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Dog Friendly Yellowstone National Park – Bringing Your Dog To Yellowstone

May 5, 2021

Dog Friendly Yellowstone National Park – Bringing Your Dog To Yellowstone

Is Great Smoky Mountains National Park Dog-Friendly? A Realistic 2026 Guide to Visiting With Dogs

April 6, 2021

Is Great Smoky Mountains National Park Dog-Friendly? A Realistic 2026 Guide to Visiting With Dogs

Camping At Acadia: The Complete Guide

April 1, 2021

Camping At Acadia: The Complete Guide

Camping at Acadia National Park with dogs - complete guide featured image showing a Siberian Husky at a misty Seawall Campground campsite with picnic table and fire ring under tall pine trees, covering Blackwoods, Seawall, and Schoodic Woods NPS campgrounds plus dog-friendly RV parks on Mount Desert Island, Maine
Is Rocky Mountain National Park Dog Friendly?

March 16, 2021

Is Rocky Mountain National Park Dog Friendly?

Is Badlands​ National Park Dog Friendly? (2026 Guide)

November 10, 2020

Is Badlands​ National Park Dog Friendly? (2026 Guide)

Vanessa and her two Siberian Huskies in front of the Badlands National Park rock formations in South Dakota
One Fall Day In Shenandoah National Park

November 3, 2020

One Fall Day In Shenandoah National Park

Stowe Vermont Fall Foliage Guide – Best New England Fall Day Trip

August 17, 2020

Stowe Vermont Fall Foliage Guide – Best New England Fall Day Trip

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4 weeks into the van build. The ceiling is a littl 4 weeks into the van build. The ceiling is a little bit of a situation. 😂

So far, we’ve made more wrong cuts than I’m willing to admit, questioned our life choices at least once a weekend, and are still trying to figure out how we’re supposed to drive this thing across the country this month. Progress not perfection. 

For context, we already live full-time in a 40-foot travel trailer, Betty. So naturally, we bought an empty Ram ProMaster.

Why? Because there are national forest campgrounds and state parks Betty can’t fit into, weekends we’d rather just take off, and about ten years of wanting a van. Apparently, that’s all the justification that I needed.

It’s a high-roof ProMaster, a DIY build, two millennials, three dogs, and a deadline that seemed like a great idea at the time.

The van-build chaos will be here but is also moving over to @wellwornwheels, where we’ll be sharing the good decisions, bad decisions, things we break, and whether we actually pull off this cross-country adventure.

If you’re here for the national parks and travel stories, nothing changes. If you want to watch two people attempt to build a van while living in an RV, come find us over there.
Most people drive right past this part of Florida Most people drive right past this part of Florida on their way to the beach. The manatees have other plans.

Wakulla Springs, about 15 miles south of Tallahassee, is one of the largest and deepest freshwater springs in the world. The water stays in the 60s year-round, making it a pretty appealing winter escape for manatees. We went in February, unsure we’d see any this far north.

Turns out, we worried for nothing.

We did both experiences: the park’s daily boat tour from the historic lodge, cruising the spring with a ranger who knows every bird, gator, and probably their extended family ($8 for adults, $5 for kids). Then, the following morning, we took kayaks out on the Wakulla River with @tnthideaway.

Just Brian and me on the river. No baiting wildlife, no crowds, just a quiet morning with manatees doing their thing beneath us. I don’t know if that’s technically therapy, but I’m counting it.

And the lodge deserves a mention of its own. Built in 1937, it’s all marble floors, an old-school soda fountain, and riverfront rooms. Creature from the Black Lagoon and the original Tarzan films were shot here, too.

This is the side of Florida I didn’t know I needed. And coming from someone who would generally rather be in a national park surrounded by snow, that’s saying something.

✨ Save this for winter 2027! Finally getting this one out of the drafts. Full blog guide coming.
We tried to elope here. The Air Force had other pl We tried to elope here. The Air Force had other plans. 😂

We lived in El Paso for 10 months, and White Sands was our favorite excuse to chase the last bit of daylight. So we decided to get married in the dunes. Just us, the dogs, and a whole lot of white gypsum sand.

We got the permit. Picked a date. Had a plan. Then a plane went down in the dunes the week before, and the park closed after the first mile. 💀

We ended up getting married somewhere with fewer aircraft (Cloudcroft), but White Sands still has a piece of our hearts. Last slide is our actual elopement in Cloudcroft 😅

If you go:
🤍 Bring the dogs. The entire park is dog-friendly on leash.
🛷 Rent a sled at the visitor center or bring your own. 
🌅 Stay for sunset. The pink sand and long shadows are worth the wait.
🚧 Check for missile-testing closures before you drive out.

Sometimes the places that don’t go according to plan become your favorite stories anyway.

🧡 Save this for your New Mexico road trip, and follow along for more places worth pulling over for!
Going to Salem on Halloween and starting to freak Going to Salem on Halloween and starting to freak out about the crowds? It’s the 400th and I get it, but trust me, Halloween in Salem can be epic if you know the clock, and plan ahead. 

Every year I watch people roll in at 11 am looking for parking downtown (it’s not going to happen), or standing on Essex Street at 10:45 pm looking for a cab. The town is not set up for either. 

I lived in Massachusetts for 7 years and visited Salem often (at every time of year). This is the schedule I’d text a friend.

The rest of it, the week-by-week crowd calendar, the lots by address, the kids version, and what’s different this year, is in the Ultimate Salem Guide ($) and the Salem Cheat Sheet ($). Comment WITCH and I’ll send you both links., plus all of my Salem blog posts! 

And be good to the people who live there. Remember it’s their street before it’s your Halloween. 🎃
A canyon, a federal manhunt, and some very complic A canyon, a federal manhunt, and some very complicated family trees. Welcome to Capitol Reef.

Cohab Canyon, Capitol Reef. In the 1880s, the story goes, Mormon men with multiple wives ducked into this canyon when U.S. marshals came looking. Whether every detail checks out, the name stuck.

It’s a short hike from Fruita Campground, with a steep first quarter-mile before the red walls, honeycombed rock, and little side slots take over. About 1.5 miles to the overlooks, where the valley and orchards spread out below.

Finish at Sunset Point, a quick walk from the car, where the cliffs do their thing.

Captiol Reef was one of my favorites in Utah! How about you?
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