As 2018 wraps up, Walter and I are looking at the trips we have taken over the last year and daydreaming about future trips. I thought I would spend a little time reminiscing on our past years adventures as we start making plans for the next years.
This past year’s jam-packed schedule started with a trip out West in the spring. We headed out to Vegas as the starting point for our road trip to three national parks. Our first stop was Zion National Park, which you can read about in our Three days in Zion blog. The second stop was Bryce National Park before meeting Walter’s cousin for our trip to the Grand Canyon. You can read all about our trip to the bottom of the Grand Canyon in our blog.
For me, hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon was a fulfillment of a promise I made to myself. The first time I went to the Grand Canyon I was not able to hike very far but told myself someday I would hike to the bottom.
Later in the summer Walter and I headed out to El Salvador to spend time with Walter’s family and explore. Luckily for me, I had experienced guides in Walter and his parents so they picked out some awesome adventures and hikes for us to explore, which you can read about here. Unfortunately, I did get a little sick; however, that did not slow us down too much. We hiked, surfed, kayaked, toured, and visited family.
Mid-fall we headed back home to Western New York for my brother’s wedding in the Finger Lakes Region. I love going home and seeing the beautiful scenery. After the wedding, our friends flew up to take a road trip with us to visit Acadia National Park. We took a small detour into the Adirondacks for my birthday, spending a couple of nights in a cabin on Long Lake. We hiked, rowed on the lake, relaxed on the dock and generally enjoyed our time. We had hoped to see the fall colors, being that it was the beginning of October but that was still too early for much change. It was quite unfortunate, since normally, this would be peak leaf changing time. After the Adirondacks, we drove west to Acadia where we spent the next few days hiking and touring the park. It rained a good portion of our time there but we still got in quite a few hikes including the all terrifying Precipice and Beehive trails. 
We wrapped up the road trip with a quick trip to Boston. While in Boston, we managed to take a history tour as well as a whale watching expedition. After our separate activities, we met back up for a late night ghost tour which was fantastic.
Our final “big” trip of the year was back to Barcelona. For Walter’s wedding gift, I bought him tickets to watch Barcelona at Camp Nou. During our honeymoon in 2017, we made the quick stop for the game, but we did not stay long enough to explore the city or country and so we promised to return. Return we did, this year for our one year anniversary, exploring Barcelona, Granada, Cordoba, and Seville. Of course, we had to make a stop at Camp Nou again, and, as luck would have it, our anniversary fell almost exactly on El Clásico in Barcelona. For those of you who do not watch soccer, or La Liga, El Clásico is one of the biggest rivalry in sports. 
We had great seats and the game was amazing; though, we were a bit sad that neither Messi played nor did we get a jersey. After exploring Barcelona, we headed out to the other cities to visit the beautiful sites and try some tasty food. I have not blogged a few of these trips but I promise I will get around to it. Barcelona is probably Walter’s as well as my favorite city, which is a hard statement to make considering the amazing places we have been. We love the people, food, sights, and of course Messi.
That wraps up the major trips we took in 2018. This past year has been quite a bit of fun, filled with new experiences in each place we visited. My highlights include hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, touring and tasting coffee right from the source, seeing whales (including a baby!), and of course El Clásico. We often get asked about where we have gone or what we have seen. I figured this blog would be a great way to tell everyone about our adventures. If there is an adventure you would like to know more about, or you would like blogged ASAP comment below!
With 2019 just around the corner it is time to start thinking about resolutions and exciting new adventures. One resolution I would like to make is to get the rest of the 2018 trips blogged. I would also like to share suggested itineraries based on some of our adventures. Right now our adventure plans are wide open so I will have to keep you posted on where we may end up exploring in 2019. Hope you all have a happy New Year and I would love to hear about any adventures you have coming up in 2019!
