The Pursuit of Life

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Tag: Fishing

So, what exactly do you guys do all day?

Driving through British Columbia

We get this question often – what exactly do you do all day on your road trip?  What’s a typical day look like?  Excellent question, and honestly it varies from day to day and area to area.  But here I’ll break down some examples for you.

Road tripping through the Yukon

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Women Are Adventurous Too

Salmon Fishing, Soldotna

Women can be and are adventurous too.  And that doesn’t make us an anomaly.  If I have to hear one more time “You like to do this?! I would never get my wife out here!”, I might lose it.  On this road trip we have met lots of people from all over the country and the world, from all walks of life, taking lots of different kinds of road trips.  Over and over and over again, Ryan has been congratulated (almost exclusively by men) on finding himself a wife who would agree to a trip like this – the implication being that women aren’t supposed to like to do these kinds of things; outdoorsy, adventurous, rugged things.  “Wow you’ve got yourself quite a wife, I could never get mine to live in such a small camper!  She couldn’t live without her kitchen or her bathroom mirror!”  Nobody is looking at me wondering how I managed to get my husband out on the road like this.  Now there’s nothing wrong with not wanting to go camping and not wanting to live out of a tiny camper spending your days hiking and fishing.  I know plenty of people for whom this would be miserable – both men and women.  The problem is that solely because I’m a girl, people assume that these aren’t supposed to be my hobbies, and I’m not supposed to want to go adventuring and wandering like this.

Arizona sunset from the camper, Sonoran Desert

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Olympic Peninsula | Part II

Deer, Olympic National Park, Washington, USA

Continued [See this post for Part I of the Olympic Peninsula!]  Not at all having satisfied our desire to explore the western side of Olympic National Park, but needing to get moving because we are on a somewhat strict timeline, we headed up and around the Peninsula and parked Gelly in the Hearty of the Hills Campground, just outside of Port Angeles and near the main entrance to Olympic NP.  This was a perfect place to camp for us to see our friends in Port Angeles, do some exploring in Hurricane Ridge, and also make our way out to Cape Flattery.

Heart of the Hills Campground, Olympic National Park, Washington

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Life on the Road | April Digest

The Wave

The Wave at Coyote Buttes, Northern Arizona

Another month on the road!  Here is the tally of facts and figures for our roadtrip as of May 3rd (a few days over the month mark!):

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The Grand Canyon – South Kaibab Trail and Exploring the Inner Canyons

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon

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EASTERN SIERRAS, CALIFORNIA

Also known as that time I took my in-laws to a nudist colony.

Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest

Ryan is obsessed with the Eastern Sierras.  He’s been a couple of times on fishing/camping trips with his buddies, and he raves about it every time he returns.  So when Ryan’s parents were coming to join us on our adventure for a couple of weeks, he really wanted to take them to the Eastern Sierras for part of the trip.  We drove our little caravan of campers up from Joshua Tree to the Eastern Sierras, which is an area of central California that falls on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, close to Yosemite and Sequoia National Park but on the other side of the range.  It is a beautiful, remote part of the state where the mountains fall straight down into a beautiful open valley.  It’s difficult to get to, which is why it remains relatively unspoiled and off the beaten path – perfect for us!

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The Pursuit of Wanderlust: Montana Part 1 – Ennis

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Montana is a truly beautiful place.  One of my happy places.  It is peaceful and wild and free.  I so highly recommend a trip to Montana if you are looking to spend some time in the great outdoors!  This summer we took a week long trip with some of our friends to Montana, with half of the week in Ennis, in southern Montana, and the rest of the week in northern Montana at Glacier National Park.

Ennis is a quintessential all-American small town, a must if you are in southern Montana.  It is quaint, wholesome and beautiful, situated in a valley surrounded by three mountain ranges.  A place where you can spend your days exploring, fly fishing, hiking and day-tripping to Yellowstone, and your evenings cooking big family dinners, drinking wine or whiskey and soaking in the relaxation of Montana.

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The Pursuit of Wanderlust: Fly Fishing in Patagonia Video

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Wilderness is not a luxury but a necessity of the human spirit. – Edward Abbey

To travel is an essential element of life.  It doesn’t have to be epic, cross the world, hop around from luxury hotel to luxury hotel kind of travel.  To see new places, meet new people, learn about other cultures and experience things that you would never be exposed to at home – these are surefire ways to open your mind and live with intention.  We travel often – many, many weekends out of the year are spent in little adventures around the west coast, but we also love to see the world when we can get away from work for a bit.  Our most recent big international trip was to Patagonia, and one of our favorite activities while we were there was a fly fishing float trip down the Caleufu River in Argentina, near Bariloche (which I mentioned briefly here).  After months of anticipation, R.Swig has finally put together a Go Pro video of that part of our trip! Read more

The Pursuit of Wanderlust: Crater Lake, Oregon Part 2

Part 2 of Crater Lake, Oregon – a quick Fourth of July trip to a beautiful national park.  Saturday we again hiked down to the lake and hopped on the boat to take us to Wizard Island!  A few of us hiked to the crater at the top of Wizard Island, while the rest of us hiked to the other side of the island for some fly fishing, a newly acquired (and quite tricky) hobby of ours. We caught rainbow trout and brown trout.

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