2016, A Year in Review

2016 was a year of ups and downs. I faced many mental and emotional challenges within myself. However, with the help of family and friends I was able to work through the obstacles and make 2016 one of the best! I graduated with my Bachelors in Nursing from Grand Valley, officially moved up to Northern Michigan, went on countless traveling adventures, and got engaged to the love of my life.

Looking back, I have grown tremendously over this past year. Transitioning into the adult world has been a real eye opener; budgeting money, working a full time job, making time for family and friends, home improvement projects, and so much more. I’ve been really focusing on self love and taking care of my mind the best I can. At the beginning of the year I was pretty skeptical about self-affirmations and journaling daily, but I have found that incorporating these into my everyday life have dramatically helped my overall well-being.

Now lets get to the fun stuff, the adventures of 2016! None of these would have been made possible without my amazing travel buddy and finance, Kwin. Having someone to travel with, who has the same interests and passions, truly makes the adventures so much more enjoyable.

California: We rang in the new year with our first adventure: a California surfing trip. Here was where I learned to surf for the first time, caught some amazing sunsets, and great hikes!

Cabin Trip in the UP: Our Cabin is our little piece of heaven. It’s tucked away in the middle of nowhere , so it’s the perfect setting for a weekend away and to be unplugged. We spent an awesome Valentines weekend away. There we cross-country skied all of our goods for the weekend in on our backs..note this was 4ft of snow! It was easily one of my favorite trips this year.

Utah: I joined Kwin and our friend, Cam, at Zion and Bryce for a weekend of hiking. The views were breathtaking. I had to return home to finish school, but the others continued their journey to Moab, Arches, and Breckenridge for some skiing.

Michigan “Stay-cation”: This trip was a little different than most of our others, in that nobody knew where we were. This was because we were staying local, in northern Michigan. However, we didn’t want anyone to know what we were doing. On this vacation we camped on Lake Michigan, biked 50+ miles along the Lake Michigan shoreline, camped out on our boat and were able to enjoy the beautiful Michigan in ways we never had before!

Marquette: We took many trips up to the UP this summer because we love it so much. We enjoy biking the trails, camping along Lake Superior, hiking some beautiful cliffs, and paddle boarding the Pictured Rocks coastline. Later that fall,we adventured up there , yet again, this time bringing a group of friends to enjoy the Fall Colors! It was an amazing and beautiful weekend. The best part of it was that Kwin asked me to marry him onto of one of my favorite hikes: Hogback Mountain.

Mexico: To end the year we spent an amazing weekend in Puerto Aventures, Mexico. I had never been there before, but it was amazing! Hiking through the ancient Miayan Ruins, snorkeling the reefs, paddling boarding, and soaking up the Mexican sun. It was definitely a christmas I will never forget.