Tag: hike

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13 Day North Island Itinerary: New Zealand

James and I have returned from another amazing trip to New Zealand’s north island. We are definitely feeling the jet leg this week, so I thought I’d put my feet up and recap our north island trip! We went the last week of February, and stayed through the first week of March, which meant it was nice and hot pretty much the whole time. This time of year, we had cooler mornings and evenings but full sunny days! It rained only on our first and last day – lucky us! Read on to see what we got up to cruising around New Zealand’s north island with family.

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Non-Traditional European Honeymoon

Super excited to have a guest writer on the blog today to share her honeymoon itinerary! My adventurous sister Allie is sharing her non-traditional honeymoon with you all! This really sounded like a trip of a lifetime! I’ll let her get started.

Hello! My name is Allie, and I am Brooke’s middle little sister. I am also the sister who helped get the girl and the kiwi together! Shortly after those two got together, Derek came into my life, and he was the best man at Brooke and James’ wedding. Derek and I were married on June 2, 2018, and as close as we are to Brooke and James, we chose not to bring them on our honeymoon. But I still wanted to share our amazing European honeymoon adventure with you! 

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Four Days in Colorado’s Mountains

James and I spent a week in Colorado this spring! After spending three days in Denver with family (go check out that post here!), we set off to the mountains for four days of exploring Colorado JUST THE TWO OF US! You guys, this was the first trip we had taken just the two of us since our honeymoon. THAT WAS OVER THREE YEARS AGO. So, needless to say, four days in the mountains were just what we needed. Here’s what we got up to in four days in Colorado in May.

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3 Day Denver Itinerary: Hiking, Dining, and Shopping

We were lucky enough to escape to Colorado for a week in early May! My cousin was getting married so we decided to make a trip out of it! I decided to split this post in two – because the first 3 days in Denver were very different than the last 4 days we spent in Silverthorne. So this post is all about Denver. Denver is a beautiful city, that really seems to pop up out of the middle of  nowhere. Here’s all the shopping, dining and hiking we got up to in the mile high city.

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3 of Our Favorite Hiking Trails, Auckland Region

Fall is right around the corner here in Michigan… which means New Zealand is heading into spring! James and I are planning our next trip to NZ and it’s got us thinking about our favorite hikes. James lived in Auckland most of his life, and I lived there for 4 years while at Uni. There were many weekends when we couldn’t manage a weekend away to Rotorua or elsewhere, but needed to bust out of the city and into the the outdoors – going on a hike was typically the answer.

The Hillary Trail through the Waitakere Ranges was our favorite hiking trail in Auckland. According to the Auckland Council, the full Hillary Trail is about 77kms and would take about 4-6-days to complete. Here’s a map from Auckland Council of the full trail, and their site also has information about accommodation  and safety if tackling the full Trail.

James and I have never done the full route, though it’s on our bucket list, we have done pieces of it. We’re not professionals. So maybe you don’t have 4-6 days to set aside, but you’re looking for a good day-hike. Here are three day (or few hour) hikes, which are pieces of this beautiful trail.

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Cruise Alaska’s Inner Passage

Alaska is the first place that I can remember thinking “I want to go there”. When I was young, my parents traveled to Alaska and told us wonderful stories about bears, whales, and eagles. When my cousins visited Alaska, they brought back enough halibut for the whole family to enjoy at the reunion.

I knew we would get there one day. I just didn’t know when. It’s a pricier cruise than the Caribbean, and James and I had just moved to Michigan from New Zealand. We had bought a house, a dog…. the Alaska dream was set aside. But then my grandmother decided to take the whole family on an Alaskan cruise! And let me tell you, after dreaming about it my whole life, it did not disappoint.

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