if you think you are a country boy/girl….move to alaska- they will show you what it really means to be country! hungting, fishing, 4wheeling. they don’t buy fish…they catch it. they don’t buy meat…they hunt it. one thing that surprised me about alaska is that i have never seen so much greenery in my life. it felt so ironic to be walking through the rich green land of alaska in jeans and a shirt, and yet be surrounded on all sides by snow capped mountains in the distance. things like this apparently exist.

another thing i learned exists….reindeer. yup, listen up people. reindeer are NOT an urban legend.

we hiked mountains, walked on glaciers, and relaxed on a boat. why not hang out at the top of a mountain with three of the most amazing people…when it’s 11pm and still light out. we had many roadtrips with the most ridiculous of adventures on the way to our destinations. i will never be the same after andrea’s mexican mother made us homemade enchiladas. there was kaladi brothers coffee and alaskan white beer. smoked salmon that was caught, marinated and smoked by my friend’s dad himself. i can now say i have had Alaskan King Crab legs….from Alaska :) there was cherry coke and vodka w/chocolate ice cream floats. if you get nothing else from this post, please just go to your kitchen make these asap.

and then there was that time i got stuck in a ditch.

this was a last minute trip (this seems to be the trend with me) that i went on with my friend Andrea, her husbad Michael, and son Lennon. you see she grew up in Alaska and her family is still there. so not only was this an awesome trip because it was Alaska (duh), but also because we got to spend the week living like Alaskans as opposed to staying at a hotel and having no idea what to do. we had to carry a gun all week to protect us from wild bears- which alone is so different from home. there was Gatorade Lake. which really isn’t a lake made of gatorade at all…but is actually a lake made from the a melting glacier. however walking up to it you would never know the difference and so this is what i named it. you’ll see what i mean :)

the simplicity of doing nothing but feeling the cool alaskan breeze is enough to make me want to go back. i loved every moment. from the coffee when we woke up, to our morning workouts outside, being covered in mud on a daily basis, and overlooking the horizon as the sun finally started to go down. there was so much laughing and having silly fun…i miss it already.

i definitely can’t wait to go back and continue on the adventure….for now i invite you to take a look back with me :)

To see more of my fun travel adventures check out:

Colombia:: La Boquilla + Cartagena

Colombia:: El Rodadero + Barranquilla

Colombia:: Santa Marta

Colombia:: Taganga

Colombia:: Medellin

matanuska glacier:: alaska::

favorites::

1- our hostal and all the great people we met in it

2- going to an underground salsa bar. the kind of place that has no sign on the door, and you would think was just a random abandoned building…until you go inside and suprise….salsa bar!

3- people from medellin officially have the prettiest eyes of all of colombia. i kept seeing deep greens, blues, hazel everywhere i went.

4- the cute 70 yr. old man at the salsa bar that was hands down the best dancer i have ever seen. (and he knew it :-) )

5- the bustling city…reminded me of a small manhatten….

6- finally getting to take a break from the extreme heat and relax a bit in the “city of eternal spring”

7- going on a tour bus completely in spanish….where the  tour lady spoke so freakin fast neither of us had any idea what she was saying….more on that later….

8- watching the World Cup in south america was a completely different experience…the bars were packed with people hours before the game!  thankfully we managed to find a small bar that no one had discovered yet!

8- oh you know….paragliding over the entire city of medellin. yeah, that was cool ;-)

so we left the carribean coast and headed for the mountains for our last days in colombia. medellin was like being in an entirely different country. it’s a trendy city whose nickname is “the city of eternal spring” this is because the weather there is perfect and constant year round. it’s nearness to the equator makes it warm with a slight breeze and really just fantastic weather to walk the city around in.  go up the mountains some and you find miles and miles of cows, horses, huge farms, cowboy hats, and paragliding!

but first…Casa de Sol….

such a fun place to stay, and made me miss my days at VCU were art like this surrounded you everywhere….

1- belgium friends 2- australian friends 3- australian and scotland with wisconsin :) 

more obleas! only this time filled with mora….similar to blackberry….

shaved mango….topped with condensed milk, cinnamon, honey…..and sprinkles! any fruit topped with sprinkles gets a thumbs up in my book.

this was a very important church in medellin that we learned about in our tour. like i mentioned, the tour was in spanish and the lady spoke freakishly fast. so we both concluded that the tour lady said this church is famous because it is the biggest church made out of rice and corn.

what? it makes TOTAL sense….

p.s. paragliding is amazing :)

i took this shot while in the air :)

1- everything

2- the old wooden boats that completely cover the ocean

3- how it’s a beatiful beach…surrounded by even more beautiful mountains

4- the little old man with twinkly eyes who sold me my bracelets and when i told him i was colombian he gave me the biggest hug and said “welcome to your country”

5- sunset.

6- scuba diving for the first time. trying not to panic. and then becoming addicted.

taganga is a little hidden gem town right outside of santa marta. i had no idea what to expect when arriving, but as the taxi turned the corners of the mountain side, i was awestruck by it’s beauty. it has a quaint, small town feel…with a complete laid-back, beach bum attitude. it’s also the place were i would like to build a small house on the side of a mountain and live forever. scuba dive during the day, eat fresh fish for lunch, coco limeades for happy hour, and sit on the beach and watch sunset at night. repeat for 365 days and that sounds like a pretty sweet life if you ask me!

la chiva!! this is colombian’s famous bus. they are used as public transport and now are used more as ”party busses” where at night they play loud music, dance rumba, and take shots of aguardiente while going from town to town :-)

coco limeade for kim. coco limeade with vodka  for astrid  :-)

scuba!! 

creepiest picture ever.

and perhaps my favorite part of the day.

1- being told the we would have to hike the last bit up the mountain to Minca…”should only take about 10 minutes” says the bus driver. Or almost 2 hours.

2- that same hike, bus driver leaves. enter huge rainstorm. not a sprinkle….not just rain…but hard pounding storm. no cell phones. and we aren’t supposed to be picked up for 5 hours. enter mudslides. in the end, we all surrendered to mother nature, took of our shoes, and did the entire hike up….barefoot.

3- the 2 italian guys who ran the dreamer hostal and made me the most amazing spaghetti bolognese of my entire life.

4- waking up to my tongue turned black.

5- the look on kim’s face when i showed her my tongue.

6- listening to the other travelers play guitar while just laying under a straw cabana in the dark….very “child of the 70’s”….just needed a volkswagen.

7- the colombian man on the corner who stood outside with his pizza cart, making the dough from scratch, and selling slices for $1.

8- meeting other travelers from all over the world…dutch, french, irish, canadians, austrians, australians, italians…the list goes on. so interesting to hear the different accents, and be able to connect with people from all different backgrounds.

 and now for pictures. the hike up minca in rainstorm and mud…

the dreamer hostal. perfect in every way.

stop it. don’t judge our super clean and organized room. it was vacation for pete’s sake!

i see you judging and i don’t like it. by the way that is the hostal cat, whom i called “gato”

we did a hike in Tayrona, one of colombia’s most famous national parks located on the carribean coast. probably one of the most beautiful parts of the trip. so beautiful in fact that at times, i felt like i was waiting in line for a ride at disneyworld. the beach, the huge rock formations, endless jungle, and hidden trails…all we needed was fake thunder and mist to start spraying at us. :)

and though i look happy in this picture, it was around that time that i wanted to die. death by heat stroke.

a camper was watching the world cup on his small tv….ended up drawing quite the crowd!

the two food items on the right.

1- fruit parfait.

    -layer guava, passion fruit, guana bana, and lots of others.

   – add fruit syrup topping

   - add granola

   – add jello

   – top with cheese

yes it sounds weird, but i can assure you it was nothing short of amazing.

2- fried cheese balls.

perhaps one of the best nights. just laying under the straw hut listening to this guy play guitar. it was even better when kim started to play. could have laid there and listened all night. we sort of did.