It’s been an exciting few years, travel-wise! Covid put a small damper on the travel plans we had in the works, but I was still able to go on lots of small weekend trips and a few longer adventures. A few trips up to Wisconsin, a month here or there to stay with a friend in California, and an annual trip up to a cabin in Michigan got us through the worst of the pandemic. By Fall 2021, I was comfortable enough to visit a friend in Seattle, go camping in Olympic National Park in Washington, and visit Disney World with my family. In the first half of 2022, I visited Vegas, traveled to Ireland for my cousin’s wedding, and made a few more stops in California. I was able to fit in Skiing in 2022 in both California and Utah, and in 2023 I bought a ski pass that helped me add Lake Tahoe, the three mountains of Banff, and Jackson Hole to the mix. Altogether I was blessed to go on five different ski trips this season, the most I’ve ever gotten by far!
During 2020, I made a lot of new friends who lived across the country. In the fall of 2022, bolstered by the great time I’d had in Seattle a few years ago, I decided that I would make a goal of visiting a friend each month. Since August of 2022, I’ve visited friends in San Francisco, Nashville, Little Rock, Fayetteville, Milwaukee, Debuke, San Diego, and Boston, as well as visiting my cousin in Los Angeles right before she moved. My original goal, twelve friends in twelve months, kind of fell through with a few last-minute emergency backouts and the overlap of ski season, but I was definitely able to visit twelve friends. The friends I wasn’t able to visit yet (those in Dallas-area, Charlottesville, Green Bay, Seattle (again), and Boseman, Montana), are on the docket for next year or two.
All this to say I’ve done a lot of travelling in the last three years, squirreling away weekend trips on long weekends or running to the airport immediately after my last meeting on Fridays, and none of it has felt quite interesting enough to share so far. But I just quit my job to start a PhD. Now I’ve got East Lansing to add to the list of places that I habitually go. (Seriously, who makes Wisconsin, Utah, and California a habit). That’s not the exciting news, though.
Obviously, because I’m me and I’m addicted, I guess, that means I have to take a trip before I start. And I thought you all might be interested. Because this time, I’m spending 10 days in New Zealand!!!! In the winter. Maybe I’ll go skiing again. (I’m not kidding. My ski pass also covers two mountains right by where I end the trip)
I leave in almost exactly a week. Once I survive the fifteen-hour flight, get ready for some (hopefully) amazing nature photos and some (hopefully mom-safety-approved) adventures!
WANDERING 