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Making the Most of One Day in Maui
As a flight attendant, I’ve grown accustomed to seeing the world from a birds-eye vantage point. In fact, the notion of lounging on a beach merely hours before floating through the sky is nothing really out of the ordinary. It is just part of my life. But until I drove to the top of Haleakala Volcano for aerial views of the Hawaiian island chain, I didn’t know it was possible to view the world from sea level and 10,000 feet—within the span of two hours—without setting foot on an aircraft.…
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Alvord Desert and Steens Mountain: A Southeast Oregon Road Trip
Southeastern Oregon is a special place. And not just because it is where Dan proposed to me under a blanket of stars during our brief Oregon road trip in 2018. It is special because it is one of the last outposts of off-the-beaten-path wilderness in the continental United States. Driving through the lower-right corner of Oregon is like navigating the surface of the moon. It is desolate. It is stark. It is parched. It is often viewed as a wasteland; a barren stretch of flyover country that is defined by…
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Day Hike to Panorama Ridge from Vancouver
The Garibaldi Provincial Park in British Columbia is home to some of Canada’s most spectacular hikes. Draped in verdant forest, framed by towering peaks, and home to glistening lakes, it is a wonderland for lovers of the outdoors. The crown jewel of the provincial park is Garibaldi Lake—a brilliantly blue body of water surrounded by soaring snowcapped mountains. After seeing photos of Garibaldi Lake from the Panorama Ridge hike, Dan and I immediately knew we would have to make the trip to Canada. So on a warm sunny weekend in…
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A Budget Weekend in Cabo San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas, once a sleepy fishing village at the tip of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, is a booming resort town known for its all-inclusive accommodations, its raging parties and its stunning natural beauty. It is a place that attracts both luxury vacationers and rowdy spring breakers. And, as a result, it is exactly the type of place that Dan and I generally try to avoid when planning our travels. But, when Dan’s family sprung the idea of a long weekend in Cabo during a cold January weekend, we didn’t have to think twice before RSVPing…
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Viewing the Northern Lights in Fairbanks, Alaska
In mid-December, as the Northern Hemisphere approached its shortest and darkest day of the year, Dan and I chose to travel to an unlikely Destination: Fairbanks, Alaska. The reason? To see the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights. I’d always dreamed of witnessing the world’s greatest light display with my own eyes. And with the ability to fly standby on a moment’s notice due to my airline job, chasing the northern lights in Fairbanks Alaska was both feasible and fairly economical. The flexibility of flying standby allowed Dan…
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Visiting Jasper National Park in Canada
The Canadian Rockies are a hyperbole of beauty and an exaggeration of nature. Home to sparkling lakes, towering mountains, and jaw-dropping vistas, they contain some of the most photographed and revered alpine scenery on Earth. It goes without saying that I had high expectations for the area. But despite these expectations, my four days in Jasper and Banff were everything I had dreamed of. They gave me a break from by hectic summer flying schedule and allowed me to trade my rollaboard for a backpack, my hotel room for a…
