next adventure.

Let’s see. At the end of June Casey and I went to Red Lodge again and Brad accompanied us as well. We did a really pretty hike just outside Red Lodge and then that night Casey and I pitched a tent outside our friend Dylan’s cabin. We ended up making a bonfire and hungout out for the night there. The next day Dylan so kindly drove Casey and I through the entire Beartooth Highway! It’s so beautiful and crazy to imagine people actually building this highway at one point!

I worked three days and then Brad and I headed up to the Canadian Rockies. The first night we set out we camped up near this fire lookout that overlooked the Swan Range. Brad had done some skiing near here in the winter and knew of the spot. It was so so pretty! We actually camped there again on our way back home as well.

We arrived to Canada and stopped at the Radium Hot Springs on our first night there. While we were soaking in the hot spring the air outside was fairly chilly and then started to rain so it was a cool experience. The following day we got up early to hike in Banff and see Lake Louise. To say we were happy we did this early is an understatement. We were hiking by 7am and did a total of about 8 miles which consisted of two different trail loops. By the time we were headed back down to the lake there were SO MANY PEOPLE and the serenity was gone. If you ever go there I highly recommend doing this early.

There are two tea houses along the hikes and they are so cute!! We stopped at one of them and sat outside on the porch and had some tea and biscuits – I’ll post a photo below of how happy I was about these biscuits. You’ve never seen such a look of love.

After Banff we started up the Icefield Parkway. You guys. This is literally the most unreal thing I’ve ever seen. The Icefield Parkway makes the Beartooth look laughable. The Canadian Rockies are unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my life. If someone had a video of Brad and I during this drive it consisted of us saying “whoa” on repeat. The mountains go on forever!! Every time you turn a corner it is more breathtaking than the last. It’s honestly just insane and so indescribable.

There is the Columbia Icefield in the middle of this parkway. This has a HUGE glacier. It’s so big that there are buses that drive over and through the glacier. I posted a photo of it but everything is so big that it is hard to grasp the depth. Please just go to Banff and Jasper. That’s about all I can say. Brad and I had such a good time on this trip. We spent the whole six days camping in the back of his truck and we used a free camping website that served us very well! We stayed in some really beautiful places right on rivers with the mountains behind us for free and it was so much quieter and peaceful than campgrounds. I loved it!!

Last week my friend Lauren came in from Wisco to visit and she, Casey and I went to Glacier National Park for four days!! We also had such a good time! We really threw Lauren right in to the altitude and the hiking. Monday we ended up doing a longer hike which was fine but the altitude gain was fairly significant and we did at noon on a 95 degree day on a hike with no shade whatsoever. The views are always worth the pain but the heat made it quite challenging. We camped two of the nights and then our last night was stayed at a really cool lodge right at the back of the mountains in the park. The weather we had was beyond perfect and saw some more beautiful areas. This state is mind blowing. I love it all.

I am headed home tomorrow. I am lucky that Brad is able to take the time to drive home with me! I am so happy to have a bit more time with him. He’s never been to Chicago so we are going to spend a day in the city after we get back from Michigan for a family wedding 🙂

I will be spending several days in Milwaukee and then head to Switzerland and Austria with my mom the first week of August!!! My next post will be after that trip!

Cheers.

 

Shalom. It’s been a minute since I’ve updated this so bare with me as I try to recollect the events in an organized fashion.

I think last update I left you guys with my very clear happiness with the recent adventures I’ve had with Brad. So we might as well pick up there because they have only continued to get better. For those of you that know me really well you know how much I freak out over life sometimes, Brad is the same way – we basically just spend our time freaking out over how awesome everything in this world is. Pretty excellent. He’s on his way to Billings right now and just texted me about how awesome the clouds are…that kind of thing. SAME PAGE.

The first weekend in June I went back to Bozeman. Just always assume I’m going back to Bozeman. For those unfamiliar, it’s in the more western part of Montana and has WAY more going on as far as scenery and outdoor activities go than Billings does. I love going there and the town is in the middle of a bowl of mountains. Literally anywhere you look there is a mountain range. It’s great.

Anyway, so I went back to Bozeman. Saturday night Brad and I went to a cute little restaurant in town and then just hung out. He had worked all day and I had worked the night before. Sunday morning we got up and headed to Wade Lake. I put pictures up on instagram. The water was INSANE. The lake was formed by an earthquake. The different colors of the water were unreal as you could see by my photos. Though photos never do anything justice. We paddle boarded around the lake and then posted up on a nice little grassy area next to the lake. Per usual we listened to solid music, ate some treats and had a few brews. We also were incredibly entertained by all the fisherman. It was a gorgeous day. We were going to head back and meet some people for dinner but it was too nice out so we decided to keep going. This is becoming our theme.

We ended up stopping at Beartrap trail. It’s a really pretty trail that runs right along a river. We hiked along this for awhile and then decided to turn around and do a trail run on the way out. We were trying to make it out of the trail to catch the sunset on the mountains. My knee bummed out so we missed the sunset but did manage to make it out with a nice wildflower bouquet 🙂

Last weekend I hopped on a plane to Chicago for a few days. Myself and a few other girls headed to Michigan for a nice little lakehouse weekend to celebrate a belated bachelorette for Mandy. We did a quick winery stop on Friday night and then headed down to the beach to catch the sunset. Saturday we spent the day at Round Barn. Really cool venue with great outdoor space. The weather wasn’t the best but it managed to stay fairly warm and dry the whole time. There were multiple blues bands playing all day! We did a tasting and then headed outside and just enjoyed the day and the music. We went out that evening for a nice dinner and ate basically the entire menu and came back to the house to have some drinks and play a few games! Sunday morning we went to breakfast and then did some quick antique shopping before heading home. It was such a nice weekend and so nice to get some time with my bests!! Sunday and Monday I relaxed at home and spent a few days with my parents and was able to visit my grandma briefly. All around nice to see everyone for a short while!

Tuesday morning I flew back into Bozeman. I went right from the airport to the “M” trail. The weather in Chicago/Michigan had been SO grey and gloomy. So when I landed here and it was perfectly sunny and about 70 degrees I couldn’t pass up the chance to soak some of that up! I really enjoy that trail, it’s such a pretty little hike. Tuesday night Brad and I went and grabbed a drink on one of the rooftop patios in town and then went out for sushi! I was pretty skeptical of sushi in Montana but this place was actually really good. I believe it was called Dave’s sushi. The restaurant was so cute too!

Wednesday morning we got up and had breakfast and then headed out for a hike. Brad said he wanted to take me to one of the peaks in the Bridger Mountains but he wasn’t sure how much snow was up there. I have no idea what I’m doing, as always with this stuff so I said ok and trusted his judgement. Turns out there was a decent amount of snow. Gorgeous day for a hike but there was quite a bit of hiking up (and eventually down…just wait for that story) snow.

Shortly after starting the hike I think I was experiencing a bit of altitude sickness. I felt like I was on the verge of puking basically the entire climb up. Brad told me he used to do that climb in 25 minutes awhile back. Meanwhile it took me a few hours and I was STRUGGLING. Between being nauseous and not being used to the altitude as far as oxygen goes there were a few times when I almost said screw it. Turns out, I’m stubborn and competitive so I managed to make it to the peak. In hindsight, I am very happy I pushed through but there were some not so fun moments. The day was super clear though so we could see so many different mountain ranges from up there! On the way up we also hung out with a mountain goat, we named him Gary. It was so funny how unafraid of us he was. And he was SO FLUFFY!

On the way down from the peak we ran into two mountain bikers who were carrying their bikes and all it’s contents on their back up to the top. WHAT. Brad was telling me that’s how extreme people are with their activities around here. Absolutely not.

So we got down to the “saddle” where we had crossed over. This was the part with a ton of snow that we had hiked through on the way up. To make the descent a little easier Brad was  telling me how to slide down on my butt. I can’t remember the term for this despite me asking him a million times. So anyway, he wrapped a jacket around my butt and I sat down feet first because, if I had done this right, my feet would have been able to guide me. Also keep in mind this is not a bunny hill…this was the entire face of part of a mountain. It seemed like quite a long distance at the time anyway. So I start sliding down and pretty much immediately lose control and spin backwards on my back so I am now flying down headfirst with zero control. It was pretty scary. I switched myself back around to feet first and tried to put them down to stop myself but they just kept sliding over the snow. I then tried to stop myself with my hands but I was going too fast. I somehow eventually stopped myself towards the bottom and made it without crashing into a rock. Escaped with some scratches and bruises and what looks like roadrash but things could have been much worse. Let’s just say from that point on I was not the happiest human ever. I kept slipping on the snow the remainder of the way down, my hands and arms up to my elbow were numb and I was tired. I’ll post a photo below of the look I was giving Brad as we were climbing down. Not amused. Bless his soul though, he managed to stay upbeat and make me laugh through the end of the hike and also deal with me being extremely moody at this point.

After the hike we went to this super small town to a tiny bar called The Bank Bar. The town looked straight out of an old school western movie. Loved it. The beer helped heal the wounds a bit. After that we went to MAP brewery back in Bozeman and sat on the lawn, stared at the mountains and enjoyed the night before going to watch the sunset at a different park.

Again, another awesome adventure. Brad said we could scale it back next time but I told him to always push me a little because I’m always happy in what I accomplish and am able to do it even if I am doubting myself at the time. I also told him I want to keep doing things like that because the more I do that the more I’ll learn and be comfortable in those situations.

I meant to post this days ago but between work and all the adaventuring I have yet to finish. So one more adventure to add. My friend Amanda and I went and hiked Mystic Lake on Monday. It was fairly rainy with threat of thunderstorms but luckily we were both still interested in going! Plus, neither of us have been backpacking before and we both have new rain gear for hiking and wanted to test it out :). Turns out it only rained for about 15 minutes but we both stayed dry!! Honestly the rain and the clouds made the hike beautiful. The low clouds were soooo pretty weaving their way between the mountains. Per usual pictures don’t really do it justice but it was a really nice hike!!

This weekend Casey and I are going back to Red Lodge to hike on Friday and then we are camping outside one of our friend’s cabins and then completing the Beartooth Highway drive on Saturday. Then I’m heading back to Bozeman for Saturday and Sunday…obviously. Enjoy the photos below. Until next time!

Cheers.

 

I don’t even know where to start anymore with this place. I am finding it incredibly and increasingly difficult to portray how much I am loving it and how beautiful it is here. I was tempted to just post a bunch of pictures and let your imaginations run wild. But I’ll say a few words..or a million words. Saddle up.

I’m back with another slew of soul rejuvinating, magical weekends of fun. This place you guys. When I told people I wanted to go to Montana for the summer I got a lot of “are you going to live on a ranch?” “Why are you going there?” etc. There are a lot of actual cowboys out here but to me that’s all part of the awesome culture of this area. That being said, I came out here to see what you have all seen in my photos because I knew that was waiting for me. I guess when you don’t know much about an area you rely on the stereotype. I hope I am changing some minds out there.

In my previous post I talked about meeting Brad while we were in Bozeman and how he ended up joining us for our last adventure. Well, Brad and I have had a few of our own adventures the past couple weekends and it has been THE BEST.

Two weekends ago he and I went to East Rosebud  on Sunday morning. It’s about an hour or so away from Billings in the Beartooth Mountains. Brad had borrowed a sprinter van from a family he’s close with (also came with a dog). Anyway, this van had a small kitchen in it and the top popped up into a “bedroom.” So we were not roughing it. We hiked to Elk Lake – which I posted a photo of on the insta account. As you could all see this place was beatuiful! I was walking slower than molasses because I kept staring at everything. Everything is SO BIG. You guys, we are so small in this world. It’s insane. Also everything is SO GREEN. My head and heart want to explode when I look at all of this. There are a select few humans who are probably close to their wits end with me saying everything is pretty and green. 🙂

I was telling Brad I feel so sad for people who can’t enjoy things like this. I also feel so sad for people who can enjoy it and choose not to. Blows my mind.

After we were done hiking we (when I say we, I mean Brad because I have no idea what I’m doing) found a campsite right next to the creek. Although the “creek” is currently the equivalent of a engraged rapidly moving river because of all the snow melting. It was such a pretty spot. It should be mentioned that the areas to camp here are in the middle of nowhere and there is no one around you. We actually moved a fence and went down some random dirt road to find this place. We made dinner and had a beer while the mountains and the sunset served as our television for the night. We just sat by the creek and watched the light change on the mountainside. So so pretty. When the sun did go down we ended up taking out the sleeping bags and the mattress from the top of the van and laying outside, had some wine and good tunes and watched the stars slide across the sky again.

The following morning we woke up and Brad made coffee and breakfast while I took a stroll and grabbed some awesome morning light photos. After breakfast we walked back down the path near us and picked a wildflower bouquet. Both of us had plans for later that day so we had to head out of the camp and get back home.

We got back to where my car was parked in Columbus and grabbed some lunch. It was sunny, warm and an all around gorgeous day. At some point in this time frame we both decided to completely ditch our plans for the day and keep going. I told him last weekend you can’t have a time like that with another human and not keep going. So that’s what we did. We drove back toward the mountains, grabbed a six pack from an incredibly tiny and hilarious town store in the middle of nowhere and proceeded to spend a solid part of the afternoon driving and following the river through the mountains. We made multiple pit stops along the way and laughed so hard we cried.

Since we had only planned on camping one night we had run out of rations for food for our spontaneous second night. Luckily there is a fantastic little bar and grill in Roscoe called The Grizzly. You have to experience this place to understand the uniqueness. Half of the events that happened during our two days of adventure are not even worth trying to describe via blog post. Just know the hilarity that ensued included terrible country music, a prom queen bartender, half of my food on the floor and a gentleman in a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, a nice button up with cows on it and two people who thoroughly enjoy eachother’s company and have a wicked sense of humor.

Last weekend I ventured back to Bozeman to spend the weekend with Brad. Friday we drove out to Hyalite Reservoir to paddle board as pictured on my instagram. We paddled across the reservoir and sat in the grass watching the mountains and having a brew. We got back out on the water for a bit before we were hoping to go hike to a waterfall. However, I decided to move my feet around too much on the board and went right on overboard. This water is unbelievabley freezing. It literally took my breath away. I actually panicked for a few minutes because it was such a shock that I felt like I could not breath. Remember Rose from Titanic? My voice sounded like hers did when she was on that board in the ocean. I feel you Rose, I feel you. I managed to get back on my board and muster up the inner warmth to paddle around a bit more before Brad told me my lips were turning blue. The hike did not happen.

Brad had to work Saturday and Sunday afternoon so Saturday we went to brunch and walked up on these bluffs overlooking the town and then he headed into work. I decided to hike the “M” Trail in town. It was a really beautiful view of the valley and the wildflowers are unreal right now. The whole hillside was covered in them! We spent the nights cooking dinner and listening to good tunes, enjoying wine and sitting out on the porch soaking up the beautiful evenings. Again, I am not going to attempt to explain the hilarity. We are awesome and we are funny, that’s all anyone ever needs to know.

Yesterday! Casey and I ventured out onto the Beartooth Highway. We had plans to drive the whole highway and stay in Cooke City but there was so much snow this year that it was only open to the Wyoming state line. The part we did see was, as I have said about EVERYTHING, beautiful. I can’t wait to drive the rest when it is open soon! I’ll have several pictures posted below. We headed back towards Red Lodge and did a hike at Lake Fork Trail. This was a really nice trail that paralleled a creek so it was a really peaceful hike. Afterwards we met Dylan (the first straggler we picked up and went hiking with when we first visited Red Lodge a few weeks ago). It was such a nice day so we sat outside in the back patio area at the Red Lodge brewery with Dylan and a few of his friends and had a few post hike brews. See a theme? Hiking and beer go together like cheese and wine.

That’s the best I can do right now. My life is currently like a movie and I can’t properly exude the enthusiasm and content feeling I have so I’ll continue to let my photos speak for me while I occasionally throw a vague description out to you guys.

Enjoy the photos below, there are A LOT this time.

Cheers!

I feel like my life is a movie lately. The description of my last weekend probably won’t seem as magical to you guys as it was in real life at the moment. But, bare with me because it’s four days later and I’m still smiling at the adventures we had in Bozeman and Chico.

Amanda, Casey and I set out for Bozeman on Sunday morning after work. We had a literal written list of things we wanted to accomplish while we were there – most of them were breweries and restaurants with a museum and hiking trails thrown in the mix. I’ll just hit the main spots to save you all the mundain details of our twelve hour Sunday day o’ fun.

We started at MAP Brewing Co . It is this really cool log cabin type building that sits on this little lake with the mountains right behind it. The whole back side of the building is windows so the views are incredible. Beer was excellent as well!  We then moved on to Mountains Walking Brewery . This one had food so we ordered a pizza, soy and ginger brussel sprouts and tator tots. The brussel sprouts were sooooo good. It was all good but the brussel sprouts were delish! Beer was awesome, atmosphere was awesome..it was all awesome. Across the street is Bozeman Brewing Company and this is where we picked up our additional adventure team member for the weekend. This place is great, it’s pretty small and to me, felt alot like The Roman Coin (in Milwaukee). I felt very at home here. We grabbed a beer and ended up buying matching hats – which we proceeded to wear for the next 24 hours, only taking them off to sleep. It was adorable if you ask me. Anyway, we ended up chatting a little bit with the bartender and decided to invite him out with us that night which eventually turned into us inviting him to join us the whole weekend including Chico. Here enters Brad into our lives. Turns out this guy is one of the nicest humans I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. Super genuine and down to earth guy. He’s also hilarious so that’s an added bonus. I’m honestly surprised he agreed to come along with us on Monday because Amanda, Casey and I were quite the act on Sunday night but I’m glad he was a trooper.

Moving on to Sunday night – Brad met us out after he got off work and we had a list of bars that a coworker had recommended. We apparently felt it necessary to hit every. single. one. of these places. I always jot down notes on my phone or paper of a list of events I want to discuss in my next blog post. This next event is one I wrote down while out on Sunday and it is very irrelevant to anything regarding the magic of this weekend but it was funny. In our very friendly state of mind we were walking down the street from one bar to the next and started talking to this other guy who had just come out of a work party. His name is Lovi. If this gives you any indication of the type of human he turned out to be. Long story short, we quickly found out this guy was THE WORST. Grade A Bro in the worst way possible. So we ditched him. At the end of the night he walked into the bar we were at and we had the pleasure of watching him get his ass kicked by a group of guys. Karma everybody, karma.

It was an all around awesome day. We got back to the hotel that night, raided the snack shop (seriously bought out the entire place, the front desk guy did not know what to do with us) and went to bed.

Monday morning we met Brad and went for a hike up the Drinking Horse trail. I was pretty under the weather for this hike and it’s not a bad trail but it was brutal when suffering from the irish flu and also altitude did not help. I like to blame everything on altitude when possible. The three of us girls were on a very real struggle bus and sucking air while Brad casually meandered up the trail. There were many instances where I was surprised he didn’t just run away. Nonetheless, we made it to the top – which I posted several photos of on instagram. It was so beautiful. I can not describe to you how green and colorful everything is here right now. I feel as though I am walking through a real life coloring book. The pictures I posted on instagram and below are hashtag no filter. It is SO GREEN!

After the hike Amanda, Casey and I went to visit the The Museum of the Rockies . I saw this while researching the area but would have totally dismissed it as a dumb kids place except everyone told us to actually go visit. Turns out it is awesome! Montana has had the most dinosaur fossil discoveries in the US. The majority of the museum is a display of all the dinosaur bones they have found. It is crazy!! We could not wrap our minds around the fact that they were real and also how huge these animals were! I definitely suggest going there if ever in Bozeman.

We met Brad for lunch in Livingston. Really cute little town! Afterwards we started our trek to Chico Hot Springs . Brad directed us down the backroads through Paradise Valley. There is a very very good reason why it holds this name. The drive was breathtaking to be quite honest. The pictures don’t really do it justice although some of the photos turned out beautiful. We were staying in a “rustic cabin” for the night. It was set on top of this hill overlooking all the mountains. Complete with a front porch! We immediately went down to the hot springs for a bit. This is a natural hot spring that flows down and the resort contains it in a pool area. There was a pool side bar down there and it was just such a relaxing atmosphere.

Around 8pm we got out of the hot springs, hopped in the car and chased the sunset for awhile. The lighting was so perfect this time of day as it reflected off all the mountain tops. The back road we were driving on paralleled the Yellowstone River so the combination of the light on the mountains and the Yellowstone was unreal. Before going back to the hot springs we visited The Old Saloon in Emigrant. It’s hard to describe this place without seeing it but we walked in and the crowd was older and about half of them wore cowboy hats. One guy walked through and was wearing cowboy hat, cowboy boots and legit spurs! It was so crazy to see. Anyway, really great place in the middle of nowhere USA.

We got back to the resort and went back down to the hot springs until they closed. We had an odd experience down there, one which I have not had before. The four of us were just sitting hanging out in this one area of the hot spring and a boy had been swimming around us. We were just friendly chatting with him and a few minutes later we heard his mom yelling his name from across the entire pool (this is a fairly large area) and then she started screaming “stranger danger.” It was odd – anyway the boy and his sister ended up going back towards their mom. The three of us were completely naive to the situation but Brad told us that it was most likely because a Native American boy was talking to four white people. I guess there is very much a divide when it comes to these races interacting. The Native American culture out here has been quite the learning experience for me. It is something I have never encountered and quite frankly don’t know much about. Along the way I have been researching different Native groups and their history as I run into different scenarios. Very interesting and very sad to be honest. It is quite awful how their culture has evolved. I recommend reading up on things like that at some point if any of you are interested.

Ok, moving on to the magical mystery tour. We left the hot springs and went back up towards our cabin. Down the road a bit from our place was a camp site of sorts that was not being used. We grabbed our bottles of wine, went down to this site and situated four chairs in the darkest part we could find. We proceeded to listen to Bon Iver, drink wine and stare at the stars. It was honestly one of the best nights I’ve ever had. This is like my heaven. The sky was beyond clear and it is so big! We actually watched the constellations move around us and had the pleasure of seeing so many shooting stars! At one point we were sitting at the edge of the world watching the sky and this large deer just came up and hung out right in front of us, ate for awhile and went up and over the hill. We sat outside until about 3am when borderline hypothermia forced us to go inside. I can’t describe to you how perfect this was. So many good conversations and being in the company of such good humans. It really felt like a movie. It’s so fun to be surrounded by people who so much appreciate all of this. It was just unreal.

I leave you with that. It was a beautiful weekend and one that was really, really good for the soul.

Pictures, as always, are posted below. I haven’t decided if I’m jetting off somewhere this weekend or not. I may just stay in Billings and relax. I think my body is wondering when I’m going to sit still for a second. But when adventure calls… We are still planning our next adventures but a buffalo ranch and ice caverns, Yellowstone, Beartooth Highway and Glacier National Parks are all in the works! 🙂

Shine on!

#teamshrivel