Quit Your Job and Travel the World: How we did it and you can too!
I’ve never been a morning person, but there are major advantages to rising before the sun when it comes to wildlife photography, usually in the form of fewer people and more animals. This summer, with our new 100-400mm lens, we arrived at Rocky Mountain Arsenal before dawn and were pleasantly surprised with what we found. Continue reading “A Magical Morning at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (Denver, Colorado)”
“You can summit Mt Whitney in a day,” they said. “It’s a class 1 hike,” they said.
Add to that the claim that it takes 10 hours to hike up at a “slow” pace, and you may start thinking the Mt Whitney hike is downright easy. But “easy” isn’t a word I would use to describe our hike to the tallest peak in the contiguous U.S. this July.
Want to know how long it really takes to hike Mt Whitney? — at least, if it’s your first time and you want to have some sort of enjoyable memory from your trek? — Read on for the scoop on our entire experience, from (finally) getting a Mt Whitney Trail permit to planning and executing our highest-elevation hike to date. Continue reading “Mt Whitney in 3 Days: A Totally Reasonable Trek to the Summit”
The very first thing I was dying to do in Chicago this spring was to go find the goslings in Lincoln Park. More and more I’ve been getting into wildlife photography, and with a new camera and lens to test out, I was eager to head out in the warm weather to shoot.
Continue reading “The Goslings of Lincoln Park: A Photo Journal (Chicago, Illinois)”
If you’re a diver or if you’ve ever looked into getting certified, then you’re well aware that diving is an expensive hobby.
And since we’d been on a strict budget for a year after quitting our jobs to travel, we hadn’t been diving in two whole years! This being my first visit to Hawaii’s Big Island, I was absolutely dying to do the manta ray night dive. But first, it was time for a refresher. Continue reading “Big Island Diving with Kona Diving Company (Kona, Hawaii, USA)”
Week seven was by far one of the most memorable weeks on our road trip. I can’t believe how much we saw in one week! Oodles of wildlife, gorgeous sunrises, and even the Northern Lights — all the way down in Yellowstone National Park (they’re not usually visible so far south).
Somehow we managed to visit FOUR national parks all in one week. And despite late night Milky Way photo sessions, we managed to wake up before dawn TWICE to witness the gorgeous sunrises Yellowstone has to offer. If you’ve never seen Yellowstone yourself, add it to your bucket list NOW. And in the meantime, you can drool a bit over these photos!
Note: I’m still catching up on our weekly road trip re-caps! This one covers June 20-27.
Continue reading “U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Week Seven (Wyoming to Alberta)”
After completing our third week on the road in the U.S. this summer, we decided it was time for a little breather. We departed St. Louis at the beginning of week four and then pressed the pause button when we reached Chicago. And there we stayed, visiting my twin brother, for the first two and a half weeks of June.
Despite growing up in St. Louis, I’d never visited the nearby Windy City ’til now. And what an awesome place it turned out to be! So much so that we decided we’d return to Chicago for an even longer break after our upcoming national park loop. We finished off this three-week period in Badlands National Park, where we found unique erosion-formed landscapes, plentiful prairie dogs, and the craziest (and unexpected) storm we’ve ever experienced! (You don’t want to miss that video.)
Note: Since we paused for so long in Chicago, this recap covers weeks four through six of our U.S. road trip. And I’m still catching up on our weekly road trip re-caps! This one covers May 30 – June 19.
Continue reading “U.S. Road Trip Re-Cap: Weeks Four, Five & Six (Illinois to South Dakota)”
Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Mexico is a time to stop working and spend time with family and friends. With a shortage of the former in México, we spent this day (Holy Thursday) with new friends! Seven of us in total hired a trajinera in Xochimilco — a popular activity for locals and visitors alike — for a fun, relaxing afternoon… Passing the time floating up and down the canals with delicious grilled meat and veggies to eat… a plethora of alcohol to drink… and observing one particular species that kept stealing my attention… Continue reading “Los Perros de Xochimilco, The Dogs of Xochimilco: A Photo Journal (Mexico City, México)”
I have a new obsession. If you follow us on Facebook, you already know what it is. (Here’s a hint: They’re four-legged, furry, and have a reputation for moving rather slowly.) Continue reading “Toucan Rescue Ranch Review: Our First Encounter with a SLOTH… and other animals (San Isidro, Costa Rica)”
Yesterday (November 19, 2014) Ian and I spent about two hours shooting some photos for my new travel blog for women, and I couldn’t resist taking a few animal shots while we were at it. Plus, Tiger (my dog) totally loved sitting in the suitcase! Isn’t he precious?
The above photo was taken with the Sony a6000 and Voigtlander 40mm f/1.4 Nokton. Continue reading “Shot of the Week: My Traveling Dog, Tiger (Los Angeles, USA)”
On our kayaking excursion in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a harbor seal sits atop a rock at the Brothers Islands on October 6, 2014.
The above photo was taken with the Sony a6000 and Sony E 20mm f/2.8. Continue reading “Shot of the Week: Seal at Brothers Islands (Victoria, British Columbia)”