Takeaways From Driving to Alaska and Back

September 2017 was the best month of my life so far. I almost feel bad saying that because I have been lucky enough to take so many great trips in my life, and vacations with my immediate family have always been my most special times. But in terms of really exploring and adventuring, I've never been on a trip like our drive to Alaska and back, and I can only hope that I ever will again.

So now that I've recapped each stop of our trip (see all of my Alaska trip posts here), I want to share some thoughts about what we loved, what we would do differently, and what we took away from the wildest experience we've ever had. And, I thought it would be fun to share some "stats" from the trip and other random things.

Ever since I've known Grace, she has a tradition of asking "rose, bud, and thorn?" at the end of a day, or of a trip, or of a year, etc. For those who've never heard of this, it's basically a conversation starter where you ask what the person considers the rose (best part), bud (something you're looking forward to), and thorn (low point) of a particular time. Throughout the trip, we would check in with each other and ask "rose, bud, and thorn?" of the trip so far. In a whole month of exploring the most beautiful places I've ever seen, getting engaged, and spending so much quality time with each other and our pup Willie, we REALLY could not choose just one rose for the trip. But, in case you're curious, here were a few of our roses, buds, and thorns (not many) from our month of driving to Alaska and back.

Roses: getting engaged (of course!), going to the Bubbly Mermaid champagne and oyster bar in Anchorage, our date night in Vancouver, our glamping trip in Telkwa, seeing Lake Louise and the Canadian rockies, sleeping in the sweetest rustic cabin in the Yukon, the fish & chips at Fast Eddy's restaurant in Tok, Alaska, our cozy night in Whitehorse, Yukon, Fire Island Bakery in Anchorage, and overall, as cheesy as it may sound, the time we spent together. There were some mornings when we set out for a 6 hour drive, podcasts downloaded and playlists ready, and then we would arrive 6 hours later realizing we never listened to any podcasts or music because we just talked the entire drive. We love talking about anything and everything. After Grace proposed, we had even more to talk about because we started doing some dreaming and planning for our wedding. I'm really glad we had hours in the car to discuss every aspect of that, because now that we're back in LA I feel like we are already on the same exact page with wedding planning and our vision for that day.

Buds: mainly, starting a whole new season of life in LA. I started a new job, we are in the thick of planning and finding a place and date to get married, and lots more. We are also so excited to go back to some of our favorite places in Canada and Alaska one day. 

Thorns: There weren't any huge thorns at all from our trip, and I am so so thankful. I was pretty nervous during a lot of our drives that we would have car trouble and be stuck out in the wilderness, but we were lucky and that never happened. We did however get a chip in Grace's windshield that turned into a huge crack, resulting in the windshield needing to be replaced. But after driving 7,300 miles through the wildest parts of the continent, I consider that we pretty much came out unscathed. The one other thorn I can think of is that I got sick at the end of the trip. Just a cold, no big deal, but I hate getting sick on vacation.

If you've read my post on packing for Alaska, you might be wondering whether my packing list ended up working. Mostly yes! I was super glad I did a capsule wardrobe for the trip and I was happy with my options for clothes every day. There were a few things I wish we'd packed, though, and a few things I brought but didn't use. Here's a breakdown:

Things I Wish We'd Had: Dry shampoo (sometimes showers were hard to come by), extra phone charger (we lost one and then had one break, so having backups would have been nice), more long sleeved layering options, and more cold weather clothing in general. When I packed for the trip, we were going through a 100 degree heat wave in LA, and I think mentally that made me pack less cold-weather gear. But, it was COLD in Alaska. 28 degrees at one point! We were fine, but I kind of got sick of the same coat every day, so I wish I'd brought more options for cold weather. If you happen to be planning a trip to Alaska in September, know that there likely won't be snow on the ground but it does get chilly.

Things I Packed But Didn't Use: Multiple pairs of sandals (this goes with the cold weather thing), and an umbrella. It did rain, but I just opted for a raincoat with a hood instead of juggling an umbrella and our bags and Willie's leash. It just didn't make sense to use one. I used pretty much everything else we packed, though.

Things We Were Especially Glad We Had: A warm coat and raincoat for Willie, a laptop (we debated whether to bring one and I'm really glad we did), a couple of blankets, our own pillows, and Canadian dollars. I cannot tell you how glad I was to have a few hundred Canadian dollars in cash with us before we even crossed the border. It really came in handy! I carried more US cash than I normally do, too, and I liked having that. It's just convenient for travel sometimes to have cash.

Another thing I've mulled over since getting back is what we learned. I did SO much research before the trip, but I knew that I wouldn't really have any idea what it would be like until we did the drive ourselves. Here are a few things that I learned and things that surprised me.

Finding gas was not a problem. I worried so much about this before our trip. I'd read that you can go for hundreds of miles without passing a gas station, that many go out of business, and that they don't keep regular hours. We had absolutely no problem consistently finding places to fill up the tank, so I never actually worried about that for a second on the trip.

The Alaska Highway is the wildest place I can imagine. I truly feel like the Alaska Highway is a glimpse of heaven on earth, in the sense that the vastness, beauty, and proportions of the Yukon and Alaska just blow everything else out of the water and ruin your sense of proportion and scale. I've never seen anything so shockingly wild and beautiful in my life. I was not expecting that and can never forget it now.

We got tired of camping. As people who love camping, I'm embarrassed to say this, but we chickened out of camping a few cold and/or rainy nights and ended up renting a hotel room or cabin at the last minute. Even though I'm glad I can say we camped in a tent in Alaska for one night, I'm not sad that we didn't do it more. We quickly learned with the long days on the road that we needed to be comfortable in the evenings. If the weather is nice, I can be totally comfortable in a tent. But where the weather got bad, being warm and comfortable became our priority, more so than having the "authentic" experience of camping.

While we felt like the only people on earth for a lot of our trip, we found comfort in knowing how many others have gone before us. We saw/interacted with other people pretty rarely on our trip, which was a cool and different experience given that we live in a huge city. That said, we saw evidence everywhere of other travelers who had done the same trek. The Signpost Forest in Watson Lake (read my post recapping Watson Lake here) was the perfect example of that, because we saw signs up from people on their Honeymoons or people who had come back almost every year to write their names and the date on their sign again. Along the Alaska Highway, people would often spell out their initials with white rocks, which was a fun wilderness version of graffiti to see. And, I know a couple of people personally who have done the trip, so it was fun to connect with them about all the places we saw. If you're reading this and interested in driving the Alaska Highway and getting to the 49th state by road, I HIGHLY recommend it and would love to help in any way I can. Feel free to Contact me.

Last but not least, here are some fun stats from our trip:

Temperature range (in Fahrenheit): 113 degrees in Nevada to 28 degrees in Alaska

Wildest weather: Hail

Wildlife we saw: Buffalo, antelope, coyote, bear, moose, small things like squirrels and groundhogs, bald eagles, loons and other interesting birds, reindeer/caribou, elk, regular deer, swans, and tons of livestock on farms along the roads like cows, horses, and llamas. 

Favorite albums we listened to (for the most part on the trip we listened to full albums at a time rather than playlists, just so we could really get into a particular favorite musician and see the full album for what it is): Willie Nelson's Greatest Hits, Emotion by Carly Rae Jepson, Miley Cyrus's new album Younger Now, Rumors by Fleetwood Mac, Pageant Material by Kacey Musgraves, Lust for Life by Lana Del Rey, and Wilder Mind by Mumford & Sons. 

Favorite Podcasts: S-Town (I know it's been out for awhile but we hadn't listened to it before the trip. If you haven't, I highly recommend it), Generation Why, Lore, Up and Vanished, Someone Knows Something, and What's the Tee with RuPaul and Michelle Visage.

Place We Most Want to Go Back Right Now, If We Had to Pick One: Me--Anchorage; Grace--Anchorage (I made Grace pick without telling her what I chose, and I picked the same one! Grace says her second choice would be Telkwa, and my second choice would probably be Banff/Lake Louise).

That's it for now in terms of recaps of our trip! I hope you enjoyed reading the series. I loved writing about it and going back to all these amazing places in my mind. Time to start planning the next one :)

Driving to Alaska and Back: ENGAGED in Alaska!

It's true!! Grace proposed on Thursday, September 14, at sunrise. If you are on either of our social media, you probably saw that we shared the news the next day. Today I want to share the WHOLE story, in addition to a recap of our time in Alaska. We really fell for the state (the little bit we saw of it), and we are already talking about returning for anniversaries in the future.

Alaska was a dream come true. It is so wild. We thought the people were really friendly too. I wish there were a smarter-sounding way to say this (haha), but I have never been somewhere so HUGE in my life. The landscape was dramatic and serene at the same time. If you haven't been and ever get a chance to, I really recommend seeing it for yourself. All of that said, there's a ton of the state we didn't even see! With our timeline of taking about a month off of work (or in my case, in between jobs), it wasn't possible to explore the whole state, but we dipped our toes in. We can't wait to see more of it in the future.

We got engaged toward the end of our time in Alaska, so first I'm going to share about our first few days and then tell the story of Grace's surprise proposal. 

The last time I updated the blog we were in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. The next day we crossed the border into the US/Alaska and drove to a little town (really just a highway junction) called Tok, Alaska, to spend the night. Crossing the border into to the US was super easy, just like it was into Canada. So far we haven't gotten any questions about Willie or his dog food and have never had to wait at a border. Fingers crossed that continues!

In Tok, we had a reservation at Sourdough Campground. We had booked it because of the stellar reviews we found online, and because there isn't a lot else in Tok. It was a decent campground but overall we were a little underwhelmed, especially because it was totally empty. As much as we like serenity in nature, it was a little eerie to not have other people around. Also, we didn't realize that they didn't have fire rings available, which led to this for dinner:

We set up camp and really bundled up, because it was supposed to be COLD that night! And it was. The name of the campground ended up being very fitting, because in Alaska a "sourdough" is a person who has weathered Alaskan winters. While I am sure if any true Alaskans read this they would be hysterically laughing at the thought of us being sourdoughs after weathering one night of above-freezing temperatures . . . for us it was pretty nuts! 

We were totally okay though and still got some sleep. It really helped having a natural hot water bottle (Willie) in the sleeping bag with us.

The next morning we pretty much hit the road right away, because we were so excited to get to the destination of the whole trip: Anchorage! 

The drive was so beautiful--one of my favorites of the whole trip so far (I was going to say favorite, but I don't think I can pick just ONE favorite!).

We were googly-eyed for Alaska at this point. I've probably said this on every blog post about this trip, but the pics DO NOT do it justice! Alaska is unreal.

Once we got into Anchorage, we pulled up to our adorable Airbnb cottage!

We've stayed at a lot of Airbnbs, and this was one of my favorites ever! It was set in a fairy-garden like setting in a cute neighborhood of Anchorage, just a 10 minute drive anywhere in the city (it's not a big city). And about a 25 minute drive down to the coast or to Kincaid Park (which is where Grace ended up proposing!). Our Anchorage house was absolutely perfect for relaxing, cooking at home, and just as a home base for exploring the area. I wish we could have stayed for a couple of weeks.

Ignore the table cluttered with all our stuff, but the kitchen/living room was such a great space

Mini greenhouse setup in the bathroom

Chicken coop in the backyard! Willie was super curious about them.

We loved that they had a "guest book" in the form of a chalkboard wall

And we added our note!

When we got to Anchorage, we were both very tired from the drive and really just chilled out for the rest of our first day. We went to a nearby local market called New Sagaya City Market, which was so cute and Alaskan, and got some ingredients to make a simple dinner at home.

The next day we were determined to drive down the coast to Beluga Point, which is a little park-like area on the coast that Beluga whales are supposed to be common. Baby Beluga was my favorite song as a little kid, so I wanted to see if we could spot a white whale. No such luck, but it was incredibly gorgeous and so worth the drive nonetheless.

It was SO windy, so we didn't stay long, but it was breathtaking there.

After poking around Anchorage a little more, we decided to go home and make hot chocolate because it was getting rainy outside. We also played a round of Monopoly: Alaska Edition, which our Airbnb host had. It was actually so fun; I hadn't played Monopoly since I was a kid.

That night, we decided to go out. Little did I know, but we were about 12 hours from getting engaged. It's funny looking back because I feel like we had a major engagement celebration BEFORE we actually got engaged! We went out to a bar called the Bubbly Mermaid which was one of our favorite places we have been on the whole trip. All they serve is champagne and oysters (literally . . . they have no beer or liquor and no food besides for oysters. I love it). We really treated ourselves and got tons of oysters and a few glasses of delicious bubbly. It would have been the perfect way to celebrate getting engaged, but I actually kind of love that we went the night before. Grace obviously knew what was about to happen, so it was just special to go all out and later realize we were already celebrating.

The oysters are served three ways: raw, cold (with various toppings and preparations), and hot (baked). We ended up getting a few dozen in all, they were SO amazing!!

We also had a few oyster shooters, SO yummy. This one was our favorite even though it was really unexpected--a raw oyster, Stout, Worcestershire Sauce, and mignonette. Amazing!

Just such a cool place that I would recommend to any champagne and/or oyster lover (I am most definitely both). 

Also that night we drove by the edge of Anchorage, which is sort of a wilderness area/ecological preserve that is beautiful and pretty wild even though it's right next to the city. It is called Kincaid Park, and it is over 1,500 acres. I had read that it's one of the best places in Anchorage to see moose, so we had been wanting to go before we left town. But it was raining when we drove by that area, so Grace suggested we come back in the morning to go moose spotting. "Sure, sounds great!" was my response--not suspecting anything whatsoever. Little did I know Grace's plan was to find a beautiful and special but also "organic" moment the next day to propose. She didn't want to plan something way in advance, because we'd said from the beginning that we wanted to leave our time in Alaska go-with-the-flow and she figured I would be suspicious if she had something scheduled.

That next day, September 14, also happened to be our four-year "anniversary" of dating. I should probably back up here and give a little CliffsNotes version of "our story" for those who don't know, so that Grace's proposal makes more sense in context. We met in college in 2012 but really got to know each other in spring 2013, which was our senior year. My best friend (who was randomly assigned as college roommates with Grace's best friend) actually set us up. Because we were both planning on moving to California after graduation (we went to college in North Carolina), we ended up talking and then visiting each other in California, even though I lived in Berkeley (for law school) and Grace lived in LA. We went on our first date in July 2013 and decided to be a couple in late summer/early fall of that year. 

Then we dated long-distance (Berkeley and LA are a 6 hour drive apart) for 3 years while I got my law degree. It was such a sweet season and we have always said and believed that while we wouldn't have chosen to date long-distance, it really grew us in important ways and made us great communicators with each other. One of those things we communicated and quickly realized we had in common was that family and one day getting married was really important to us, and that we didn't want to live together while we were "just dating." Disclaimer: I always hesitate to share that aspect of our story because it's SUCH a personal decision and so many of my dear friends do live with people they are dating. I shouldn't even need to say this, but that's an equally worthwhile choice :) However, waiting to live together was important to Grace and me for a variety of personal reasons.

All of that said, we had a peace and confidence pretty much the entire four years that we dated that we did want to marry each other. We didn't talk openly about it very often, because I wanted to remain present in the season of dating that we were in, but when it would come up it was clear that's where we were headed. But we had never said words like "I want to marry you" out loud or anything like that. I guess we are a little bit old fashioned in that way, in terms of saving certain conversations for their season. But through some thinly veiled (pun intended) discussions over the years, I basically told Grace that I wanted her to determine the timing and, when the time was right, initiate that season of being engaged and eventually married. Again, for a lot of personal reasons, that was right for our relationship. There were most definitely times when I wanted to take back the reigns, but now looking back I think Grace chose the most perfect time to start this new season.

Now that that's out of the way, back to the proposal story! We woke up early on the morning of the 14th and drove to Kincaid Park before sunrise because we really wanted to maximize our chances of seeing a moose (you're probably reading this thinking . . . why are they so obsessed with seeing moose?! We just love seeing wildlife in general, haha). We parked and started walking. Looking back, I can totally see that Grace was on a mission on this walk, because she was power walking and not complaining at all about doing some uphill hiking, which is not normally her favorite thing. She's more of a leisurely walker. But honestly I didn't think much about it at the time because it was early in the morning and I wasn't that focused. Willie was with us sniffing and exploring along the way. After walking for a few minutes, we came to a beautiful wooden pedestrian bridge going across one of the park roads below.

It was totally deserted and purple-hazy in the early morning light. As we walked up to it, Grace suggested that we take a video here for our trip video, which seemed like a great (and totally normal) idea to me at the time.

This is another place where I need to back up and explain. Throughout the Alaska road trip, Grace has stopped at every new location we get to and taken a short video on my DSLR holding up a sign saying where we are. She has a little dry-erase board and will write on it our locations such as Helena Montana, Banff Canada, Dawson Creek B.C., etc. Then Willie and I stand in the background and wave while she holds up the sign to the camera. At the beginning of our trip she explained she wanted to take a video every day and stitch them together at the end, so we'd have a little capsule of everywhere we went. I thought it was a cute idea and it had become a normal part of our daily routine at this point. But, even though we'd been in Anchorage for a couple of days at this point, we still hadn't taken our video with the Anchorage sign because we figured we'd do it at some point before we left town. So when Grace suggested we take our video here on the bridge, I thought it was perfect. She set up the tripod (she has a little foldable one that she had carried with her from the car for this purpose) on one side of the bridge while I stood with Willie on the other side. Right around that time, we noticed two huge moose with full antlers standing under the bridge! We were super excited. Grace then put the camera on the tripod and wrote on the sign while I was looking at the moose. I assumed she was going to write "Anchorage Alaska" (or maybe "moose spotting in Anchorage" or something like that), and wasn't paying any attention. She got the camera rolling and held up the sign to it. I was standing behind her on the other side of the bridge so I still couldn't see what it said. 

Then after a couple seconds, she walked over to where I was holding Willie and showed me the sign. "Did I spell this right?" she asked.

Don't worry, I didn't whip out my phone in the moment--I took this photo later, haha!

Cue my mouth hanging open and apparently (according to Grace, I don't really remember this) a bunch of repeating "are you serious?!" I always thought I would cry when that moment came but I was SO surprised that I didn't at all! My brain just had not caught up to what was happening but before I could gather myself Grace was down on one knee asking if I would marry her and putting a ring on my finger! (Full disclosure, she accidentally tried to put it on my right hand at first). And of course, I said yes. A few times.

It was such a surreal, beautiful moment, and I think we scared away the moose because they were gone when I looked back! Willie was oblivious. My head was still spinning but all I knew was that I was SO happy and sure. I also started asking a ton of questions right away. Does my family know? Did you have help coming up with this plan? Where have you been hiding the ring this whole time? And it was so fun finally getting to hear all of Grace's answers. For those curious, my whole family had known for months, and several of our friends were in on it too. To be honest, I think it was pretty stressful for her keeping this secret while we have been spending 24/7 together on this trip, as well as keeping the ring safe and hidden, so she was VERY relieved that I said yes and that she didn't have to keep a secret anymore. She said she didn't sleep the night before, she was so nervous. It was around this time that we realized the camera was still rolling! So yes, we have a full video of the proposal which is pretty special. Props to Grace for planning that so organically. And she's still going to be making that video with all of our locations, plus the proposal part--stay tuned after we're back!

The spot where it all happened!

A little bit about my ring: I LOVE it!! I had always seen myself wearing a simple, classic diamond engagement ring. Grace and I had exchanged zero words about a possible ring (other than me knowing that she wasn't interesting in wearing an engagement ring herself), so it could have gone pretty badly I guess . . . but lucky for me, Grace gave me a gorgeous family ring that has been passed down for (at least) four generations! Hearing about how Grace's mom had traveled to bring Grace the ring, had it specially cleaned, and gotten an insurance policy for it was so sweet. I am beyond thankful and feel so embraced into the Baldridge family. I hope it's not tacky to share a photo, but here you go:

At this point, it was only about 8 in the morning, so we had the rest of the day to relax and celebrate! We called our families first and then went out for a delicious brunch at a place called South, which a friend from law school had recommended to me the day before (thanks, Lydia!). It was SO good, we loved it! Of course it helped that we were in the best mood ever, but objectively the food was really great.

Grace creepin' in the background--such a good bloody mary.

The rest of the afternoon, we pretty much just relaxed and hung out at home while calling more friends and family to share our news! It was a really sweet day. It also made me so grateful that we got engaged while on vacation, because we've had a lot of time to make phone calls and soak it all in! We have felt so very loved and lucky over the past few days.

For that night we already had a reservation at a restaurant called Simon & Seafort's because it was our four-year dating anniversary and we wanted to go somewhere nice. The food was delicious and the restaurant has a to-die-for view of the ocean. We overall really liked it. However, it was kind of an older crowd and I felt like the Bubbly Mermaid from the night before was more our speed, but Simon & Seafort's was definitely an atmosphere befitting just getting engaged.

The next morning, it was (sadly) time to leave Anchorage and start our trip home! But first, there was something really important we had to do. We knew pretty much right after Casper died that we wanted to scatter some of his ashes in Alaska, because we planned the trip for him. We never anticipated that he wouldn't be (physically) joining us. We had talked on the road about exactly where to scatter them, and we mulled over going to a pretty place or near the water. But ultimately, we realized we should scatter them in the garden of the house we rented. Casper was such a homebody, and he would have absolutely loved just hanging out at that house with us while we drank hot chocolate and played board games. We said some words and shed some tears and hugged and scattered some of what we have left of Casper on that cold morning. It was a big range of emotions in 24 hours. But it felt good and right, and with full hearts we hit the road for the "and back" portion of our trip. Before we left town, we made one last stop at Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop, also a recommendation from a friend. I am SO GLAD we did, because I had the best scone of my entire life there. We also grabbed some sandwiches to eat later on the road, and they were delectable.

And we set off for home as an engaged couple! We were retracing our steps from a few days before, but it seemed even more beautiful going the other direction. We pulled over on the side of the road for some photos and ended up seeing a bald eagle fly overhead.

Our destination for that night, like the night before we reached Anchorage, was Tok. But this time, we decided we did NOT want to camp and brave the freezing temps! So, we stayed at Young's Motel, and it was comfy and totally fine for one night. The Four Seasons it was not, but it was clean and felt very safe, so we were happy! Also, we ordered from the restaurant attached to the motel and had the BEST fish & chips! 

The next morning I woke up to it being 28 degrees. We were so very glad that we did not camp. When I stepped outside, it smelled like Christmas trees, and I remember feeling like Alaska was just the most magical place. But it was time to set off for the Yukon on our journey east and then south. I'll post another update once we've traveled a few more days!

September Goals + August Recap

If you have spent any amount of time with me in the past year, you know how excited I am for September 2017 to begin. Last year on Labor Day Weekend (for those outside the US, the first couple of days in September), Grace and I went camping near the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Eastern part of California, and we spent the whole time talking about driving to Alaska in exactly one year. Dreaming about where we'd go along the way, how much Casper would love it, and (real talk) how/whether we could afford it. In a lot of ways, that camping trip feels like just a few weeks ago, and I cannot believe that September 2017 is already HERE. But of course, the past year has changed us, too. We have grown and adapted and one member of the Alaska trip dream team is no longer with us. And Mr. Willie has joined us.

A few days ago, less than a week before leaving for Alaska, I bawled my eyes out when it suddenly hit me afresh that Casper isn't coming with us (physically) on this trip. I probably looked incredibly psycho as I cradled his cedar box of ashes and just lost it. Why I am writing this down? Just to try to convey all that this trip means to us. A year ago when we dreamed this trip into existence, I thought, this will be FUN. I will get AWESOME PHOTOS. We will be CAREFREE. Now, I think about it differently. The trip will be meaningful. We will get to know each other more deeply and grow in our relationship and in faith. We will see beautiful places on this earth and stand in awe of it. I want my goals for September (which look very different from my typical monthly goals) to reflect that.

I don't often talk about spiritual beliefs or faith on this blog, but this past Sunday we received a beautiful traditional Celtic blessing at our church that was so perfect for our upcoming journey that I just had to share it.

“Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace of Christ,
of Christ the Light of the World to you.
Deep peace of Christ to you.”

So, how did I do on my August goals?

• Simplify and prepare my work/home/heart for ALASKA! Yes. I feel so ready.

• Match quiet nights to read, journal, and rest with early mornings to exercise (on nights that I stay in, I wake up early the next day!) Not the best. Why is this so hard?

• Leave my job, and my replacement hire, equipped and with a clean slate. Yes! Today is my last day at my current job, and though it's hard to give up the reins, I feel I left everything in a good place.

• Set up my new phone to sync with my car bluetooth, transfer notes and photos, and set up my email (this could probably take some people an afternoon . . . but these things are challenging for me so it has to be a monthly goal, haha!) Amazingly yes.

• Host Grace's sweet parents for a week in LA. Yes. One of my favorite weeks of the summer!

• Spend at least a few minutes of each day in silence (inspired by this article I read recently) Yes.

And now, my September goals!

• Be active as much as possible, especially on long car ride days

• Find ways to serve Grace throughout the trip

• Keep up with journaling, reading, and some blogging from the road

• Take in moments with my eyes, not just my camera

We leave tomorrow morning bright and early! I have never used the Instagram Stories feature before (grandma status), but I am planning to start using it during our trip in case anyone is curious to follow along and see some of the parts of the US and Canada we'll be driving through! You can follow along on my Instagram here :) Happy September!

June + Summer Goals

Rabbit Rabbit! Sweet June, my favorite month of the year, has arrived. Goal setting is one of the things I am most passionate about in this life. I set yearly goals/guideposts, monthly goals, and I also have a 2.75 year list of goals (something called 101 in 1001--it's 101 goals you try to complete in 1001 days, roughly 2.75 years. I plan on sharing my whole list, started in fall 2015, soon!). 

All of that to say, I like to set big and small goals, with long and short timelines to complete them. My monthly goals tend to be more bite-sized action items aimed to further my more overarching yearly goals or 101 in 1001 goals. Something I haven't done before is set seasonal goals, which I guess is because I felt a little overexposed when it comes to setting goals. But for summer 2017, I'm going for it.

Why? Because this summer marks the last time for me that a lot of things will feel constant, and after the summer, there will be a lot of change. I'm switching jobs, I'm taking the biggest and wildest trip of my life, and just generally in my mind things will feel different after September. There is a lot I want to get done, take advantage of, and not let pass me by. So I know these aren't the actual precise dates of summer, but I'm setting my goals below for June 1 (today) - September 1 (the last day of my current job). On September 2, Grace and I leave for a 7000+ mile road trip North and across 2 countries and 12 states/provinces. There's a LOT happening, but I know the goals I'm setting will help me feel ready for it!

Summer 2017 Goals

• Take a day trip somewhere we've never been before
• Finally finish a personal writing project I've been working on for the last 2 years
• Reincorporate exercise into my life on a consistent basis
• Take at least one weekend getaway sometime in July or August
• Blog here on Have Dog, Will Drive at least once a week
• Meet all of my pre-Alaska financial goals I set earlier in the year
• Get together with Grace's and my close friends in a fun way before we leave town for a few weeks in September
• Meet all of my work goals and leave my replacement in a great position to start

And my June goals, below, are a combination of action items to meet my summer goals and other things that I know need to happen this month.

June 2017 Goals

• Journal about and intentionally work on becoming a better listener
• Exercise three days a week and put it on my calendar
• Switch over to my own health insurance (hello, 26th birthday)
• Celebrate my 26th birthday
• Take care of some Casper to-do list items, such as scheduling his vet visit for before we leave for Alaska, making an appointment to have some of his teeth removed (he's an old boy and has some dead teeth), researching food options for the road trip since Canada has some rules about what pet food you can bring into the country, and getting him a new warm coat that actually fits

I am planning on writing a goals post on the 1st of every month, so in July, you can look for my new monthly goals as well as a recap of how I did in June. If you set June goals or 2017 goals, I'd love to hear about them!

The Heart Behind "Have Dog, Will Drive"

Welcome to Have Dog, Will Drive! I am so glad you're here. I've thought about starting a blog for a long time. Something always held me back, but recently, I decided it was now or never. The same day I decided to finally start one, the phrase "Have Dog, Will Drive" popped into my head. When I checked the domain name and saw that it was available, I decided it was meant to be. All that being said, what's really the purpose for starting this blog, especially given that it's already so easy to share life through Instagram and other social media?

1. I love to document my memories. The photo above shows just a few of the photobooks, prints, and journals I have created and accumulated over recent years. I'm the type of person to physically print most of what I post on Instagram, because I adore paper and tangible representations of memory. I journal almost every day, and a couple of times a year, I print an Artifact Uprising photobook of all of the trips Grace and I have taken recently. Despite that, I felt myself craving an outlet somewhere in between the simplicity of Instagram and the once-or-twice a year thoroughness of a photobook. Something like my written journals, but where I could easily add in photos and have a full record of trips and other special times. After thinking about it, I realized that a blog could fill that gap for me.

2. But why share it and make it open for others to read? Because I want to build community and pay forward all that I have learned. I love blogs, and I plan to share many of my favorites here. I've been reading blogs almost daily for years, and as I've invested more and more in my hobby of camping and weekend getaways, I've learned so much from bloggers. As I began planning our next big road trip of driving from Los Angeles to Alaska and back (happening in September 2017; I'll write a LOT more about it as time goes on), I discovered that planning a trip like that would be almost impossible without drawing from the wisdom and experiences of others. The more I read, the more I realized I had a lot to share. My hope is that this site will make getaways easier to plan and more realistic for people, especially those traveling with a dog.

3. What to expect here: a lot of ideas and how-to's for weekend trips in and near Southern California. My experiences mostly involve camping in a tent, but there will also be some "glamping" trips as well as more traditional vacations. I'm also planning to write posts geared toward dog owners, and I have a lot to share about my experiences loving and caring for an older rescued pit bull with some special issues (much more on Casper to come!). If that sounds similar to your situation, I'd love to connect. At the end of this summer (2017) and into the fall, this space will be filled with all-things-Alaska, including guides, recaps, and planning resources as we take the journey North--and then back South. You'll also occasionally find some glimpses of my everyday life with Grace and Casper, things that inspire me, city guides for places I've lived, etc.

4. Last of all, who is the heart behind Have Dog, Will Drive? In case someone is reading this who doesn't already know me in person, I'd love to get to know you! My name is Elizabeth, but many people in my life call me Lizzie. I was born in North Carolina, and I lived there for the first 22 years of my life. Now, I'm living in my Promised Land of California. I've been dating Grace for about 4 years, ever since meeting in a random college elective course during my last semester of undergrad. We both attended Elon University and love our alma mater. The first three years of our relationship was long distance while I completed my law degree at Berkeley and Grace lived in LA. In May of 2016 I graduated and finally moved to LA for good. Though we maintain separate residences for now--about 0.8 miles apart in West Hollywood, California--Grace and I share the sweetest dog on earth. Since Grace and Casper are my main travel companions, they will be the ones most often appearing here, but I have many other wonderful and beautiful friends and family that I hope will also grace the pages of this blog along the way. Thank you so much for reading!