Sabbatical Stories

So you hung out in Fishtown, took the ferry to South Manitou Island, and learned about micro bears and other things in your orientation brief. Now what? We...

Ever since Tom was younger, he had been going to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore with his family. I've only heard stories and drank the wine named af...

“What kind of bike ride is this going to be?” That’s the question I asked Tom so I would know what to expect on our trip along the Sleeping Bear Heritage Tr...

After going through an emotional start to our trip in the Tetons, I was able to really enjoy the rest of the trip. It was just in time too because there are...

On our way into Yellowstone National Park, we took the South Entrance through Grand Tetons National Park. Since we liked the look of the mountains so much an...

This is Part Two of my blog post on Yellowstone. If you haven’t read Part One (or if you just want a refresher or re-read), definitely check it out. You’ll f...

While Tom and I were waiting in the Veterans Affairs sitting area for our turn to be helped, we decided this would be a good time to figure out our lodging s...

There are some trips that are planned. For my trip to the Gallapagos, I knew that I was going to take this flight, go to these specific islands on these spec...

I've heard a lot of mixed reviews about Boulder: anything from "it's the only place to be in Colorado" to "it used to be real cool, but now it's being ruine...

Tom and I wanted to take a camping trip while we were in Fort Collins, but because of weather and timing, it didn't really work out for the first couple of w...

After our stay in McCook, Nebraska, we headed to Fort Collins, Colorado: home to a slew of craft breweries and Colorado State University. Tom was taking a ...

After visiting Papillion, Nebraska, we headed west toward McCook. For those of you who don't know, McCook is a small town in Western Nebraska. Their town b...

After our stop and car trouble in St. Louis, we headed to Nebraska to visit my parents and attend my brother's graduation. It's interesting to see how my re...

After our stay in Boone, Tom and I headed towards St. Louis. We planned on meeting some friends for dinner in the city before heading towards their house to...

The first stop on the US tour brought Tom and me to Boone, a town in Western North Carolina that's home to a slew of outdoor activities that has something fo...

This past month has been the calm before the storm. Most things have been pretty routine, but I can sense the change, uncertainty, instability, and excitemen...