Backpacking Ecuador (December 25, 2010--January 13, 2011

Total miles:   6100 by plane, 350 by bus	Total miles on foot   37	Number of Pics 485
Highlights Twenty Days in Ecuador. Some of the hardest hikes yet into some harsh terrain followed by some relaxing days in beautiful rainforests and beaches.

Backpacking Manistee Michigan (April 2010)

Total miles covered   530 by car	Total miles on foot   15	Number of Pics 39
Highlights Backpacking 5 hours north in Manistee National Forest Michigan with Trevor, Melissa, Rhiannon and Tyler Bird. We originally were going to hike down South in Hoosier National Forest but were scared North by the massive storm system that eventually dropped 18 inches of rain in Nashville and flooded their whole city. We only encountered one storm and it was after we were safely within our cozy tents in a pine forest. We hiked along the Manistee River Trail which is part of the huge North Country Trail that goes from New York to North Dakota. All in all a perfect trip with near perfect weather and not too many bug bites.

Chicago (kinda) Nov 2009

Total miles covered 460 by car	Total miles on foot approx 5 in a store	Number of Pics 15
Highlights A quick two day excursion to see a concert way outside of Chicago in Dekalb, IL followed by an extensive tour of the infamous Swedish superstore: IKEA  Activities included lots of driving, forgetting wallets at home, staying at Hamburger University, getting knocked around at a bar, and marathon shopping for housewares.

Chicaago Oct 2009

Total miles covered 392 by car	Total miles on foot 8	Number of Pics 37
Highlights A quick weekend jaunt to the Windy City to see a concert at the House of Blues. Other activities included shopping for tights, walking for miles, attempting to ride the ferris wheel at Navy Pier, exploring Millennium Park and the Lakefront area as well as eating and drinking delicious things.

Port Crescent Camping (Sept 4 - 7, 2009)

Total miles covered 577 by car and 8 in canoe	Total miles on foot approx 3	Number of Pics 49
Highlights Labor Day weekend camping in Port Crescent Michigan State Park included lots of sand, food, fun, and sun with daytime temps around 77 and nighttime around 45.  Activities included sunburning, sand sculpturing, fire-making, 'babe' watching, dune kayaking, log moshing, hornet whacking and more!

Backpacking Boston and White Mountains (July 30 - Aug 8, 2009)

Total miles covered 1700 by train, 540 by car	Total miles on foot approx 47	Number of Pics 121
Highlights As our first time visit to Boston, MA. we took Amtrak out of Waterloo to Boston and spent a few days exploring the city by foot carrying almost all of our things in backpacks.  After a short jaunt to Uncasville, CT for a concert we then hightailed it 5 hours North to the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire for backpacking in the presidential range. Next, back to Boston via rental car for a few more days of exploration and fun. Fortunately, the weather was near perfect the entire time (quite rare in the Northeast) which was a very good thing since we had planned on not having a car for our 5 days in Boston and touring the city on foot as well as 3 days backpacking. We ate some good food in Boston and we even ate very well on the trail with some gourmet meals out of our backpacks. Click the pic above to see pics of our trip.

Chicago Mar 2009

Total miles covered 329 by train	Total miles on foot 12	Number of Pics 27
Highlights A quick weekend getaway in March where the Windy City lived up to it's name by providing some very ugly winter weather. Activities included train rides, shopping and of course some delicious dining that only Chicago can provide.

Upper Michigan Wine Tour Oct 2008

Total miles covered approx 780 by car	Total miles on foot not much	Number of Pics 61
Highlights A two day trip up through Leelanau Peninsula, Michigan and Traverse City to tour some wineries and enjoy some great free wine. It was amazing weather and the fall colors were absolutely ahhh-mazing! Activities included tasting wine, driving around the hilly countryside, ahh-ing at fall colors and even wondering at a college girl chasing a dog who was frightened out of it's wits!

Chicago July 4th, 2008

Total miles covered 386 by car	Total miles on foot approx 9	Number of Pics 35
Highlights  Two days of perfect weather in the Windy City over July 4th weekend. Activities included dressing like twins, marathon shopping on the Magnificent Mile, site seeing, an awesome dinner at Ruth's Chris and even a fainting episode.

Backpacking Ecuador (Dec 13 - 29, 2007)

Total miles covered 6528 by plane, 475 by bus	Total miles on foot 14	Number of Pics 300
Highlights An amazing 10 day backpacking adventure covering the beaches, waterfalls, and Andes mountains in Ecuador. Click the pic to see the full blog for this trip and view the pics.

Backpacking Maui (Nov 2005)

Total miles covered 9435 by plane, 140 by car	Total miles on foot 22	Number of Pics 60
Highlights A 10 day backpacking exploration of Maui on a shoestring budget. Starting with super-cheap $600 round trip plane tix out of Fort Wayne airport w/ layover in LAX and then 6 hours to Hawaii was not fun, but everything in between was truly paradise! This was a first time in Hawaii for all of us and was an amazing experience full of sun, waves, fresh fruit, mountains, beaches, tents, and giant foot-long centipedes. We even were able to meet a few of our brothers in Hana and go to a meeting with a attendance of only 2 others.