Wild Minds Wander

An Adventure of Togetherness

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  • Olympic to Oregon: A Journey of Fog, Forks, and Fireworks (and a few bumps in the road!)

    (This post was started on July 2nd, documenting our first few days in Olympic National Park and our journey towards Oregon. I’m finishing it now, looking back on the emotional rollercoaster that made me pause writing for a while. It was a super emotional journey, and I just couldn’t bring myself to continue writing until now that I’m home. But I want to finish out the trip, and remember all the moments, big and small.)

    Monday: Olympic’s Misty Trails and Ruby Beach’s Charms

    Monday was our second day in Olympic National Park, and we woke up to fog! So much fog!!! We ate breakfast and then went on a really fun nature trail. It was a mile long and took us over two hours because we couldn’t stop stopping and looking at all the beautiful sights. It was so neat to be walking through a temperate rainforest.

    After our nature hike, it was still super foggy, so we decided to drive to the closest town, Forks, Washington, and see if they had a park we could play at. Unfortunately, I didn’t have good service, so we just had to take a chance. It was a bad chance. Forks, Washington, is absolutely disgusting. They literally had to shut down the park’s bathroom due to drug use in them. The park was super outdated and icky as well and full of homeless people. But what was wild, it was 60 degrees when we left the rainforest, and it was 85 in Forks, just 40 minutes down the road.

    We decided to leave after playing at the park for an hour or so and stopped at Ruby Beach on the way back to camp. It was a super cool beach covered in pebbles and massive amounts of driftwood. It was an obstacle course of trees to get down to the ocean, and the ocean had these beautiful jutting rocks. The waves were huge, and the kids had so much fun playing in them. It was definitely chilly, though, as it was back down to high sixties.

    We got back to camp, ate some dinner, and headed back down to the ocean to play after spending some time playing some yard games. There is tetherball everywhere we go, and Harvey and Calvin are really enjoying it. I’ve been having fun bragging to them about how I was the tetherball champion in elementary school. 😉

    Tuesday: A Series of Unfortunate Campsites and a Wildlife Redemption

    The next day, I swore I had reservations for the Hoh Rainforest, and the night before, I logged in to see what time we could check in and realized it was actually for the Quinault Rainforest. I was so mad at myself. We missed the biggest part of Olympic National Park, and even worse, we could have fit it in instead of our wasted time going to Forks. I felt so stupid. So we woke up and headed to Quinault.

    After a 45 minute drive, we showed up to our campground. It was beautiful. Right on the lake. We got out of the car and went to the lake feet away from our campground, and it was covered in dead, rotting fish and flies everywhere. I decided to head over to the restrooms, and the grounds just were not well kept at all. I walked into the bathroom, and one of them was completely clogged with what looked like days of toilet paper and poop, and the other one was gushing water. I came out and told the boys, and totally dreaded the dead fish campsite, especially in bear country.

    Our GPS was not working, with no internet, we decided to leave. There was a really cool wildlife park about 2.5 hours in the direction we had already came from, and we really wanted to do it. So even though the boys hate driving, they were so grossed out by the campsite and so excited about the wildlife park, we literally just took off driving with no signal and no reservations and hoped number one, I was driving in the right direction, and number two, we could find somewhere to sleep that night.

    We did stop and do a small nature walk through the Quinualt Rainforest! It was super neat and a gentle reminder of the purpose of the trip during a really hard day!

    Once I got service, we were able to find this campground just 18 minutes from the wildlife park, and it looked absolutely amazing on the website!! I was so excited… Then we showed up, and I was not excited, but we had already paid, and I had been in the car for over four hours that day, and I accepted defeat.

    The campgrounds were so dirty, our spot was littered with so much trash… It was so gross. But there was a lake, so the boys suited up, and they swam for hours!!! They had so much fun, so I just dealt with it lol… I got to shower, so I was happy. Bedtime came, and it was so sketchy. The whole grounds smelled like weed, and the people that were there swimming during the day just looked, ehh, well, not so nice. So I tried to fall asleep but couldn’t. I kept hearing noises and seeing stuff move, and it was 1 AM before I finally fell asleep. At 3 AM, I had to wake up and pee and unfortunately got scared again and couldn’t go back to sleep again until past 5 when it was light out, and I felt safe enough to sleep.

    We packed up camp and headed to the Northwest Trek Wildlife Park. It was absolutely amazing, and we spent about five hours there today. I really enjoyed seeing all the animals, and the boys loved playing at their nature park! From there, we hopped in the car and spent another 3.5 hours in the car and made our way down to Oregon.

    When I made these plans, I could not find anywhere with availability for the Fourth of July, so I just said, “well, I will let future Kyli handle that.” Well, future Kyli signed up for notifications for the next campground to get notifications in case anyone canceled, and this morning at 11 AM, I got an email saying there was availability in Ainsworth State Park, which is where we headed today! We had the 2nd and 3rd booked and finally were able to get the 4th; we would just have to move campsites after the second night. Whatever, no big deal. So we show up, and I notice they have first-come, first-serve sites, so I decided to drive around and check if any of them were open! There were several! I found the camp ranger and asked if we could switch to one of the first-come, first-serve sites, and I was even more excited because they have electrical, which makes it ten times easier, and I don’t have to worry about the generator and going and plugging it into a bathroom and standing by the bathroom for an hour everyday!!! She gladly switched our reservation, and now we have an electrical site for the next three nights, and we don’t have to change mid-trip.

    I am so excited for these next three nights because it’s a pretty magical place. We are camping in the Columbia River Gorge. It’s an absolutely beautiful place full of rich history. It was actually the first ever science byway created, and there are 90 waterfalls along the corridor. It’s really cool and quite the feat to build. We are so excited to explore this area over the next few days!!! There is a trolley that takes you up and down the corridor, so I think we will do that tomorrow.

    On Saturday, my parents, my sister, and my niece are meeting us in Tillamook, Oregon, where we will then spend the next seven days together working our way down the Oregon coast and into the Redwoods of California. I’m excited that they will be able to join us for a portion of the trip, and not just because it means I get to ditch the tent for a week, but it will be nice to share in all of this beauty with some other grown-ups, and the boys are very excited to see their cousin.

    Wednesday: Waterfall Wonders and a Core Memory(Writing this part today)

    We did end up doing the trolley tour, and it was absolutely amazing. We got picked up at 9:40 AM and then literally caught the last trolley available and got back to camp at 5 PM. The lady who picked us up also happened to be the one to drop us off! It was fun telling her all about our day, and she was thoroughly impressed with our day and how long we stayed out! We ended up hiking six waterfalls that day, and it was an absolutely wonderful day. So much uphill hiking, but the kids totally kicked butt, and no one complained a single time. When we got on the trolley, Theo passed out, and Harvey looked at me and said, “Mom, thank you so much for taking us on this, it was the best day ever.” I am crying while typing that, and I definitely remembered that moment because it was so impactful, but it’s definitely a regret I am going to have with not finishing the blog in real-time because I don’t remember all those tiny moments. But I guess I will remember the feeling of the trip for a lifetime, so I won’t be too hard on myself.

    Thursday: The Fourth of July Fizzle

    After that hiking waterfall day, I got sick… Like really, really sick. I think I was dehydrated and overdid it with the uphill hiking. That night I laid in the tent with a raging fever, chills, body aches, and nausea. I could not fall asleep for the life of me; I was so sick, and I was too scared to get out of the tent, so I kid you not, I laid there and read the dictionary on Harvey’s Kindle trying to trick my mind out of pain. I never ended up going to sleep that night, and as soon as first light came up, I went and charged my phone and looked for a hotel. The boys woke up a few hours later, and they could tell how sick I was. They all worked together to pack up camp almost completely by themselves while I laid there and died. 😂

    This was a super bummer because it was Fourth of July, and we had found a really cool place next to camp to view fireworks, but I knew I had to throw in the towel.We drove to Portland, and I paid extra to check into our hotel at 11 AM. We got there, and I immediately turned on the TV and went to sleep. The kids had a veg-out day, and I got much-needed rest. I still wasn’t 100%, but really wanted to take the kids to fireworks, so we headed down to a place where the internet said was a great viewing spot for the fireworks: the International Rose Test Garden!

    It was so absolutely beautiful, like thousands of different varieties of roses. We got there super early because we weren’t sure what to expect, so we walked around the garden, claimed a fireworks spot, and then went and played at the park. We waited there for two and a half hours with hundreds of other people, only to find out it was not a good firework viewing spot. We could all hear the fireworks going off but literally didn’t get to see a single one. It was heartbreaking. The boys were crushed. I was exhausted… We admitted defeat and drove back to our hotel.

    Do you see why I quit blogging? I was done. I was defeated. I hit the end of my emotional capacity. I didn’t have much more to give. But the journey isn’t over yet, and the story does get better from here! To everyone who has followed this journey, thank you. I’m finishing this for you, and for me! So many people reached out and asked me to finish because they loved following along. So here I am, to finish it out! While I won’t have all the small details for the next two weeks of the trip, I will have all the big ones!

  • Wild Minds Wander: Days 10-14 – From Cooler Chaos to Coastal Magic

    Four days ago we left Banff. That place was just, wow! I truly appreciated our time there, and it was super healing for the soul. But then, our last night in Banff, just when everything felt perfect, Calvin tripped over the cord to our electric cooler and broke it. It was late, and we were nowhere close to anything that could help us anyway. So we just kept the cooler closed and hoped for the best.

    The Cooler Crisis & Roadside Kindness

    The next morning, we packed up camp and spent some time researching how to get this new cord. We asked people in town, and no one was really sure. We decided to hit the road, as our campsite was about four hours away, so I thought bigger towns along the way could be a possibility. After multiple stops, we weren’t having luck, so we just headed to our destination. There, we stumbled across a store called Canadian Tire. I’m still really confused about it because it wasn’t a tire shop… it literally had everything! I found a super nice man who told me I could repair the item and showed me the kit I would need to do it. I told him I didn’t have any tools to do anything like that, and he said once I paid for the items, he would help. He did! I was so grateful.

    We drove the thirty minutes to our next camping spot, and the cooler had been unplugged for thirteen hours at this point. We arrived at Herald Provincial Park at almost 5 PM. It was a super long day on the road with all the stops we had to make, but we did see a bear scaling a mountain while we drove down the highway, so that was really cool!

    We got camp all set up, and then took a short hike to a beautiful waterfall called Margaret Falls. And get this, we were finally in warmer weather! The water was actually warm enough to swim in, so after we had just showered, the boys decided to get into the lake in their clothes at 8:30 at night. Just classic!

    We then headed over to the campground park, and the boys played while I made dinner in the parking lot. We headed back to camp, and honestly, it was an awful campsite. Super busy, which is fine, but this place was loud. Literally kids riding their bikes through our actual campsite… people drinking and playing loud music until after midnight. Just wasn’t our cup of tea. Oh, and to top it off, there were these teenagers walking around at dark with their faces painted black, staring at people trying to scare them. Seriously creepy.

    Reflections on Canada & The Long Haul South

    We headed out in the morning to our next spot, which was going to be a super long drive. We ended up on the road for 8 hours that day. We were staying in a hotel that night, so I wasn’t super concerned. Harvey had a breakdown – he was so tired of spending so much time in the car, and honestly, I don’t blame him. But we made it through and arrived in Anacortes, Washington.

    A little reflection on my time spent in Canada… it is clean! I was really impressed. Every so often, driving down the roads, there would be pull-off stations with trash and recycling bins. Everything looked so nice. Something else I noticed was how nice the people there were. Everyone was so kind and friendly. Another thing that really stood out was that they use cargo trains still, and there were these massive, massive two-story high cargo trains all throughout Canada. They were really quite the sight to see! Coming back into the United States was such a huge pain in the butt at the border crossing than going into Canada was.

    Anacortes & the Whale Tour Wobble

    Once in Anacortes, we settled into our hotel room, which was super comfy. Turned on some Bluey and ordered in DoorDash. We had some super bomb nachos, and the boys ate Mac n Cheese pizza that they said was super yummy. I was just glad to not be doing the cooking and cleaning up. I got three loads of laundry done, and then we headed to bed. We had a big day ahead of us the next day!

    Our morning started off rocky when we found out the hotel breakfast wasn’t really a breakfast but more so some bread and bagels thrown on a counter. This was incredibly frustrating because I always choose hotels that provide breakfast so I don’t have to stress it, and this was not what we had in mind.

    Months ago, I had booked a whale watching tour and was so excited. I thought it was going to be the highlight of our trip… nope… it was not… at all. The kids were so tired of being in confined places, and all you really got to see on the whales was their dorsal fins, so they were seriously less than impressed. Harvey and Calvin literally fell asleep on the tour, it was that exciting! I thought it was super neat and enjoyed myself, but it was hard for them.

    Seattle’s Downtown Dilemma

    The plan was to do that in the morning and then head to Seattle for a day in the city. The tour ended up being much longer than anticipated, and with traffic in Seattle, we weren’t going to arrive until 5 PM. I started doing some research and learned that my van wouldn’t fit in any of the parking garages downtown and that you should never leave valuables in your car while street parking there because people will break the glass and steal stuff. Well, with a van full of thousands of dollars in camping gear that I couldn’t really remove, we just decided it would be best to skip it.

    And you know, even though we had been struggling quite a bit on this trip, during our drive, we were all smiles planning our next adventure back to the Canadian Rockies. The boys want to spend a whole month camping in the Banff area next summer… and I’m totally on board!

    So, after a quick stop at Trader Joe’s on the drive over to refill our snack supply, we just headed straight down to Tacoma where we would be staying the night in another hotel for our “city day.” The hotel was fantastic. They had a pool, and the kids swam for an hour, which was a nice way to burn off some energy after a long day of sitting on a boat and then three hours in the car to the hotel. We watched a movie, cooked some chicken nuggets, and then went to bed. We woke up, ate a yummy breakfast at the hotel, and then went back up to our room where I took advantage of the late checkout time of 11 and just relaxed. My body definitely needed rest, I was so tired. Honestly, I still am. And probably will be until I get home.

    Olympic National Park: Coastal Magic & Tent Tetris

    We stopped at the store for some essentials and then took off to Olympic National Park. We are spread out between two different campgrounds during our time here, but our first and second night are at Kalaloch Campground. When booking campsites, I literally just had to take what was available, so I didn’t even research the campground and had no idea what I was coming into. As we got closer, we realized the campground was right on the coast of the Pacific Ocean… we were so stoked, and the kids were squealing from the back seat… so was I!

    We went to check in, and turns out they had double-booked our site. The ranger came back and said if we could fit the tent in this spot that she actually had an even better site. Turns out the loop we were in, the bathroom and water were out of order, and it was right off the highway. The new spot was right on a bluff overlooking the ocean… Needless to say, we made our tent fit. It’s tight, but we’re here!

    We got camp set all up and then headed straight to the ocean. If you have never been to the ocean, I’m not kidding, it’s magic… like pure magic. I can’t even explain the feeling I get when I see it and my feet hit the sand for the first time. It’s just ahh. We played at the beach for a while, then came back to camp, ate dinner, and then I learned that apparently the Tree of Life is right on the beach where we are camping, so we went down and checked that out. It was super neat to see and a great reminder of resilience. I may have shed a little tear.

    After that, we went and listened to a park ranger program that was all about trees. Harvey said it was so cool, and he loved all the new facts that he learned, and he didn’t realize that trees are so cool! We headed back down to the beach for sunset, and the tide was super low. The beach was nearly empty, and the boys were able to find so many sand dollars! Alive and dead. They kept the dead ones and had fun looking at the alive ones!

    The Unvarnished Truth: Car Fights & Deep Reflections

    Wow, this trip sure is an emotional journey. I’m not kidding, they spent 95% of the time fighting… especially when in the car! I think we hit 60-something hours in the car today, and they really do fight pretty much the whole time in the car. It is one thousand percent exhausting. And a reminder: we are doing it completely screen-free, so it’s even harder for them.

    And I hope they look back on this trip and don’t remember all the fighting in the car but remember all the really special moments like the bear scaling up the hillside and the bike rides around the campground and finding sand dollars on the beach at sunset, and playing in the rivers and lakes, and staying up so late we can’t keep our eyes open, and the beautiful waterfalls and the joy and the laughter. Because while those moments aren’t as often as the fights, they are the ones that make your heart swell to ten times its size and your tummies do flips and the adrenaline rush through your body. I hope they remember those.

    A couple of days ago, I was following behind Theo, thinking about how people always say that they don’t want to take their kids on trips or vacations because they will never remember them. And it made me sad for a moment looking at him all smiles, and I thought, wow, he is not even going to remember this trip. But that moment was fleeting because my very next thought, with the biggest smile on my face and my heart racing, was, “but I will.” I will remember this for the rest of my life, and it will be one of my most special memories, and they may not remember it, but it will shape the person they become. It is our job to instill the sense of adventure, respect for nature, passion for animals, curiosity of other cultures, and the beautiful sense of wanderlust into our children. I really hope I am doing that. I want nothing more.

  • Canadian Rockies Redemption: Grandeur, Ground Squirrels, and Grateful Hearts

    Wednesday June 26, 2025

    Wow! Banff and Yoho National Parks in Canada are… honestly, I’m speechless for words to truly capture our experience here.
    Just last Friday, I was absolutely heartbroken after our experience at Glacier National Park – the relentless weather and having to make the tough decision to forgo our three nights of camping there with predictions of constant rain and six plus inches of snow. We decided to leave the area and head up to Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada, a couple of days early.

    When I was telling a friend about this trip a while back, they expressed how they really wished I would have booked more time in Banff, saying it’s phenomenal. Well, her wish came true! Camping spots here sell out months in advance, but because they were getting snow in the higher elevations, people were cancelling their reservations. I was able to snag us last-minute two-night reservations at the campground! Man, I am so glad Glacier didn’t work out, because it has NOTHING on Banff.

    Driving through the Canadian Rockies is absolutely breathtaking and nothing like the mountains of Colorado. I really can’t explain their grandeur. Even though the weather was poor during our time here and it rained a lot, it was still so magical that I didn’t even care. I’m literally sitting in a soaking wet camp chair right now, smiling ear to ear. I am really sad to be leaving here tomorrow, and Calvin even asked if we could just stay here the rest of our trip. I would love to agree with him and just set up camp here for the remaining four weeks, but I’m sure there are other beautiful things waiting for us.

    Our first day in Banff, we got camp all set up in our electric fence-covered campground… eek! Despite the slight trepidation, we then went on a beautiful bike ride along an emerald green river before heading up to the infamous Lake Louise. It was absolutely breathtaking.

    Day 7 we went and explored some more incredible beauty. We saw Peyto Lake, which once again, was breathtaking. (Seriously, count how many times I say that word! It’s just true here!) All of the water is this incredible emerald green from the sediment coming down from the glaciers and turning into this super fine dust called rock flour. We also went to Bow Lake, which is also stunning. I think the towering mountains that surround all of these lakes are what really take the cake. They are beautiful and rugged, and it really just reminds you of how beautiful life is!

    I decided to take a cold plunge into Bow Lake! It is a glacier-fed lake, so the water was approximately 40°. The water was in a literal sense breathtaking, LOL! We stopped at many pull-offs and just took in the sights. That evening, we drove the Icefield Parkway until 10 PM, looking for bears, and we actually got to see two bears! We also spotted a beautiful grey fox on our drive into Lake Louise earlier.

    Day 8 was honestly kind of a bummer. We drove into Banff, which I didn’t realize was a literal city, and it was just filled with thousands of tourists walking the streets. I didn’t have cell service in Canada, so I was just trying to navigate by signs, and honestly, the signs weren’t great. I drove around Banff for thirty minutes looking for parking, but I couldn’t find a single spot available that the van could fit in. I broke down. I cried. I sobbed. I gave up. I stopped at a gas station and ate two sleeves of Oreos and a Coke. The gas station lady, seeing my distress, told me about getting an eSIM card that would allow my phone to work… $32 it does! I wish I would have known that on day one, because a good two hours of our day felt pretty wasted in the car.

    After that, we went and played at a park, and then headed back to Lake Louise in the evening for sunset. We just relaxed at our campfire and rode bikes all around the campground. Theo and I may or may not have gotten seriously lost on one of those rides looking for a trash can!

    Day 9 took the cake! Months ago, I booked a tour with a company in the area, and I am so incredibly glad I did. I was a little worried and almost cancelled yesterday, thinking, “I can drive my kids around and look at spots by myself.” So glad I decided to go with the tour guide.
    We loaded up into this grandpa’s Honda Pilot, and away we went on a 9-hour day of him driving us all over Banff and Yoho National Parks. Our first stop was Johnston Canyon, a really cool hike up to a beautiful waterfall, where you can even go through a little cave to view it! Then he took us to Morant’s Curve, which is where the iconic scene on the Canadian ten-dollar bill is – a beautiful curve with the Bow River and a train track running through it!

    From there, we headed up to Lake Louise for lunch, and then he took us to the Natural Bridge, an amazing area where the river has just pounded the rocks into this beautiful bridge formation. After that was Emerald Lake, another gorgeous lake surrounded by gigantic mountains. We wandered around there for a while before heading to Takakkaw Falls. And wow!! Talk about strength – this is glacier overflow that literally just barrels off of this gigantic mountain, and you really can’t even explain with words the power and strength that this waterfall has. Standing under it was just, wow!!! We also got completely dumped on with rain during that part of the trek, but it was so worth it. From there, we headed to our last stop, Cascade Ponds – more beautiful water and mountains. I know it sounds redundant, but wow… there is such a peace that comes with the absolute beauty of the Canadian Rockies! Cascade ponds was the boys highlight of the day because of all the ground squirrels!! They had so much fun chasing them around!

    The tour was such a good decision. I had been driving these kids around for 40 hours over the last nine days. It was so nice to let someone else take the wheel while I just completely soaked in all the beauty around me. And the kids were on their best behavior of the trip, since another adult was around! It was also so nice to have adult conversation for the first time in those nine days. While this trip has been absolutely incredible, I won’t lie… I’m a bit lonely. Consider this my official call for applications: now taking serious inquiries for a co-adventurer who can deal with my particular brand of shenanigans – like spontaneously deciding to take my three kids across the country for five weeks 🤣🤣🤣. Bonus points if you enjoy questionable navigation, sudden changes of plans, and don’t mind long drives or freezing lake plunges.

    For now, it’s just me and my boys exploring the world one little, or not-so-little, place at a time. And while it has been incredibly hard and the hours are long, man, the days are short, and I can’t believe we are already on Day 9. So many times I have caught myself saying, “I will NEVER DO this again…” But as I’m reminiscing on the last few days, my heart swells, and I can’t wait to do it all over again. Banff and Yoho National Parks might just be the things that saved this trip for me.

    We leave tomorrow, and I’m sitting here watching the kids just having the times of their lives riding their bikes down a hill on our campground, and there is so much more that I want to do. I need more days here, that’s for sure… maybe even weeks! But I guess that just means I will have to come back! The pictures do ZERO justice to the majesty of this place. Now we head to British Columbia for a night and then onto Washington! We’re dirty, we’re stinky, we are forgetting to brush our teeth too often, and it’s so freezing at night that you can see your breath, but man we are having fun. 💕

  • Wild Minds Wander: Day 5 – A Glacier Detour, Unexpected Respite, and Eyes on Lake Louise

    Yesterday brought a day of unexpected twists and significant challenges, truly testing my limits. While there were moments where the weight of it all brought tears, I’m finding strength in the necessary pivots and trying to embrace the lessons learned.

    We left our absolutely beautiful campsite in Flathead Lake, Montana, yesterday morning, and I just wished we could have lingered there, where everything felt so peaceful and the weather was cooperative. Our sights were set on Glacier National Park, full of optimism and a deep longing to finally experience it.

    Glacier’s Grandeur & A Forced Detour

    Upon arrival, signs warned that the Going-to-the-Sun Road would close at 8 PM due to a forecast of two feet of snow. We were eager to experience as much as we could before the closure. At first, it was just sprinkling, and we managed to get out at a couple of breathtaking lookouts. The parts of Glacier we did get to see were truly awe-inspiring, and I’m holding onto the hope that I can return in the future to see it in its full glory.

    Our first challenge came with finding parking for the hikes we’d hoped to do. It was incredibly busy, a testament to the park’s popularity, but it meant we drove around for thirty frustrating minutes before having to let go of those plans. As we climbed higher, the weather turned, and heavy fog obscured the views. The Going-to-the-Sun Road, being quite narrow, presented another test. While maneuvering to give another SUV space, I clipped a rock wall, damaging the van’s running board. It was a stark reminder of adapting to a new vehicle and added an unexpected layer of stress to the drive.

    After making it down the mountain, we checked out our booked campground. It was downpouring relentlessly. Given the forecast of continued heavy rain and six inches of snow at our site, and with the main road closing, our initial plans for three nights of hiking became impossible. We would have been confined to the tent or van for days, with only two very short trails accessible. I had booked these sites months ago, securing the last availability, and seeing many empty sites now offered a tiny bit of comfort as we sat in the visitor center parking lot, grappling with a very difficult decision.

    This unexpected turn with Glacier was a deep disappointment for me, especially as it was one of the experiences I was most looking forward to on this trip. To have it slip away felt like a profound loss.

    The Painful Pivot & A Long, Soaked Drive
    The boys weren’t too upset about leaving, but Harvey was understandably gutted to learn we’d have another 2.5 hours in the car to reach an affordable hotel. So, after much deliberation and some emotional moments, we made the brave choice to head north towards Canada. I drove those 2.5 hours through pouring rain, windshield wipers on full blast, utterly focused on getting us to a new safe haven.

    Adding to the day’s adventure, my phone decided not to work once we crossed into Canada! A quick stop at McDonald’s for dinner and Wi-Fi allowed me to book our next hotel. We finally rolled into a basic Super 8 in High River, Alberta, Canada, at 9 PM. It was a 12-hour driving day, pushing our total car time to over 28 hours in just five days! That’s quite a feat for little ones (and me!).

    Hitting a Breaking Point (and My Kids Holding Me Up)
    I had several moments yesterday where the emotional strain simply became too much. I arrived at the hotel and immediately just broke down crying. After stepping into the bathroom, the tears came again. Lying in bed, I had a panic attack, and in an incredibly powerful moment, Calvin lay down next to me and gently talked me through it, reminding me to breathe. This trip wasn’t supposed to be like this. It was meant to be life-changing, soul-altering. I’m lying here in this hotel bed, feeling utterly defeated and more disconnected than ever. This journey was supposed to be all about immersing ourselves in nature, and instead, here we are.

    Calvin is still navigating his own struggles, and this unpredictable pace is proving incredibly challenging for him. He is overstimulated and feels quite lost in his brain right now. It breaks my heart to see Calvin struggling so much, and it’s so hard for him. I just want to hold him close and tell him everything is going to be okay, but yesterday he was the one holding me and reassuring me. Theo, meanwhile, is still just Theo, with his own unique way of being.

    When we woke up yesterday morning, I felt this fleeting sense of peace, a quiet hope that everything would be okay, but within forty-five minutes, it vanished. Harvey was in tears about his back from the day before, barely able to walk. Theo took a hard fall at Walmart, holding his shoulder, and for a moment, I feared he’d broken something. Yesterday truly felt like one thing after another, relentlessly testing every ounce of my energy. I’m deeply tired and stretched thin.

    Unexpected Support & A Forced Pause
    After our significant disappointment with Glacier yesterday and all our plans being completely thrown off, I had several people reach out to me. They shared that their own experiences with Glacier often involved similar extreme weather or wildfire smoke, which, while still sad, did help me put our situation into a broader perspective.
    We have decided to take today as a much-needed rest day after the intense 12 hours in the car yesterday and 28 hours over the last five days.

    We spent three joyful hours soaking in the hotel pool this morning, letting the boys burn off some energy. Now, we’re cozy in bed, watching Matilda and enjoying some door-dashed lunch. The rain outside is extreme – not just sprinkling, but blowing sideways and feeling like ice, making outdoor play impossible. Just the other day, I wrote about how excited I was to finally be immersed in nature, and then this happened. It highlights how quickly plans can change, and the need to pivot.

    Looking Ahead: Embracing the Journey
    We’ll be here in this basic Super 8 for one more night, and then I’m looking forward to embracing the next leg of our journey. Despite the current conditions, I’ve been constantly checking the Parks Canada website, holding onto hope for a cancellation at a Lake Louise campground. We’re now planning to try and head up there two nights early if a spot opens, even though it’s currently snowing there!

    My perspective has definitely shifted; I’m choosing to stay positive and focus on the exciting possibilities ahead, even when they come with a dusting of snow. The upcoming week still shows rain for Banff, but it’s projected to be intermittent showers, a welcome change from yesterday and today’s relentless downpour and snow. This journey is certainly throwing a lot our way, but I know it has to get better.
    I’m pulling myself together, focusing on my amazing boys, and ready to tackle whatever comes next.

  • Wild Minds Wander: Day 4 – Beauty, Bears, and Bandaids for Buttholes

    Phew. Day 4. This morning we woke up in Butte, Montana, and spent about four hours in the car getting to Flathead Lake State Park. Wow. Absolutely beautiful, and so sad to be only spending one night there. Upon arrival at about 2 PM, we learned it’s about a quarter-mile walk to the campsite from the parking lot. Carrying the tent and all the gear to the site was “interesting,” but we made it, and the site was absolutely beautiful. We have an amazing view of the lake, and we got camp set up in record time. We are getting really, really good at it! I felt really guilty spending as much as I did on the Gazelle T4 tent, but I wanted something that could be set up quickly and easily, and it does just that! Today, the boys and I set the tent up in 1 minute and 36 seconds. More time to play and less time setting up camp!

    We went down to the water and all were instantly awestruck. The water was clear, and there were literally piles and piles of these beautiful, flat, rainbow-colored rocks. We played in the water for a bit and then headed nine minutes down the road for some thrills.

    Alpine Coasters, Cold Water, and a Confession

    We did the alpine coaster! None of the boys were quite tall enough to ride on their own, so I had to make the sacrifice of riding three separate times. 😉 It was definitely a good time, and all the boys absolutely loved it.

    We headed back to the campsite and made dinner. Tonight was hot dogs, cheesy rice, and then we tried one of the freeze-dried meals – it was okay. After dinner, we got our suits on and went down to the lake to swim. They all said they wanted to, but the water was fifty degrees, so I was the only one who actually got in and swam. It was surprisingly nice!

    We headed back to camp, got our hiking shoes and pajamas on, and went on a small pajama hike. All three of the boys ended up getting hurt – two requiring bandaids and one needs a chiropractor appointment – but all were in good spirits still.

    We then went down to the lake to watch the sunset and skipped rocks across the water for an hour. That’s where things took a turn. We had a really good heart-to-heart at the water, and I cried. I let them know how hard this trip has been for me, and I told them all about my major moment at Grand Teton years ago and how I was chasing that feeling again. But I confessed that I didn’t feel like I was going to get it because I was sitting in this super magical spot, but all I could feel was dread and sadness. It’s just been them constantly fighting for the last four days, and it’s all I can hear, and I’m so heartbroken and tired.Calvin and Harvey totally got it, and I really do think they did. They both got very quiet, Calvin snuggled up to me (this is a big deal, him showing emotions!), and everyone just stared into the beauty around them, like, “Oh yeah, that’s what we’re here for.” They were just in deep thought. Theo didn’t quite understand, but he saw me crying and kept bringing me pretty rocks to cheer me up. My heart. ❤️

    The Unfiltered Reality of Road Tripping with Littles

    I really hope our little heart-to-heart begins to make this trip easier and that they see what I’m trying to chase because these last four days have been rough. Like, writing that it’s only been four days feels crazy to me because it feels like a century. Today, I even threatened to go home and literally pretended to turn around and drive home because I was so freaking fed up. Not my proudest moment, and it didn’t even work because they were still buttholes.

    Calvin has autism and ADHD, and Theo has autism, and man, it’s just rough. When one of them is okay, the other isn’t, and more often than not, they just feed off each other, and it’s pure chaos. And then poor Harvey is just caught in it all.Although today was rough, once we were settled into the campground and had our heart-to-heart, things felt more peaceful.

    Shifting Gears: Back to Nature

    I’m happy to say we are done with all the fun, adventurous, “amusement park” type stuff for a while and will just be camping. We head to Glacier National Park and then Banff National Park. No more water parks and roller coasters. While they have been fun, I’m excited to get to what we intended this trip to be: deeply immersed in nature.

  • Wild Minds Wander: Days 1-3 – Road Trip Kicks Off with Long Drives, Bad Hot Springs, Baby Bears, and a Whole Lotta Realness!

    Phew. We did it. We are officially on the trip! It’s day three, and my oh my, do I have a lot to say. I thought I’d have time to blog at night, but dang, I’ve been crashing out! Tonight, I have a tiny window, so here’s the download on our first few wild and wonderful (and sometimes challenging) days.

    Day 1: Trading Short Drives for Long Swims. Our original plan for Day 1 was a quick three-hour hop to Scofield State Park in Utah. But then, the promise of the epic pool at Lava Hot Springs started calling! The boys and I had a family pow-wow: skip Scofield and drive straight to Lava Hot Springs for a whole day at the pool instead of just a half? It meant a seven-and-a-half-hour drive instead of three. They voted to drive all the way through, and so we did! It ended up being about nine hours in the car after potty breaks, a Trader Joe’s stop, and a gas station visit, but they did awesome, and we all loved the decision we made.

    The Lava Hot Springs “Lava Campground” itself was absolutely amazing. It was super cute and retro-themed, with an old-school playground that had all the “risky” toys people are afraid kids will get hurt on these days. My boys loved it! Our tent spot was literally feet from the river, with a cute little cascading waterfall. I got to listen to the water flow all night long, which was so nice and peaceful… almost. The campground was RIGHT next to a big highway, and we could hear cars driving by all night, especially the semis. I got used to it, and it was okay, but it definitely didn’t allow for the most peaceful sleep. It was clean though, and you couldn’t beat the location. We got camp set up in less than thirty minutes after a quick (and necessary!) trip to Ace Hardware because, of course, we forgot our tent stakes. 🤣 Rookie mistake number one!

    Day 2: Pool Dreams and Hot Spring Nightmares. Day 2 started with breakfast at camp, then straight to the pool! And let me tell you, it was everything we hoped for. Olympic-sized outdoor pool with high dives, four different huge slides, two kiddie slides, plus an indoor kiddie area, a climbing wall, more diving boards, and a hot tub. We spent over five hours there. It was a total blast!We went back to camp for dinner, then headed back into town for a hot springs trip. And well… the hot springs themselves? Truly awful. I’ve been to a lot of hot springs, so I feel like I’m a qualified judge, and these were truly disappointing. There wasn’t a single pool cooler than 102 degrees. No one had their whole bodies submerged because it was just so hot, and there were no cooler pools to cool yourself down in. We stayed for less than twenty minutes and left. We had planned to shower there and were extremely disappointed to find out they didn’t have family showers, and the only option was to let the boys shower in the girls’ locker room in a community shower that had a bunch of little girls in it. No thank you! We left and showered at the campground, which I didn’t want to do, but oh well! Definitely don’t recommend the actual hot springs. We went back to camp, the kids played on the playground, and then we crashed!

    Day 3: Bears, Bugs, and Bad Burgers in Butte. We woke up this morning and headed towards Butte, Montana! We found a really cool surprise at a rest stop called Devil’s Half Acre. It was a half-acre of land you could walk around, with informational signs about lava that burst over 4100 years ago, leaving scars and hardened lava all over the land. The boys thought it was so neat, and it turned into a fun little unexpected stop.

    Then, we decided to take an hour detour to Yellowstone Bear World. And let me tell you, it was absolutely amazing!!! It started with about a twenty-minute drive-through, seeing bears, elk, bison, and more. They even had white elk, which are extremely rare – only about 1 in 6 million elk are white! The bears were so cool and were within feet of the vehicle. After the drive, admission includes a small amusement area with about five rides that the kids loved. They also had an area with three baby bears! We watched them for a solid twenty minutes and honestly could have watched them all day. They were playing and wrestling, and it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. They had a petting zoo where a deer walked right up to us – and the deer had just had babies, so we got to see two-day-old fawns! They also had a Jurassic area with animatronic dinosaurs, which the boys thought was really neat to walk through. It was about a two-hour drive to Yellowstone Bear World, and we stayed for four hours before another four-hour drive to Butte.

    By the time we hit Butte, I was so tired. We hadn’t eaten out the whole trip, so we decided to splurge. We stopped at a burger and milkshake place. The food looked good online, but when my mushroom Swiss burger came with canned mushrooms, I knew we had made a mistake. That was a $55 regret! 😭🤣When I started booking this trip months ago, I could find nowhere to camp as a good middle ground between Lava Hot Springs and our next stop. I spent hours researching and couldn’t find anything worthy. So, a few weeks ago, I gave up and booked a super affordable hotel that looked super nice. And it came through! It is so nice. The boys swam in the pool for an hour. We took really good showers, and I even managed to wash all of our dirty laundry. The boys are watching TV, and I’m finally writing this blog post. It’s definitely a trip to see them zoned out on TV, especially after we’ve already spent over 15 hours in the car, completely screen-free! They’ve kept themselves entertained with reading, looking at activity books, coloring, games like finding all fifty license plates, Harvey reading us fun facts about all the states we see, a scavenger hunt game, taking pictures, listening to music… and, of course, some fighting!

    The Realities of the Road (and What’s Next!)I’m so tired that I hope I sleep like a rock tonight because the next week doesn’t look pretty. Apparently, winter decided to come back to Glacier, and it’s only going to be in the fifties with nights in the thirties and raining all weekend, plus four inches of snow expected on Friday night. Glad I packed the winter clothes!

    The kids are doing pretty good overall. Calvin, however, is definitely struggling. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I’d hoped he would level out, but we’re at the end of Day 3, and he has not leveled out; he has gotten worse. He is overstimulated and totally lost in his brain right now. I’m really hoping he realizes this is the new normal for a little bit and can come to relax. This is a lot, and I think I will write a whole separate blog post about his experience soon.In these first three days, there’s something I’ve been incredibly grateful for: the patience and help of Harvey, my oldest. He has helped me set up camp and tear it down and has really taken on a lot of responsibility. I am so incredibly proud of him. Something else that has made this trip absolutely amazing is the electric cooler. I felt bad for how much I spent on it and on the generator to keep it running, but OMG, that thing has been worth its weight in gold!

    The next week is going to be interesting, and I may not have much cell reception, so this may be the last blog post for a bit. I’ll keep you updated as soon as I can! Until then!

  • Wild Minds Wander: T-Minus 12 Hours – The Wild Mix of Fear, Tears, and a Ford Transit Van

    Phew. Tomorrow is the day. In less than twelve hours, we hit the road. Over the last few months, I’ve definitely felt those “Oh my God, what am I doing?!” moments. I know I’m crazy. This is definitely crazy. And for the past few days, I’d actually felt… fine. Like I had it all together. But today? Phew. It hit me like a bag of rocks. I’ve shed a couple of tears that I’ve been holding back. Not full-blown meltdowns, but I did have one moment where I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.

    Packing for something like this is just so incredibly stressful, and the reality of it all truly struck me today. I’m going to miss my family. I’m going to miss my bed. I’m going to miss my bath and shower. I’m crying as I’m typing this because it’s truly hit me: I am doing this, and honestly, I’m scared. I feel knots in my tummy like a little kid all over again, and I can’t believe I’m about to embark on this.

    Saying goodbye to Steven, knowing he won’t see the kids for five weeks. Leaving behind their cousin, who they’ve never been more than a week without. I have a lump in my throat. But then, amidst all of that, something really cool happened. Something truly, unbelievably cool.

    Yesterday, my mom showed up in the driveway with… a Ford Transit Van! If you know my mom, you know she doesn’t do anything simple; it’s always over the top. I literally didn’t even know how to react because how do you react to a gift like that?! My first words were, “OMG Mom, you are a crazy person!” And she totally admitted it, laughing.

    Turns out, during all this planning, I kept thinking how scary this must be from a mom’s perspective. I’m loading up her grandkids and taking them into the wilderness with wild animals and, yes, “scary people” for five weeks. And she wasn’t saying anything, didn’t react much, just generally agreed I was crazy. Well, come to find out, this whole time she thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown and cancel the trip. Yesterday, she realized I wasn’t going to, and was actually leaving. Her “rational” self drove down to Ford and bought the van! (It’s not mine to keep, but it’s going to be a family adventure van that anyone can use!).

    This completely changes the dynamic of this trip. I’m so incredibly grateful and thankful to her. Now, the boys and I can take all our stuff without feeling overly cramped. I mean, it definitely would have fit in my minivan (that’s my sarcasm, Mom, don’t worry, it absolutely would NOT have!). More importantly, we now have a place we can sleep in if we get too scared outside in the tent. 🤣 Plus, I’m beyond thrilled that this means we can actually bring our bikes!

    Speaking of the kids, while Harvey and Theo seem to be handling this countdown well, Calvin, my seven-year-old diagnosed with ADHD and autism, had his nervous breakdown today. He thrives on schedule and predictability, and past vacations have often led to complete meltdowns. Over the past week, as we’ve gotten closer, I’ve noticed him getting a little more dysregulated each day, and today was just a complete mess. Name-calling, hitting, punching, kicking, and, of course, lots and lots of tears that ended with him admitting he was scared and all his worries about how chaotic and unorganized it all felt to him. It’s a stark reminder of the unique dynamic this trip holds for us. I’m really hoping once we are on the road and settle into somewhat of a rhythm, it will get easier, but phew. It definitely adds a whole other dynamic to the trip. 😭

    In a truly Kyli-esque move, amidst all this trip prep and chaos, I also managed to buy over 30 plants at a local nursery’s huge sale yesterday! And today, I even got a good chunk of them planted. Because what’s a massive road trip without adding MORE! Thank you, Steven, for reluctantly agreeing to finish the rest while we’re gone!

    I’m tired. It’s my last night in my bed for five weeks. I’m thankful for my crazy mom and the van. I hope I sleep well tonight, and hoping that getting this all out and off my chest will help me sleep with a little less heavy of a heart tonight. Oh boy. I can’t believe I’m doing this… Bon voyage!

  • Wild Minds Wander: Five Days Out – The Overwhelm is REAL (and Bears Like Pistachios?!) 🤯

    Hey everyone, Kyli here. And if there’s one word that defines my current state, it’s STRESS. 🤯We leave in T-minus five days for our “Wild Minds Wander” adventure, and honestly? I am so overwhelmingly stressed it’s not even funny. My to-do list feels like a mountain, my shopping list is endless, and the packing? Don’t even get me started. I feel like I’m drowning, completely frozen and not knowing where to begin. I got home from a much-needed girls’ weekend in Steamboat Springs on Monday night, and instead of feeling refreshed, I’m just at a standstill.My body is literally screaming with the stress. I feel inflamed, bloated, and my period is nine days late (and no, I’m definitely not pregnant!). It’s like my nervous system is in full fight-or-flight mode and doesn’t know what to do. I keep replaying everything in my head, convinced I’m forgetting crucial things, and seriously starting to think, “Holy crap, what did I sign up for?!”

    And as if I needed more reasons to panic, my girls’ weekend came with an unwelcome surprise. A bear broke into my minivan and ate a bag of pistachios! 🐻🌰 Where I live, we’ve never had to worry about bears like this. When we camp locally, we just toss food in a grocery bag in the car and it’s fine. Well, apparently, that’s not how it works. Apparently, food needs to be bear-proof even inside your vehicle. That little incident just compounded my stress about camping in the wild, adding another layer of “what if” to my already overflowing plate.

    Then there’s the logistical nightmare of fitting everything into the van. Seriously, how is it all going to fit?! I ordered a hitch for a cargo carrier, hoping it would be my savior, but it arrived with a broken box and missing hardware. And of course, the replacement still hasn’t shown up. My slight panic is starting to feel a lot less “slight.”

    The funniest (and sweetest, but still stress-inducing) moment happened today when I asked my five-year-old, Theo, what he was most excited about for the trip. His answer? “When we stay in ho-e-tells!” 😭😭😭 He pronounces it with such adorable innocence, and it’s the cutest thing ever, but it also shows his excitement level for tent camping. 🙄.

    Sunday will likely arrive and I will still not even start packing, because right now, I’m just frozen. The thought of pre-making and freezing meals, figuring out exact quantities, and all the food logistics is just a big, overwhelming “AHHHHHHHHHHH!” Like should I even do food?!?

    Life. Ugh. It just keeps throwing curveballs, doesn’t it? It feels like I’ve been knocked down time and time again these past few weeks. This adventure we’ve been planning is a chance to breathe, to recalibrate, and to find joy in the wildness. It’s the belief that the fresh air, the changing scenery, and the simple presence with my boys in nature will help put things back into perspective, heal some of these raw spots, and remind me of the beauty and resilience that still exists.


    Honestly, as excited as I am, I’m also super nervous. Every day we get closer, I still can’t quite believe we are actually going to do this. But deep down, amidst all this stress and chaos, I know it’s going to be okay. This trip is going to be life-changing for us all. I’m counting on it.

  • Wild Minds Wander: When Life Knocks You Down- Finding Hope

    Hey everyone, Kyli here. And if I’m being honest, right now, “Wild Minds Wander” feels a lot more like “Wild Mind is Weary.” The last few weeks have been… a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Life has been coming at me full force, and I’m feeling pretty battered and bruised. But through it all, the thought of hitting the open road with my boys remains a flickering light, a promise of something to pull me back up.

    It feels like one thing after another. Almost three weeks ago, I had to have my front tooth pulled out and get a bone graft. Then, just two weekends ago, I ended up in the ER with a sudden, searing gallbladder attack. Just when I thought I might catch a breath, last weekend, we were rushing our beloved dog to the animal ER. On Wednesday, my sweet girl, my best friend, my first dog I got on my own 14 years ago – my baby, my princess, my angel – we had to say goodbye to her.

    The grief is just shattering. I never imagined she wouldn’t be doing this trip with us. She was such a part of our family, and honestly, a part of my entire adult life. She seemed fine, and then she wasn’t. There’s just an empty space in my heart where she used to be, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around her not being here for the adventure we planned.

    Beyond the heartache, May in education is always a whirlwind, and this year is no exception. Between work demands and my boys having a big race an hour and a half away two days in a row this weekend, I’m just running on fumes. I’m tired. I’m stressed. My brain feels full to bursting.

    Yet, amidst all this chaos, we did manage to squeeze in a practice night with the tent a couple of nights ago. The weather forecast was perfect, calm and clear. Of course, the moment I pulled out the tent, the wind started blowing like crazy! I actually found myself laughing, thinking, “Well, Kyli, at least you know you won’t always have ideal conditions to set up!” It was a good, albeit hilarious, reminder of the reality of tent life.

    But then came the actual sleeping part. Despite investing in a good sleeping pad (because if I’m going to be on the ground for thirty-plus days, I need to be comfortable!), I just didn’t sleep well. I stayed super warm, which was great, but I woke up exhausted and sore. My mattress topper in the camper is looking mighty tempting right now, and I’m seriously considering finding room for it if I possibly can.

    Life, huh? It just keeps throwing curveballs, doesn’t it? It feels like I’ve been knocked down time and time again these past few weeks. This trip, the “Wild Minds Wander” adventure we’ve been planning, it’s not just a vacation anymore. It’s a lifeline. It’s a hope. It’s the belief that the fresh air, the changing scenery, and the simple joy of being present with my boys in nature will help pick me back up, heal some of these raw spots, and remind me of the beauty and resilience that still exists.

    Honestly, as excited as I am, I’m also super nervous. Every day we get closer, I still can’t quite believe we are actually going to do this. But I’m ready to find that solace on the road. Wish us luck, and send all your positive vibes for smooth travels and finding some peace amidst the journey.

  • Wild Minds Wander: Beyond the Bucket List – Learning to Breathe and Wander

    Hey everyone! Kyli back on Wild Minds Wander. As we inch closer to our June 16th departure, my mind has been swirling not just with logistics (still a work in progress, let’s be honest!), but with the deeper intentions behind this epic journey. You know the big “why” – to explore, to connect with nature, and to create lasting memories with my three incredible boys. But today, I wanted to share a more personal reflection on what I hope this trip will be, and what I’ve learned from past attempts at the “perfect” family adventure.

    As I mentioned in my last post, the desire to see the grandeur of the national parks has been with me for years. When Steven had the opportunity to work in Jackson Hole back in 2021, I jumped at the chance to bring the boys and explore Grand Teton and Yellowstone on my own while he worked. That week held moments of pure magic – the breathtaking vista of Jenny Lake, the joy of watching my little ones play by its shores, a moment so profound it’s now etched on my skin.

    However, that same trip also came with its challenges and a valuable, albeit tear-filled, lesson. I had this mental checklist of all the iconic viewpoints and must-see spots, and I was determined to hit them all. The result? A lot of stressed-out driving, restless kids being shuttled from one scenic overlook to the next, and a feeling that we were missing the very essence of the places we were visiting. I was so focused on the destination that I forgot to appreciate the journey, and more importantly, the experience through my children’s eyes.

    Then came that unexpected moment of grace. A car-ride meltdown led to an impromptu stop by a seemingly unremarkable lake. What happened next was pure, unadulterated childhood joy. My three boys, then just 5, almost 4, and 1.5, transformed this simple body of water into their own personal playground. They splashed, they threw rocks, they laughed – they simply played. And in that unscripted, unplanned moment, everything shifted. I sat there, watching them, tears welling up (even now as I type this!), and realized that this – this simple, joyful connection with nature, on their own terms, was the most beautiful and memorable part of our time there. It ended up being their favorite memory from the entire trip, and I practically had to drag them away when it was time to leave. That experience has become a guiding principle for this “Wild Minds Wander.” I’m consciously reminding myself that it’s not about conquering a checklist of must-see spots. Though, let’s be honest, it’s a constant battle against the endless stream of “Top 10 Must-See!” reels and Facebook posts filling my feed!

    It’s so easy to get caught up in the pressure to experience everything that everyone else deems essential. But I’m trying to remember that for my kids, and perhaps for all of us, wonder can be found anywhere – especially if water is involved! It’s about slowing down, being present, and truly soaking in the moments as they unfold, even the seemingly ordinary ones. It’s about embracing the detours, both literal and figurative, and trusting that the most meaningful experiences often arise from the unexpected.

    So, as we prepare to hit the road, my intention is to balance our planned itinerary with plenty of room for spontaneity. To prioritize moments of connection and exploration over rigid schedules. To see these incredible landscapes not just through my adult eyes, but through the fresh, unburdened perspectives of my three wild minds. My hope is that this journey will be less about checking off boxes and more about breathing in the beauty, embracing the chaos, and creating a collection of cherished memories that truly capture the spirit of our “Wild Minds Wander.” The adventure, in its most authentic form, awaits.