In addition to music, I have always loved camping and hiking. It’s been a family tradition since I was very young, and now I’m sharing it with my daughter. I have traveled all around the world, but there’s nothing quite the same as experiencing the exhilaration of making it to the top of a mountain and enjoying the sheer beauty of nature.
In 2016, I went on a cross country road trip with my parents and daughter from the west coast to the east. Over 10 weeks, we traveled 7700 miles, through 18 states, and visited 12 national parks (Redwoods, Grand Teton, Yosemite, Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Grand Canyon, Arches, Yellowstone, Badlands, Wind Cave, Mt. Rushmore, and Pictured Rocks).
We touched all 5 Great Lakes and both oceans – we called it our sea to shining sea cross country road trip. We saw so much interesting wildlife and were literally on natural beauty overload. It was an unbelievably amazing trip of a lifetime!!!
Since then, we have spent as much time camping and outdoors as possible each summer. We really got the camping bug back in full force! With all the craziness of this year, it was even more important to us to get outside as much as possible and have a change of scenery. My parents traded in their camper for a big upgrade. What’s a more perfect way to travel in a pandemic than with your own “house” (beds, kitchen, bathroom, food) everywhere you go?
We camped from July through the middle of October. We went to Michigan to visit with my sister and spent a long time in Maine enjoying the ocean. This time, my husband took very rare time off to be with us for almost 3 weeks.
My dad could still teach via zoom from the campground. I homeschool my daughter, so we can take our show on the road. All of our regular activities were cancelled, so we took advantage of the “free” time, and spent it outside.
Quality time with family and enjoying the great outdoors “filled my cup” to keep me going into the winter. We also had fun taking pictures and capturing the memories along the way!
