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Trip Over Life - Life's short, let's take a trip

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Ultimate 2 Week Iceland Itinerary

Our 2 Week Iceland Itinerary featured by Kuku Campers

Kuku Campers loved our 2 week Iceland itinerary!

Cowhorn Pond Campsite on the CL50

Cranberry Lake 50

The Cranberry Lake 50 is a beautiful and serene multi-day hike. It’s suitable for all skill levels and a great multi-day option for beginners.

Real Journeys Milford Sound Scenic Boat Cruise

This post – Real Journeys Milford Sound Scenic Boat Cruise – is part of our series of posts on experiencing Fiordland National Park.

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We paddled out into the wilderness. As the lake op

We paddled out into the wilderness. As the lake opened and a breeze kicked up, we fought against a chop and our bulbous inflatable kayak became unwieldy (“it’s a bit of a tank”, I tell curious onlookers when they ask, awkwardly failing to find a more appropriate nautical metaphor). Muscles becoming sore, we powered through to a camp on a private little island and set up for the night. The sun set and the fire burned and the Milky Way rose above our heads and eventually the yawns came and we prepared for a usually restless night of tent sleep. I popped out on the shore for a final look at the sky, but it seemed improbably bright. I was looking north over a large lake with nothing but Canadian expanse beyond and the moon was just about new and wouldn’t rise for hours. There was only one source of that light that made sense. I stirred Sara, who had somehow already fallen asleep, and we stumbled back out on the rocks. The light was brighter and dancing on the horizon, ribbons flowing across the sky, now unmistakably the Aurora Borealis. It had been five long years since we first saw the northern lights in Iceland, and we spent a while on those rocks recharging our souls with one of Earth’s most awe inspiring natural phenomenon.

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Voyageurs National Park, in northern Minnesota nea

Voyageurs National Park, in northern Minnesota near the Canadian border, is one of the lesser visited national parks. Unlike many parks, Voyageurs doesn’t have much to see by land. The park is a series of lakes used by European settlers as fur trading routes and is still best explored the same way - by boat. This is one of the reasons we decided to bring an inflatable kayak along on this trip. It gets a lot of comments - apparently a pretty rare thing among the ubiquitous and more robust canoes - but it sure got the job done to bring us to our own little island of paradise for a night of camping in the park amongst majestic open water views and magical night skies.

Continuing in our series of eccentric men with too

Continuing in our series of eccentric men with too much time on their hands and inexplicable financial benefactors, just down the road from Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin lies one of the most bizarre attractions in America. The House on the Rock, which readers of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods may recognize, is the work of Alex Jordan, a guy who clearly had a lot of ideas and somehow made all of them happen despite never holding a real job. Ahh, the old American dream. This place is actually truly awesome in that classic roadside oddity way and these photos only scratch the surface of explaining its massive scale and absurdity.

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright grew up in Wisconsin

Architect Frank Lloyd Wright grew up in Wisconsin and left his mark throughout the Midwest. On this trip, we’ve checked out a few of the more famous places, including Chicago’s Oak Park neighborhood and Taliesin, Wright’s compound in the rolling Wisconsin hills. Wright was a complicated man, probably a bit of an ass, but his architecture certainly left a legacy and was well ahead of its time. And absolutely none of it would meet modern building codes 😆

The Cave of the Mounds in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin i

The Cave of the Mounds in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin is not among the biggest caves we’ve been in, but it punches above its weight class in beauty. This was a really fun little cave to explore.

Door County, the easternmost county in Wisconsin,

Door County, the easternmost county in Wisconsin, likes to think of itself as the “Cape Cod of the Midwest”, and they certainly share some similarities. The proximity to water, in this case being amongst Lake Michigan on all sides, defines both places. We spent some time in the county, camping in state parks and out on Washington Island at the northern tip (Camper Dan’s first ferry crossing?!) and trying to get to know the place. It’s a beautiful slice of the county with a laid back attitude and a lot of interesting history.

I didn’t have much of an image of Milwaukee befo

I didn’t have much of an image of Milwaukee before visiting other than some vague sense of brewing history, but I was pleasantly surprised by what we found. A highly walkable city on the shores of Lake Michigan. With ample public space, a great river walk, plenty of public art and sculpture, a handsome mix of classic, industrial, art deco, and modern architecture, and, of course, a vibrant modern craft beer scene amongst that underbelly of brewing history. And the food wasn’t half bad either. Good show, MKE.

Chicago is an easy city to spend a couple days in.

Chicago is an easy city to spend a couple days in. From world class museums and classic architecture to epic gutbusting food and some of the world’s finest beer, it’s a feast for the senses. Sara had been here before but it was my first time, and though New York will always be my first city, Chicago certainly makes a good run for second.

Being fairly close to Chicago, these certainly wer

Being fairly close to Chicago, these certainly weren’t the darkest night skies we’ve seen, but any night you can catch a glimpse of the Milky Way is a good night.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park may not be the most

Cuyahoga Valley National Park may not be the most exciting national park in the US, but its ample greenery, hiking trails, and wildlife near the metropolitan areas of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, make it a welcome source of nature’s respite in the heart of the Midwest.

Camper Dan rides again. It’s been 7 years since

Camper Dan rides again. It’s been 7 years since our last extended road trip in this old beast, but now we’re once again on the move. Over the last couple years, we’ve put a good amount of effort into getting the van updated, fixed, and road worthy. So we’ll bring this account out of hibernation as we make our way deep into the nooks and crannies of the US. Hopefully the old boy still has another go in ‘im. And hopefully we do, too!

Vibrant autumn colors are always awesome, but scat

Vibrant autumn colors are always awesome, but scatter them across a black volcanic landscape and they become otherworldly. Just one of the many splendors of Iceland.

It was nice of Iceland to paint the lighthouses my

It was nice of Iceland to paint the lighthouses my favorite color before I arrived. That’s real hospitality.

The Organ Pipes track, just outside Dunedin, New Z

The Organ Pipes track, just outside Dunedin, New Zealand, is a short but steep scramble over hexagonal basalt columns to an intact section with killer views out over the landscape. This was a unique and fun little hike.

Short lighthouses are cute.

Short lighthouses are cute.

Instagram post 17934199096628615

Instagram post 17934199096628615

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