Inspiring travel stories, tips, and guides from a couple exploring the world one destination at a time.
Last Updated: July 2, 2026
Mackinac Island is accessible by plane or boat, except in the winter when the water freezes over connecting Mackinac with the mainland. There are no motorized vehicles on the island other than emergency or snowmobiles in the winter. Horses are the main mode of transportation.
Last Updated: July 2, 2026
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore stretches along the southern shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and it earns every superlative thrown at it. The park is named for its stunning multicolored sandstone cliffs — streaked with minerals that paint them in shades of copper, iron, and manganese — rising as high as 200 feet above the water. Add in around 17 waterfalls, miles of pristine beach, and some of the clearest water in the Great Lakes, and it’s easy to understand why Condé Nast Traveler called it the most beautiful place in Michigan.
Last Updated: July 2, 2026
Gurney is a small community in northern Wisconsin, tucked near the shores of Lake Superior. For us, this stop was more than just a destination — it was a homecoming of sorts. Michael’s father, Jim, grew up here. Jim was born 25 miles away in Bessemer, Michigan, where his father worked in explosives for a copper mine. When the mines began to shut down, Jim’s family moved to Gurney to farm — a fortuitous decision, as the land kept them self-sufficient through the Great Depression.
Last Updated: June 22, 2026
Voyageurs National Park sits in the far north of Minnesota, right at the Canadian border — a sprawling water wilderness named for the French-Canadian fur traders who paddled these lakes and portages in birchbark canoes centuries before there was a park here at all. Unlike almost every other unit in the National Park system, Voyageurs is primarily a water park. There are no grand scenic drives, no paved trails to the overlooks. To see it properly, you need a boat. We were happy to oblige.
Last Updated: June 22, 2026
Theodore Roosevelt first came to the North Dakota Badlands in 1883 as a young man, drawn by the promise of bison hunting and the wide open West. What he found instead — or perhaps in addition — was a landscape that would shape him profoundly. After losing both his mother and his wife on the same day in 1884, he returned to these rugged badlands to grieve and heal. The land, he later wrote, made him the man he became. It’s impossible to stand in this park and not feel some of that pull yourself.
Last Updated: June 22, 2026
Montana is one of the largest and least populated states in America — and one of our absolute favorites. On this leg of our Pacific Northwest loop, we pushed east from Walla Walla, Washington through northern Idaho before crossing into Big Sky Country. We would have loved to revisit Glacier and Yellowstone, but with New England fall foliage and a Florida winter on the horizon, we had to keep moving. What we did find along the way — a hidden ghost town, a cave carved by ancient seas, and a sandstone pillar signed by Lewis and Clark — more than made up for it.
