welcome to my journal
Last week on The Story of Us: Episode 3, I left you off with talking all about our first year together and the time we spent apart. I know I was originally going to delve into our first year living together and the places that we have called home, but I’m going to hold off on that until later this week or next. So instead, I’m breaking down some of our favorite vacations we have taken together! Traveling has always been our favorite thing to do together and we love exploring new towns and having an adventure. We try and go camping or someplace new at least once a month because there is just too much beauty in this world not to explore it! We both love being out in nature and seeing the world around us. I can’t wait to see the next adventure we take once this whole COVID thing has passed.
“It doesn’t matter where you are going, it’s who you have beside you.”
Our First Vacation: Duluth
The very first vacation we took together was up to Duluth and the North Shore. This place has always been our favorite place in Minnesota to visit. We go at least 2 or 3 times a year if we can. Some of our favorite things to do while we are up here include hiking Ely’s Point and Park Pointe Trail. We love heading up to Palisade Head and Betty’s Pies. Grand Marais is our favorite little town. And you can get the best donuts ever up there. And of course Sven and Oles!! We tend to call this town our second home because we love it so much. I know if we didn’t live in Northfield to be close to family and due to our jobs, we would move up to the North Shore in a heartbeat.
San Fransisco
Because our first vacation went so well, we decided to spend our first Christmas and New Years together in San Francisco! Neither of us had ever been there before so it was a great adventure! We walked for hours a day and visited every visitor attraction there was. From the Painted Ladies, Alcatraz, Muir Woods, and the swing overlooking the entire city. On New Year’s Eve we took a bus down to Fisherman’s Warf where we got to the see the Fireworks show right from the front row! We stayed in the cutest hotel that had free wine tasting every night! Could you ask for anything better??
San Diego
AJs family tries to take a family vacation together every couple of years and in our 3rd year of dating, they made the trip our to San Diego! Thankfully they allowed me to join them for the week. It was Spring Break and a great way to spend it! It was so great to not only visit a new city with AJ but his entire family and our adorable nieces! We got to go scuba diving, visit Sea World, go to the zoo and see all the elephants in the sanctuary. And we went on a ghost tour in the Old City. Plus the weather was perfect!!! I’m pretty sure if AJ had the choice, he never would have left. He still talks about how things remind him of San Diego!
Denver/Boulder
Where do I even begin with Boulder? This has been AJ’S and my favorite vacation and location! We went on the 4th of July. We decided to take a road trip out there instead of flying because we had never really done a road trip together! And now all we want to do is take a road trip cross country as soon as we can. We stayed in a glamping tent outside of someone’s house in Boulder and then did one night in Denver while visiting the Red Rocks! Some of our favorite things from the trip included all the beautiful and amazing hiking that we did hiking is one of our favorite hobbies to do together, and Colorado is full of gorgeous views and hikes! We went to Rocky Mountain National Park and spent the day seeing the views and hiking all around. If you have never been there, I highly suggest putting it on your bucket list. Plus Estes Park is the quaintest little town! Boulder is also such a cool college town to walk around and explore. Their downtown is an all brick-lined path where are no cars. So you can just walk down and visit all the shops. And there is great food! Plus the mountains are a step away too! Like could it get any better?? We can’t wait to visit this city again!
Honeymoon: Kauai, Hawaii
Our most recent trip together was our Honeymoon to Hawaii! We are so lucky and grateful that we were able to take this trip before COVID came into our lives and put a halt on everyone’s traveling. We went for 15 days and this is how we celebrated our first Christmas together as husband and wife! I’m not going to lie, it started out rough! There was torrential downpours and flooding the first week that we were there. We actually couldn’t even drive around the island due to bridges being closed and power lines being down. We definitely made the most of it though and saw so much! Thankfully the second week that we were there, the weather was perfect and we were able to go snorkeling and we swam in the ocean pretty much every day! This island is so lush and beautiful, everywhere you look. And there is so much to do! We couldn’t believe that we were able to visit such a beautiful place together. We did so much hiking, eating, snorkeling, and just laying around! I don’t think there was a corner of the island we didn’t explore! Again if you haven’t been, I highly advise you to put it on your bucket list!!
I don’t know what this world has in store for AJ and I but I can’t wait to see where we will go next on our adventures!
Next week on The Story of Us: Episode 5 I will be going into detail about how the first year living together went and all of the amazing places we have lived!
If you missed any of the other Story of Us episodes, check them out here:
[…] over here! In case you don’t know already, WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!! In The Story of Us: Episode 4The Story of Us: Episode 4, I was originally going to write about all the places we lived, but instead, I talked all about our […]