Tag Archives: travel

How to Take a Vacation

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about how summer was already halfway over and how much I was looking forward to a few upcoming things on my schedule. One of them was a trip to Virginia Beach to see Dave Matthews Band – a trip that didn’t go as planned (it rained nearly the whole time we had planned to be beachgoing), but was still a good time. Until the air conditioner in Clay’s car died about 10 minutes in to our four hour drive home. Because of course.

The other bit of travel I was looking forward to was a trip to Wisconsin to visit my family and see cousins and aunts and uncles and play at my parent’s lake house. THAT trip went much more to plan and was just what I needed: an extra long weekend, spent mostly outside, with people I love.

Northern Wisconsin is beautiful – and my parents are enjoying calling it their new home. Trading Alaska for this place is a pretty good deal – it’s not The Great Land, but it’s still pretty great.

So, here’s how I take a vacation:

The view from my parent’s yard. I could stay here forever.

My sister and I made up this photo display of our family – earlier in the night we had a memorial table out, too, with photos of Grammie and Grandpa Jennings, my great aunt – AJ, my cousin Amy, and my Uncle Mike and Aunt Terri. We lost all of them but we still wanted them to be present for our day together.

When you have a big party with folks who couldn’t make it to your wedding – you bring your wedding cake to everyone! Round two turned out just as good as the original.

Sisters and cousins – well, two of them anyways. These kids we like my sibling substitutes while I was in college. It’s hard to believe now they are in college!

Mom and I got out for a short paddle on my last day. I can’t wait to go back and do some more exploring!

Momma. <3

The weather cooperated and we were able to play outside quite a bit – the paddleboards were the best!

I’ll be honest – I didn’t think I could do this.

Out on the boat with these goofs. Short fishing excursion – they all got skunked, but I landed a few small ones.

Dad with one of the better catches of the weekend. Not quite long enough to keep, though.

On our last night, Dad took us out for some sunset fishing – I didn’t catch anything, but being out on the lake at dusk was kind of magical.

Guys, my sister is cute.

I was reading in the hammock for about ten minutes… it was great, but there were more exciting things to do!

I’m already counting the days until I can go back and hang out on the lake with my family. There’s never enough time in that place with those great people.

Halfway Through… the Summer

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How is July halfway over already?

I’m having a really hard time believing that in just a month and a half, September will be here and cooler temperatures will be on the horizon. There are so many things I want to do before the summer is over and I’m rapidly running out of weeks to do them in. Clay’s work schedule also limits the amount of fun things we get to do together (he’s traveling or working nearly every weekend between now and the end of August). But, instead of lamenting the fact that our time in the sun is dwindling, I’m looking forward to the things we have on the calendar so far.

1. Dave Matthews Band Weekend in Virginia Beach

Since we don’t have many weekends to spend together for the rest of the summer, Clay and I are capitalizing on the Dave Matthews Band being in Virginia Beach and making a small vacation of it. In addition to our second Dave show of the summer, we’ll (hopefully) be dropping in at Crossfit Krypton (Crossfitters may recognize that as Ben Smith’s affiliate!), hitting up the beach (away from the crowds, hopefully), and finding some good eats. It’s been a few years since we’ve made this trip and knowing it’s the last weekend we have together for nearly a month, I’m looking forward to it.

it’s not hawaii, but it’s not half bad.

so. excited. for more Dave.

2. Family Reunion in Wisconsin

I may have been sad when my parents moved from Alaska last year, but one great thing that has come from their move is the fact that they are now much closer to the rest of our family. Their lake house in the north woods is the perfect place to host the aunts and uncles and cousins for a weekend of family time.

this is only a small group of my cousins (and husband, duh), and I’m so excited to see them and many of the rest in just a few weeks!

my mom’s hammock game is on point.

the view out of my parents’ kitchen window. lake life yes please.

3.  Staycation

Clay leaves for two and half months of MOS School (in California) at the beginning of September, which means he will be performing with his unit for the last time in August and then hopefully taking some much-deserved time off before he has to go. I’m hoping to do the same. Hiking? Camping? Gym time? Donuts?  Probably all of the above, if we can swing it.

pool time.

love this guy.

any time we get to scramble around on the rocks outside is a good time.

donuts. duh.

The next few weeks might be crazy and busy, but I’m excited for what we have on the schedule – even if I’m not super excited about the two and a half months we’ll be spending apart. Summer may be waning, but there’s still plenty of time to enjoy it!

Adventuring in Asheville

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What do you get when you gather 9 ladies in a new city and a weekend full of bachelorette-ing plans?

A whole lot of fun, is what.

Last weekend, I joined some of my favorite friends (and some new ones) in Asheville, NC to throw a hen do for one of our best girls. Ladies came from Georgia, Colorado, Texas, New York, London and DC and we brought our party pants (and maybe some penis confetti to boot).

Any weekend adventure that starts and ends with a road trip is good in my book and this was no exception. Four of us traveled together from the DC area (about an 8 hour haul), and during the drive made sure to set the tone for the weekend by creating a playlist with some of our favorite 2000s kids throwback jams. Lots of NSync, Britney, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Ginuwine – because what bachelorette party is complete without Pony?

Our first evening in North Carolina was pretty laid back – dinner and drinks and a drum circle (not in our plans, but witnessed in the center of town). The tame evening and relatively early bedtime was necessitated by the jam-packed day ahead.

Saturday morning dawned with promise of Pilates…. accompanied by puppies. The class – which took place at the humane society – was pretty low key, all levels welcome type stuff, but I still managed to get a decent workout in. That is, when I wasn’t trying to cuddle all the puppies in the room. Those little stinkers were so fun and they seemed to love all of the attention. They tolerated being picked up and used as Pilates props, which seemed like a great way to socialize them before they are adopted. It’s lucky that the pups weren’t eligible for adoption while we were there, because I would have 100% gone home with one. No joke.

10/10 would Pilates or yoga with tiny animals again. Few things are better than puppy breath.

After begrudgingly leaving the puppers behind, we went straight down to the French Broad River for some stand up paddleboarding. Somehow, I’d never done SUP before and to be honest I was a little nervous. Mostly about looking stupid. Which is dumb, so I got over it pretty quickly and once we were on the water we had so much fun. Three of us were on individual SUPs and the other six had a party sized SUP. Paddling that thing made you feel like a real life Moana. Yes, I did sing that song, too.

We managed only one casualty toward the end of our float, and most of us stayed pretty dry – except me, when I got a little too cocky when doing a snatch with my paddle, slipping, and nearly falling in. #crossfitproblems

After we expertly guided our party barge to the boat slip, we returned donned our best flannel and headed over to the New Belgium Brewery – now is when I remind you all that in January, Clay and I decided to take a year off of drinking – visiting the brewery was awesome. The tour was great, and the view was spectacular (they are situated along the same river we had floated earlier!) and from what I understand, the beer was pretty good too. We hung around there for a good chunk of the afternoon and into the early evening before heading back to our hotel for dinner, bachelorette games and an evening of frivolity. What happens in Asheville after midnight, stays in Asheville. 

The next morning came too soon, and after a lovely walk around town to find coffee, we were off to brunch and then back on the road home. I would love to visit Asheville again – I’m sure there is so much more to the city that we didn’t see. Until next time!

 

December Travel Workouts

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This weekend was rough. I don’t know about you people, but there was a lot of football disappointment this weekend in my house. Between the Badgers losing to Ohio State in the Big 10 Championship – for those curious, Clay and I are still speaking, even though he cheers for the Buckeyes – and Clay’s Cleveland Browns losing another heartbreaker (and Ohio State not making it into the College Football Playoff), there’s been a lot of frustrated sighing.

This time of year may be the most wonderful, but it’s also the most stressful when it comes to sports. Uff da.

I guess it’s also stressful because somehow my schedule for the next two weeks is non-stop. Between work travel and personal travel, I’m going to be spending just as many days away from home as I will be at home. Consequently, I know I’m going to be tired and it’s going to be difficult to get to my gym. Or any gym. That is, unless I make it happen. Typically, when I travel, I try to figure out ahead of time if there will be a gym of some kind available to me where I’m staying. My first trip this week will be to Las Vegas and I’m certain there will be a hotel gym – but there’s no guarantee I’ll have a variety of equipment to use.

In situations like this, I try to put together workouts that are simple body-weight movements that can be adapted to use weights or other equipment if available, but can easily be completed with nothing extra.

Thursday evening, after my meeting, I’ll probably try to find a half an hour to get this little burner in:

In 20 Minutes, do as many reps as possible of:

5 Pull Ups

10 Push Ups

15 Air Squats

If there isn’t a pull-up bar available, I’ll probably change this to 5 sit ups, 10 push ups, 15 air squats.It’s a pretty straightforward workout, no special or high skill movements… just straight conditioning and going balls out for 20 minutes. Similarly, this weekend, we’ll be in Cleveland to watch football (Go Pack Go!), and will have to see what the hotel gym has to offer and see if I can hit this one:

As many reps as possible in 15 Minutes:

50 DB Snatches (50/35)

40 Burpees

30 Pull Ups

20 Hand Release Push Ups

10 Jumping Air Squats

The following weekend, we’ll be in Florida visiting family. One of the cool things about CrossFit is that we can drop in at pretty much any gym anywhere. That’s our plan while we’re in Orlando… drop in to a couple gyms in the area, join in a WOD and call it a day. The CrossFit community is really awesome like that – and certainly makes some travel easier if you’re trying to get workouts in. For some folks, vacation means no workouts – and sometimes that’s me, too. When I’m on vacation, I try to listen to my body and do what feels right… workouts or not.

While this month may be starting out a little crazy, I am looking forward to some travel, getting to see my favorite football team play, and enjoying some warmer weather… and finding the gym when things allow. December might be stressful, but I’m not stressing about working out – I’ll do what I can, when I can, and the rest is whatever.

Do you workout when you travel? What are some of your preferred methods of breaking a sweat while on the road?

Goodbye, Alaska

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I know that saying goodbye to your childhood home is a pretty standard part of growing up for most people. At some point or another, usually after we’ve left home for college or jobs or other adventures, our parents decide that it’s their turn. Whether it’s to downsize, or even to move to more agreeable climes, when the parents determine it’s time to leave, it sets in motion a bittersweet series of goodbyes. Some more difficult than others.

So, this past weekend, I went back to Alaska to do just that: say goodbye to my childhood home. My family has lived in the same house for 21 years – most of my life, and longer even than my youngest sister has been alive. But now that we’re all grown, and my parents have both retired, they wanted to be closer to family. So, they found a cute little lake house in Northern Wisconsin and sold our old home in Alaska…

The trip home this weekend was short – about 60 hours or so – and in that time we packed and sorted and cleaned and remembered. We visited some of our favorite places, ate some of our favorite food, and when the time came to leave for the airport Sunday night, we cried. Driving away from that house for the last time was weird. On one hand, it didn’t feel like the last time I’d be there at all, but on the other, all I could think about was how I didn’t know the next time I’d be in Alaska.

I haven’t lived at home full time in more than 10 years, but this weekend felt like I was officially leaving home for the first time. It is sad to say goodbye to a house and a community I’ve loved so well for so long, but this whole process has given me a chance to reflect on just how lucky we were to have lived in such an amazing place. The memories I have of Alaska are so special, and growing up there has shaped me in so many ways. I will miss being able to go home to Alaska whenever I need to, but I’m so grateful to have been able to call it that at all.

Alaska, I love you. Stay classy.

We’re just missing one sister. Anna, we love you!

If you ever go to Anchorage, this is the best pizza you will ever have. Moose’s Tooth.


This view will never not be my favorite.