Flashback to October 2021. Caitlyn and I were on a bike packing trip from Buffalo to New York City on the Empire State Trail. There was a moment, on the side of a highway, where Caitlyn just realized we had 80 plus miles of cycling ahead of us that day after already having 80 plus mile days the previous two days. I heard Caitlyn state after a long silence, “I think I need a break from these trips.” Well, here…
For a few hot seconds, we made our way into Arizona. We wanted our road trip to include both Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend. After seeing both natural beauties, we celebrated with lunch at Fiesta Mexicana in Page, AZ. On the front of the menu, I saw that Fiesta Mexicana had a location in Sedona, AZ, and thought for a second that I may have been to this restaurant after backpacking to Havasu Falls exactly 4 years ago. Thankfully, my…
Kevin and I kicked off our first vacation of the year together in Utah. The 13 day adventure included hiking, camping, exploring riverbeds, UTV riding, stargazing, and seeing national parks. On the first day, we flew into Salt Lake City and drove four hours south to Moab. It was exciting that the first two nights were completely unplanned and we were banking on first-come, first-served BLM camping. Night one was a success after finding a sweet camp spot by Bowtie…
The week prior to my visit to see Carolyn in Colorado, Carolyn and Tyler had some disappointing news. Their boat’s transmission died. We wanted a backup plan for boat day so we decided on a river float. None of us were prepared for the exhilarating rapids of Cedar Creek in Golden, Colorado. We all imagined the float to be super casual that maybe even involve a drink or two. That was clearly not the case. We screamed in fear, gripping…
In the beginning of July, I made my way back to the West Coast to explore 4 National Parks, 1 National Forest, and spend (not enough) time in San Francisco, California and Bend, Oregon. Over the course of two weeks, I hiked 76 miles, kayaked 5 miles, white water rafted 3 miles, and mountain biked over 20 miles. Even though I was a walking zombie by the end of the two week period, I would take an action-packed trip like…
I jinxed myself when I said (with a taco in my hand) that I was celebrating my last clinic visit at Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center. I ended up having to go to Baltimore again the following week. With a lot of monitoring and wound care, I am finally seeing progress from my last surgery on December 18th! I could have reviewed another Baltimore taco spot after my last clinic visit, but I decided to surprise my mother with her favorite…
Second Stop- The Rum House Caribbean Taqueria Later on Friday, Alexis and I decided it was time to attempt to conquer the New Orleans public transportation system. Alexis may disagree with me but I thought we did pretty good navigating our way from the French Quarter to the Lower Garden District, especially with the construction, street car closures, and Friday rush hour traffic. After one street car ride, one bus transfer, and one last street car ride, and a tasteful…
Since I started my new job in April, I missed the vacation picks for the rest of 2017 calendar year but I still managed to take several extended weekend trips. This year, I have been lucky enough to briefly talk about tacos from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Norwalk, New York City, Austin, and now New Orleans. Just a few weeks ago, I went to New Orleans with one of my best friends since childhood, Alexis, to see my friend Will. …
As I sit here in my kitchen with two long sleeve shirts on, long pants, and fuzzy socks, I think back two weeks ago to my glorious trip to Austin where I was waking up to 70 degree weather each day. I did not have to pack or even think about pants or fuzzy socks down there. I just had to plan where I wanted to get tacos for lunch and what I wanted to explore while in Austin with…
Over the Fourth of July weekend, Nate and I took a 7 hour drive to Connecticut. Now I was under the impression that the drive would be hideously longer than that, but our destination was in Norwalk, CT, very close to New York City. In fact, from the beach in Norwalk, we could just see Long Island in the distance. We went to the specific town of Norwalk because Nate lived there for 3 years post graduation from college. We…