This is an index of all vacations we’ve taken together. What separates these from other adventures is that they were at least one night away, whether in a hotel, camping, or visiting people. Click on the link to see all posts related to each specific vacation. Some of these have not yet been blogged about, I’m just listing them for the sake of remembering all the places we’ve gone together – whether we were “together” at the time or not!
2008
July
• Juarez, Mexico [NCBC youth group missions trip]
2009
March
• Juarez, Mexico [NCBC family missions trip]
June
• Czech Republic [we weren’t actually traveling together, but we were there at the same time and hid notes for each other in Prague so it counts]
2010
July
• Acuña, Mexico [NCBC youth group missions trip]
November
• Nashville, TN [8 Days of Hope trip]
2012 [dating!]
March
• Spring Break 2012 [Jess visits Curtis in Tucson, AZ; mission trip to Chinle, AZ]
May
• New Bern, NC [8 Days of Hope trip]
June
• Des Moines, IA [Curtis meets Jess’ grandparents]
November
• Tucson, AZ [Jess + family visit Curtis for Thanksgiving]
December
• Christmas in Michigan [Jess joins Curtis’ family for Christmas in homes across the state]
2013 [engaged/married!]
July
• Houghton, MI [Curtis’ sister’s wedding weekend]
July – August
• HONEYMOON! [tour of the Great Lakes]
August
• IA-AZ [moving to Tucson]
October
• Albuquerque, NM [International Balloon Festival]
• San Diego, CA [Jess’ 21st birthday weekend]
December
• Christmas in Iowa [with side trips to Michigan, Illinois, & Missouri]
2014
March
• Spring Break 2014 [our Great Southwestern Adventure to AZ, CA, NV, UT, CO, and NM]
April
• Flagstaff, Jerome, and Cottonwood, AZ [with friends for letterboxing event]
May
• week in Iowa [and our first 27 hour continuous road trip]
June
• Flagstaff, AZ [hiking Mt. Humphreys and touring attractions all over the area]
July
• Santa Barbara, CA and Joshua Tree National Park [first anniversary trip!]
August
• Chiricahua National Monument [camping, hiking, and visiting Fort Bowie]
• Prescott, AZ [camping and hiking – last hurrah for summer 2014]
November
• Sedona, AZ [weekend trip with my mom!]
• Supai [hiking 44 miles in 3 days – trip of a lifetime!]
December
• Christmas in Iowa [with side trip to Michigan, and all the car troubles you could ever want]
2015
February
• Phoenix, AZ [hiking 15 miles in the Superstitions, visiting family & friends, finding out we were going to be Uncle Curtis & Aunt Jessie!]
March
• Spring Break 2015 [Gorgeous Gorges trip all over Southern Utah. #gorgeousgorgesSB2015]
April
• Grand Canyon [hiking it down & back in a day!]
June
• Door County, Wisconsin [early 2nd anniversary trip]
July
• South Dakota [Jess and family only…Curtis was in OCS]
September
• New England trip [OCS graduation weekend featuring Newport, RI; Concord and Boston, MA; Green Mountains of Vermont; and Saratoga, NY]
• Colorado Adventure [moving from IA – AZ and taking our sweet time in the Rockies]
October
• Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness [our first backpacking trip/Jess’ 23rd birthday]
November
• Supai [return hike to Havasu Falls]
December
• Saguaros to Palmettos [moving from AZ – SC by way of Arkansas, Iowa, and Michigan. #saguaros2palmettos]
2016
January
• MLK weekend getaway [Congaree National Park + SC state parks]
February
• Savannah, GA [camping on Hunting Island & touring all around Beaufort and Savannah]
• Valentine’s weekend getaway [Trip to Georgia’s Golden Isles; St. Augustine & Palm Coast, FL/last hurrah before school started]
March
• Crowder Mountain, NC [weekend getaway for hiking & history]
April
• Augusta, GA [weekend getaway for hiking & history]
May
• Tucson, AZ [Mitchell & Julianna’s wedding weekend]
• Upstate SC [Memorial weekend getaway to go hiking and exploring the mountains of SC]
June
• Columbia, SC [weekend getaway to tour downtown Columbia & random attractions along the way]
July
• Blue Ridge Mountains [4th of July weekend getaway to the mountains of NC. #redwhiteandblueridge2016]
• Wilmington, NC [third anniversary trip]
August
• Low Country to Upstate [traveling on our move from South Carolina to New York by way of Iowa and Michigan. #LowCountry2Upstate]
September
• High Peaks of the Adirondacks [Labor Day Weekend getaway for hiking and backpacking in the Adirondacks. 5+ peaks conquered over the weekend!]
• Vermont and New Hampshire Trip [Exploring the Green Mountains in VT and the White Mountains in NH by way of hiking and camping in them for a week]
September – October
• Fall to the Rising Sun Trip [Spending over 3 weeks camping, hiking, touring, and road tripping through Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. #FallToTheRisingSun]
November
• Montreal, QC [Thanksgiving weekend spent exploring Montreal]
2017
January
• Catskill Mountains [Weekend getaway for winter hiking & visiting historical sites]
February
• Finger Lakes [Weekend getaway to explore the Finger Lakes region]
March
• Mason-Dixon Line [Weekend getaway to for hiking & historic sites in Southern PA, Maryland, and West Virginia]
April
• Western Adirondacks [Weekend getaway for hiking to fire towers, visiting Lake Ontario, and camping in the Adirondacks]
May
• Adirondacks – Tupper Lake Area [Camping in the Adirondacks and finishing the Fire Tower Challenge]
June
• Midwest Trip [A 2 week vacation to visit our families in Michigan and Iowa]
August – September
• Moving to Hawaii [A month long coast-to-coast road trip from Connecticut to Oregon, then flying to Hawaii]
2018
January
• Maui [Backpacking Haleakala National Park and driving around the entire Eastern part of the island]
August
• Kauai [Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, and visiting as many attractions as possible in 3 days]
December
• The Big Island of Hawaii [Backpacking, hiking, and visiting National Park sites all around the island]
2019
August
• DC and Midwest Trip [Curtis’ PNEO interview in Washington DC, followed by roadtripping West to see our families]
September
• Ketchikan, Alaska [Our first port call]
• San Diego, California [Our second port call]
2020
January
• Maui and Lanai [New Year’s island hop hiking in Maui and Lanai]
July-August
• Island to Inland [Our PCS road trip from Hawaii to Nebraska]
August
• IA/MN/SD Tri-State Camping Trip [Weekend road trip around SE South Dakota, SW Minnesota, and NW Iowa]
September
• Labor Day Weekend [Visiting Jess’ family in IA and road tripping across Southern Iowa]
October
• Northeast Nebraska Road Trip [County counting and visiting different attractions around NE Nebraska and SE South Dakota]
November
• Thanksgiving [Visiting Jess’ family]
December
• Christmas [Visiting Curtis’ family in Michigan and Jess’ family in Iowa]
2021
March
• Northeast Kansas Road Trip [County counting, camping, and hiking in Northeast Kansas]
• Sandhill Crane Migration [Road tripping to Kearney, NE to see the spring migration of the Sandhill Cranes]
April
• Easter [Visiting Jess’ family in Iowa for a long Easter weekend]
• Backpacking the South Dakota Centennial Trail [Backpacking 128 miles across the Black Hills of South Dakota, from Wind Cave National Park to Bear Butte State Park]
May
• Northwestern Nebraska [Road tripping around Western Nebraska; hiking, camping, and visiting scenic areas]
June
• Vacation with Jess’ Family [Road tripping to spend time with siblings in Oregon and Washington, then visiting national parks on the drive home]
July
• Virginia [Road tripping to & from the East coast for a work trip, including state high points, national parks, and historic sites]
August
• Bighorn Mountains [Road trip to Wyoming for hiking, camping, and kayaking in the Bighorn National Forest]
September
• Northwest Iowa [Finishing our goal of visiting all 99 counties in Iowa & visiting family over Labor Day weekend]
• Montana [Road trip to Great Falls, Montana via the Dakotas for a work trip]
October
• Minnesota, Wisconsin, & Iowa [Visiting family, high pointing, and enjoying fall foliage along Lake Superior]
November
• Thanksgiving [Celebrating with family in Iowa]
• Tucson, AZ [Road trip to the Southwest for a work trip]
December
• Iowa & Michigan [Home for Christmas]
2022
March
• Southeast Road Trip [State High Points, National Park Sites, hiking, camping, and kayaking around the South, and visiting my 48th, 49th, and 50th states!]
April
• Iowa [Weekend visiting family and hiking & sightseeing on the way home]
May
• Uintah Basin Road Trip [Hiking, kayaking, and camping around Flaming Gorge and Dinosaur National Monument]
• Valentine, Nebraska [Camping & hiking in Smith Falls State Park and kayaking a section of the Niobrara River]
• Iowa [Memorial Day Weekend at home with family & celebrating my sister’s graduation]
June
• Iowa [Visiting family for my sister’s graduation party]
August
• Iowa [Visiting grandparents & Jess’ family and seeing some of the Bridges of Madison County]
September
• Iowa [Labor Day Weekend with family]
• North Dakota [Work trip to Minot, ND with some hiking, camping, and kayaking on the way]
October
• Southwestern Vacation [Road trip to Utah/Arizona celebrating Curtis getting out of the Navy]
November
• Wilmington, NC [Road trip to NC for the first few weeks of training for Curtis’ new job]
2023
January
• Southeastern Appalachians [a week in Wilmington, NC for work, followed by 3 weeks of hiking, kayaking, and camping in the Appalachians in NC, TN, GA, and AL]
February
• Ottawa, IL [Curtis’ first work assignment, with lots of time spent hiking to waterfalls in Starved Rock State Park]
March
• Oswego, NY [Second work assignment, featuring hikes along Lake Ontario and time spent learning enjoying the town and learning its history]
April
• Northeastern US [Time spent hiking and relaxing in Upstate NY, VT, NH, and MA while Charlotte recuperated from surgery]
May
• King of Prussia, PA [Third work assignment, and enjoying time in Valley Forge NHP, visiting Philadelphia, and buying our new van!]
June
• Canadian Rockies Road Trip [our first vacation in our van, driving through 10 states and 4 Canadian provinces, visiting 4 Canadian national parks, and driving as far as Hyder, Alaska]
July
• Wilmington, NC [Spending 3 weeks in the Southern heat while Curtis completed more training with his company]
August
• Blue Ridge Parkway [slow traveling up the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia up to Shenandoah NP and into WV]
• Michigan [time with Curtis’ family, road tripping to the Thumb and Upper Peninsula, and finishing visiting all 84 counties in the state]
September
• Wilmington, NC [another road trip to the East coast for a week of training]
• Appalachian Mountains [spending two weeks road tripping through the Appalachians in NC, VA, WV, and MD between assignments in NC and PA]
October
• Lancaster, PA [Curtis’ fourth assignment, spending 3 weeks in Southeastern PA along the Susquehanna River]