2018 in Review and Goals for the New Year

  In spite of my not having worked the first three months of 2018 (against my will, for once), financially the Warckens crushed it last year. I didn’t start working until the first week of April, and just to show how much of a sugar mama I am, I made more in my first two […]

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How Much Would It Cost NOT To Work This Summer?

  I’m nearing the end of my contract- only five weeks left! As always, when we’re facing the end we have to decide whether I’m going to extend, or if I’m going to find another nursing contract elsewhere, or if we’re going to take a few months off to do what we really love, which […]

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Teton Crest Trail: North Fork Cascade out Paintbrush Canyon

Be sure to check out Death Canyon to Alaska Basin and Teton Creek to North Fork first!   Day 5: North Fork Cascade group site to String Lake Outlet trailhead, 12.3 miles, hot, cold, windy, rainy. Alarm went off at 5:00a again but no one could quite manage it. Rough morning for everyone and our […]

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Teton Crest Trail: Teton Creek to North Fork Cascade

Be sure to check out Death Canyon to Alaska Basin first!   Day 3: Teton Creek to Sunset Lake, 2.5 miles, warm and intermittent rain all day. Slept in until 7:45a, and a slow morning. I made my favorite trail meal- bacon and pancakes. We pack in pre-cooked bacon, complete pancake mix, a bit of coconut […]

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Teton Crest Trail: Death Canyon to Alaska Basin

Once upon a time, eight best friends went for a walk in the mountains. This is their story. Which I know to be true because I kept a hiking journal. And I backtraced it.   Scene: Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming Characters: Greg, Jamie, Ryan, Jamie (another Jamie), Sky, Jordan, Merik, and Blake   Prologue: […]

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Teton Crest Trail: Backpacking in National Parks

Before we were married Greg and I traveled around the world enjoying thirteen countries, some pretty solid friends, and each others’ constant company for nearly six months. My Mom said “That’s great! Now what the hell are you going to do for a honeymoon?” That’s easy- go hiking in Montana. We put the word out that we […]

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Acadia National Park: Blackwoods

Leftover pizza for breakfast. People always ask how we keep our food cold. Well we have a small cooler, but it becomes a hassle always finding ice for it. It’s a bit too small for a regular bag of ice so we just fill up two Nalgenes with ice at a gas station if there’s […]

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Acadia National Park: Seawall

National parks in the east are few and far between compared to the west, yet Acadia is within a day’s drive of 25% of the nation’s population. Isn’t that insane? Insanely busy. Acadia National Park was established in 1919 and encompasses only 46,000 acres, yet manages to host over two million visitors each year, mostly […]

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Big Ten Reasons Everyone Should Visit Kruger National Park

10. The weather. The days are hot and sunny, the mornings and nights like dreams. We kept an eye on the outside temp during our drives and the hottest we personally saw was 100°F, but heard it got up to 105° that particular day. The mornings and evenings were 65°- 75°- seriously perfect. We never […]

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Kruger National Park- Sable Hide

Final drive- H9 to Phalaborwa Gate via Sable Hide. Shoestrings Airport Lodge. It seemed like we saw more elephants from Letaba to Phalaborwa than the rest of the park combined. One group had over fifty pachyderms! And it was there I spotted (pun intended) our very first leopard. I was in shock; I couldn’t even speak. […]

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