Wow— and that’s a wrap on 2018. It seems like the year came and went in the blink of the eye. Does anyone else do some serious self-reflection at the end of the year? I’m notorious for it. Although, I think it might have something to do with my birthday also being at the end of the year. Turning a year older and jumping into a new years really gets the gears turning, ya know?
2018 had some ups and down. We rang in the New Year at Pike’s Peak in Colorado, followed by a slew of weekend travels up and down the West Coast. I landed my first “official” collaboration with a company and reached thousands of new readers. The summer brought change. Lots of change. Leaving San Diego, driving across the country, and ending up in North Carolina. The fall season forced us to face the facts and make big life decisions we did not really want to make. As we enter the winter season, I’m sitting here writing this wrap up from 37,000 feet above the North Sea en route to Iceland from Germany.
I’ll quickly summarize my highlights of 2018:
-Checking off a new country-Canada: We hopped over the border to Vancouver, Canada in March. We had a mere 24 hours there but managed to see PARK and eat all the vegan food we could find.
-Visiting my first eco-friendly resort: We journeyed up the coast to The Standford Inn in Mendocino, California. A resort fully-committed to sustainability, plant based living, and overall wellness.
-Big Sur: I knew it was going to be magical and it exceeded all my expectations. I mean LOOK at it.
-Salt Flats: I have dreamed about visiting the Bolivian Salt Flats for years. I didn’t make it to South American this year but I did make it Bonneville, Utah and found the next best thing.
-Visiting heaven on earth and hiking to the top of it: Yosemite National Park in California should be on everyone’s bucket list. It was my favorite trip of the entire year and checked off a big bucket list item: Hike Half Dome.
-Taking full advantage of all the fall festivities: We spent our first fall in North Carolina in seven years and we took full advantage of it. We took several trips to the mountains, went apple picking, and made lots of pots of chili.
–Driving Romantic Road with my one and only: David surprised me with a trip to Germany. Freaking Germany! It was a dream come true and I wrote all about it here and here.
and here are a few of David’s…
– Portland, Maine: somehow one of the best foodie towns in the country, also beautiful New England charm, a place I feel like I could live.
-Austin, TX: Amazing food, a really good time with my friends hitting the night life and the day life. One of my favorite cities in the world.
-Road tripping up the California Coast: beautiful sights, especially Big Sur, almost like we were on another planet. Sammy didn’t care for the camping, but if there was one place to road trip, I would suggest the California Coast.
Yosemite: one of the most iconic mountain ranges in the world, with two of the most famous rocks, Half Dome and El Capitan. Watching climbers on El Capitan, and spending 20 hours hiking/scaling Half Dome. Dumbest thing we did this year.
-Germany: Christmas Markets galore, Romantic Road visiting towns that looked like they were out of the 1400’s, and delicious food.
-New York: Avenue Q was hilarious, LadyBird is the vegan restaurant to beat, and I forgot how much I love the city.
2018 is going to be hard to beat. I visited more places in 2018 than I ever dreamed. I can’t help but take the time to thank all of our readers. You are the reason I do what I do. I love sharing our experiences with others and inspiring you to travel. Travel bloggers are the reason I have been as many places as I have. Bring it on 2019…
If I didn’t love travel thursday so much this would have been my first choice, but so torn with the suggestions that you made!