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Kayaking Milwaukee River, Milwaukee Kayak Company, WIsconsin

07 Jan River Kayaking in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Posted at 13:15h in Blog, United States, Urban Adventure, Wisconsin

Paddling through the city is a completely different experience than kayaking in the wilds of nature. Kayaking is one of our favorite adventures, but it isn't all that often that we have an opportunity to paddle through an urban setting. During my trip to Milwaukee...

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Southern Tier Kayak Tour on the Chemung River in the Southern Finger Lakes, New York

26 Oct Kayaking the Chemung River in New York

Posted at 10:00h in Blog, New York, Outdoor Adventure, United States

Kayaking is always one of our favorite adventures, and we try to get out for a paddle any chance we get. So, when we were road tripping through the Southern Finger Lakes region and had the opportunity to hop in kayaks for an afternoon, we...

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Kayaking on Mirror Lake at Mirror Lake State Park in Wisconsin

23 Jul Kayaking on Mirror Lake in Wisconsin

Posted at 09:25h in Blog, Outdoor Adventure, United States, Wisconsin

As we launched our kayaks into the calm waters, we marveled at the peaceful setting that unfolded in front of us. The deep blue water contrasted sharply with the neon green algae floating on the lake’s surface, while sandstone bluffs poked out through the thick...

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Canoeing at Moraine Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

14 Jun Canoeing at Moraine Lake in Banff National Park

Posted at 12:30h in Alberta, Blog, Canada, National Parks, Outdoor Adventure

I hadn't been this giddy in quite some time. I'm not sure if it was the sight of crystal clear turquoise waters that twinkled under the sun or the fact that we were out paddling again, this time with rocky mountains and glaciers towering all...

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Kayaking through the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach

27 May Kayaking the Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia Beach

Posted at 12:30h in Blog, Outdoor Adventure, United States, Virginia

Kayaking is always one of our favorite adventures--we love spending time on the water and kayaks are typically our top vessel of choice. We've paddled down rivers, on the ocean, in lakes, and through Florida's mangroves and intracoastal waterway. This time around, we were in Virginia...

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03 May Kayaking the San Juan Islands in Search of Orca Whales

Posted at 09:30h in Blog, Outdoor Adventure, United States, Washington

Our goal for the day was to catch a glimpse of the orca whales that frequented the waters around Washington's San Juan Islands. Our transportation of choice? Kayaks. We woke well before the sun did to make our way out to San Juan Island. Since we...

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White Water Rafting with River Runners in Buena Vista, Colorado

13 Nov Browns Canyon: White Water Rafting in Colorado

Posted at 10:00h in Blog, Colorado, Outdoor Adventure, United States

After an early morning wake up call, we made our way to the River Runners base camp, pulled on our wetsuits, donned a pair of booties and slipped into a water blocking jacket in order to keep warm. We were assigned the same raft as a...

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Kayking the Kinnickinnic River in River Falls, Wisconsin

14 Oct Kayaking the Kinnickinnic River

Posted at 10:30h in Blog, Outdoor Adventure, United States, Wisconsin

The morning air was cool and crisp as we floated underneath a canopy of trees. Located in western Wisconsin, the Kinnickinnic River, or Kinni for short, is a 22 mile long river, and we were paddling a three-hour portion of the river. We had purchased a...

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Canoeing the Chain of Lakes in Minneapolis, Minnesota

03 Oct Canoeing the Chain of Lakes in Minneapolis

Posted at 10:25h in Blog, Minnesota, United States, Urban Adventure

Minnesota isn’t called the “Land of 10K Lakes” for nothing—in fact, there are actually more than 10,000 lakes throughout the state. Also, Minnesota has more shoreline than Florida, California and Hawaii combined! All of this means that growing up in Minnesota equates to spending the...

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Kayaking the Black Canyon, Off the Strip Adventure, Las Vegas, Nevada

08 Sep Off the Strip Adventure: Kayaking the Black Canyon

Posted at 09:14h in Arizona, Blog, Nevada, Outdoor Adventure, United States

To continue on with our adventures off the strip, our next activity was kayaking the Black Canyon in the Colorado River. The Black Canyon is located south of the Hoover Dam, so the water is nice and peaceful due to the controlled output from the...

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Kayaking at John Pennekamp State Park

09 May Kayaking Through the Mangroves at John Pennekamp State Park

Posted at 11:12h in Blog, Florida, Outdoor Adventure, The Florida Keys, United States

Twisting and turning our way through, we arched back to skim under the low hanging trees. As we maneuvered our kayaks carefully towards the other side of the mangrove cluster, I wondered if we were on the right path. The path we chose, was indeed...

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White Water Canoeing with Arctic Adventures

22 Jul White Water Canoeing in Iceland

Posted at 10:03h in Blog, Europe, Iceland, Outdoor Adventure

The minute we got off the bus and saw that we were the only ones doing the rafting trip in a two person canoe, we immediately started to question what we had gotten ourselves into. The other 16 or so people on our tour were...

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Another hike that we went on during our time in De Another hike that we went on during our time in Death Valley National was the Golden Canyon Trail with the Red Cathedral extension! We really enjoyed the landscape throughout this hike—it was another one of our favorite trails in Death Valley. The trail is 1.5 miles each way (3 miles round trip), and the last 0.5 miles of the trail, aka the Red Cathedral Trail, requires some scrambling, ledges, and low overhangs.

The Golden Canyon/Red Cathedral trail was so fun and we loved weaving through, under, and over tight rock formations. Plus, the views at the end of the trail were beautiful. Apparently, some scenes from Star Wars were filmed in this area, and I can see why—it looked like we were walking through an entirely different world!
At first, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National At first, Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park doesn’t look like much, but when you learn more about this piece of land, it’s quite interesting. Badwater Basin is the lowest elevation point in North America, at 282 ft below sea level. The land here is made up of a salt flat that stretches nearly 200 square miles. If you look hard for the tiny white sign in the mountains in the 5th photo (straight up above the Cruise America RV) you can see where sea level is. Standing on the salt flat and looking up at the sea level sign really puts the low elevation into perspective! We couldn’t help but imagine standing at the bottom of the lake that once covered this area.

We walked about a mile out onto the flats and loved seeing all the salt polygons and unique formations all around us. The farther we walked the less people we saw, and it was quite peaceful during our sunset stroll. We ended up visiting Badwater Basin twice during our trip, and I already want to head back again. There’s just so much to see if you take the time to look!
When standing at the Zabriski Point Lookout in Dea When standing at the Zabriski Point Lookout in Death Valley National Park, you overlook stunning hills and canyons of the Badlands. And if you look close, you might see people hiking far out on the landscape. One of the trails that runs through this area is the Badlands Loop, and it is a fantastic option for a hike!  Wandering through the narrow canyons and up along the hills of the Badlands provides a beautiful vantage point of this colorful area. 

The Badlands Loop is a 2.7 mile trail that runs through the gulch and up along the top of the ridges. There isn’t much shade on this trial, especially if you hike it during the heat of the day, so try to avoid a midday hike here when the temperatures are high. There are several trails that intersect in this area; you can connect to both the Gower Gulch Trail and the Golden Canyon Trail to make it one longer 7.8 mile loop hike. We hiked Golden Canyon earlier on our trip, so this time around we just hiked the Badlands Loop. Photos 1-8 are from the Badlands Loop trail, and 9-10 are from the Zabriski Point overlook the day prior when the skies were much more cloudy!
We spent 2.5 days exploring Death Vally National P We spent 2.5 days exploring Death Vally National Park this past winter, and we sure packed a lot into our visit. Hiking the wide variety of trails was our favorite way to explore the park. All of the trails were fantastic, but the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes was one of our favorite stops. We visited the dunes several times during our three days in the park, and each visit was at a different time of day. We were there for sunset, at night to see the stars, and at sunrise. When we went for sunrise, we hiked our way out to the summit of the tallest dune. The summit is roughly 1 mile from the parking lot, although there is no formal trail to get there and back. 

Along the hike, we spotted someone painting the sunrise from the top of one of the dunes. We couldn’t help but stop and chat with her and Micah snapped a few photos—we absolutely loved her artwork! We also enjoyed finding lots of animal prints in the sand. Even though the distance was short, the hike was tough as the sand is very hard to walk on. It felt like every step forward equaled two steps back! But the feeling you get from conquering the tallest dune is well worth it. It’s a beautiful portion of the park to explore!
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