19 Books to Inspire You to Follow Your Dreams, Be Yourself, and Get Sh*t Done in the New Year

19 Books to Inspire You to Follow Your Dreams, Be Yourself, and Get Sh*t Done in the New Year | North to South
19 Books to Inspire You to Follow Your Dreams, Be Yourself, and Get Sh*t Done in the New Year | North to South

The start of a new year is the perfect time to get inspired. It gives us that fresh-start feeling we need to regroup and refocus on what’s important. Exploring a new place through travel is an exciting way to do that, but getting lost in a good book can be equally beneficial.

I’ve put a lot of thought into my goals for this year, and my 2019 reading list reflects my main goal of getting focused and staying true to me. Travel, organization, entrepreneurship, creativity, and embracing individuality are some key themes on my reading list this year.

If you, too, are aiming to follow your dreams, get sh*t done and stay true to yourself this year, perhaps there’s something here that will inspire you. Now, who’s ready to start reading? I know I am!

Continue reading “19 Books to Inspire You to Follow Your Dreams, Be Yourself, and Get Sh*t Done in the New Year”

Our Year in Review: New Heights, New Wheels, and a Refreshed Photography Focus [2018]

Our Year in Review 2018
Our Year in Review 2018

Our first year of married life was filled with all sorts of new adventures! Photography, fitness, and furry friends all played key roles in our lives this year. A few spontaneous travel decisions made our year more interesting, and some very important bucket list achievements left us feeling pretty accomplished in 2018.

Without further adieu, let’s get started on our favorite post of the year: the annual recap of our lives and adventures of 2018!

Continue reading “Our Year in Review: New Heights, New Wheels, and a Refreshed Photography Focus [2018]”

North to South’s Gear of the Year 2018

North to South's Gear of the Year: Our 2018 Favorites for Travel, Photography, Blogging and more!

North to South's Gear of the Year: Our 2018 Favorites for Travel, Photography, Blogging and more!

The holiday season is upon us once again, and it’s time for our annual purge of the gear we aren’t using. As we go through our stuff and decide what to sell and what to donate, we’re also compiling a list of keepers — gear we love that’s versatile and durable enough to withstand the demands of our frequent travels.

If you need some ideas for your holiday list this year, see which items made our list of favorites below!  Continue reading “North to South’s Gear of the Year 2018”

A Magical Morning at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge (Denver, Colorado)

A Magical Morning at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

A Magical Morning at Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge

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)”

The Best and Worst Rides and Attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (Orlando, Florida)

Disney's Hollywood Studios Best Rides and Attractions on northtosouth.us

Disney's Hollywood Studios Best Rides and Attractions on northtosouth.us

With one extra day on our trip to Florida for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch in February, we added a Disney visit to our itinerary. It was Ian’s turn to pick the park, since I got to choose on our last trip, and my diehard Star Wars fan husband chose Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

If you’re deciding what to do and see on your visit to this cinema-centric Disney park, check out our top ten rides and attractions from our 1-day Disney’s Hollywood Studios adventure below! Continue reading “The Best and Worst Rides and Attractions at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (Orlando, Florida)”

Burning Man 2018: Portraits of a Camp

Burning Man 2018: Portraits of a Camp

Burning Man 2018: Portraits of a Camp

Twenty-six. The only integer that is one greater than a square and one less than a cube, the number of spacetime dimensions in bosonic string theory, and the number of faces in a rhombicuboctahedron (thanks, Wikipedia). That’s how many people were in our Burning Man camp this year — double our numbers from burns past!

Despite our camp’s monstrous growth, however, we managed to keep our important camp traditions intact. Nightly camp dinners, the Da Vinci bar, and our biannual camp photoshoot all brought us together per usual, and some awesome new additions made 2018 even more special.

Could we have done without our recycling queen, that handy megaphone, or our unplanned (but ridiculously delicious) Sunday meat feast? Of course — but it sure wouldn’t have been as memorable without each and every campmate that made up this year’s Prosciutto Bay.

Continue reading “Burning Man 2018: Portraits of a Camp”

Mt Whitney in 3 Days: A Totally Reasonable Trek to the Summit

Hiking Mt Whitney in 3 Days: A Totally Reasonable Trek to the Summit -- on northtosouth.us

Hiking Mt Whitney in 3 Days: A Totally Reasonable Trek to the Summit -- on northtosouth.us

“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”

Our Year in Review: Our First Home and Saying ‘I Do’ [2017]

Our Year in Review 2017

Our Year in Review 2017

To say this year flew by would be an understatement, but what a wonderful year we had! Juggling travel with wedding planning was no easy feat. Though planning for our September wedding was our biggest priority this year, we still managed to squeeze in several adventures — adding a few more countries to our “visited” list and even purchasing our first home.

Join us for a look back on our biggest moments and ventures of 2017!  Continue reading “Our Year in Review: Our First Home and Saying ‘I Do’ [2017]”