Every year, it seems my life gets better and better. 2024 was no different.
Quiet Beginnings
It started innocently enough, a quick day trip to Leon, IA, followed by a two week trip to Colorado, spending a week in Canon City then a week in Crested Butte.
That trip saw a ride on the Royal Gorge Railroad, a trip to Garden of the Gods, a few hikes on the Arkansas Riverwalk Trail and Redemption Trail, and stops at some museums in Canon City.
At that time, it was the longest trip we’d taken to date, our previous trips maxing out at a week or 10 days at the most.
Little to say about what was just on the horizon…
Soon after our return to Iowa, we took Craig and Sue to an Iowa Hawkeyes basketball game in Iowa City, then, mere days later, we traded in our Ford Edge for Clyde, our 2019 F-250 Super Duty.
Then, on May 31, we embarked on our massive, four month, 27 state, cross-country road trip, what I affectionately call The Greens Summer Tour of 2024.
Our Summer Tour
The road trip started with another week in Colorado, this time staying in Gunnison. We took Sue with us, and Christy met us there, so it was a pretty great trip for Brandy, being with some people she loves so much.
We left Colorado, home-bound for a quick turn-around at home before heading west to Oregon.
We stopped in Boise on the way there and spent a day with my parents before continuing on to the northern Oregon coast.
I spent about 2 weeks there and saw some wonderful things, like the Goonies house in Astoria, Fort Clatsop at the Lewis & Clark National Historical Park, and Jake the Alligator Man in Long Beach, Washington. We took walks on the beach, hikes through the forests, and road trips up and down the Pacific coast, through Tillamook, where they make cheese!
Work forced Brandy to stay behind as Ash and I left. We had an adventurous drive back halfway across the country, stopping to see Multnomah Falls and the Devil’s Slide before finishing up the trip home for another quick three day recovery stay.
I left home on July 3 stopping in South Bend, IN, where I had a chance to stroll around the University of Notre Dame, then on to upstate New York where Ash and I spent a morning at Niagara Falls State Park.
As if that wasn’t amazing enough, the next stop on the tour had Ash and I stopping in Cooperstown for the absolute pinnacle of this amazing, life-changing trip, my visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
This was a bucket list item for as long as I can remember. I literally cried as I walked through the museum.
New England
From Cooperstown, Ash and I continued east to Vermont where an AirBnB was waiting for us. About a week after I arrived, Brandy flew in from Oregon for the final three weeks of our stay in the state.
We did so much in Vermont, including hikes to waterfalls, a day trip to New Hampshire, a day in Burlington, a tour of the Ben & Jerry’s Factory in Waterbury, a ride on the Lake Champlain ferry in to New York, and culminating in a tubing trip on White River.
Next, we moved on to Wilton, Maine, where we visited Acadia National Park (at this point, we had literally traveled coast to coast- having spent two weeks on the Pacific coast, we now found ourselves on the Atlantic coast just two months later.)
On our way back to the AirBnB from the National Park, we stopped at Stephen King’s house in Bangor, which was pretty cool.
We didn’t make it to the end of our reserved time in Maine. We decided to leave a day early and spend a day in Salem, Massachusetts. We visited a couple of museums, did some shopping, and Brandy attended a broom-making workshop while I visited a horror-themed wax museum. This marked the end of our time in New England.
South, Then West
Our next long-term stop on our trip was a three week stay in Cave City, Kentucky, mere minutes from Mammoth Cave National Park.
The drive from Maine to Salem to Kentucky took us through the bulk of those 27 states we at least passed through on this trip. Starting in Maine, we passed through New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia before driving through most of Kentucky, tallying up 10 states on that leg of the trip alone (thanks to the tiny states in the northeast US.)
While in Kentucky, we, of course, visited Mammoth Cave a few times, took a trip to Bowling Green for a visit to Lost River Cave, a day trip to Nashville, Tennessee (including some Nashville barbecue), and the ride on the Bluegrass Division Rail Explorers.
After our three weeks in Kentucky, we headed west for our annual trip to New Mexico which wasn’t very different from the other trips back we’ve made since we moved away, except for the fact that we were there for two weeks instead of just one.
We hiked Cedro Creek Nature Trail, visited with Alan, Jarrod and my friends at the Presbyterian Transplant Center and picked up my year’s supply of green chile.
I did visit the zoo for the first time since leaving and saw some of the renovations they’ve done since we’ve been gone, I met my boss after working with him for a little over a year, and went shooting with Alan; and Brandy, Jarrod and I went to see Beetlejuice Beetlejuice which was fun, but aside from that, it was very similar to our past re-visits.
Back Home
We stopped in Walsenburg for a day visit with Christy before making our way back home where things didn’t slow down in the slightest.
We got back home on September 28. Two weeks later, we went and got ourselves a van for more fuel efficient traveling, then the next day, we took a day trip with Craig and Sue on the scenic byway through Van Buren County.
The next weekend, we took a ride on the Wolf Lunch Train in Boone then a couple days later, Brandy was on an airplane to Florida. While she was gone, I went to a Candlelight Concert in Des Moines where I was treated to a selection of Halloween-inspired music played by a string quartet in a cozy, intimate, candle-lit setting. The next night, Hilary, her boyfriend, and her son’s girlfriend went to Mayhem Haunted House in Ottumwa.
Then, a bare month after returning home from our Summer Tour, we left for a week in New Orleans.
Happy Holidays
The week after we returned from NOLA was my birthday, then the following week was Thanksgiving, which we spent at Craig and Sue’s. Three days later, Brandy had to take off for a week in Utah. This was the first time she left for work and I didn’t drive her to the airport. Watching her drive the van away was different.
She was home for two weeks before we packed up and headed out for our last big trip of the year to Boise to visit my parents for Christmas.
We made it home just in time to send off 2024 and ring in 2025 where many more adventures await us.
Non-Travel Stuff
Besides all the traveling we did, there was very little to report on. We bought two new (to us) cars, got some work done on the house, I started, stopped and re-started work in the basement, we refinanced the house on a new 15 year mortgage with payments only going up $200 a month, and the week of Thanksgiving, I started a workout regimen that I hope to continue on indefinitely (or, at least until our trip to Mexico in October.)
Planning and going on our massive trips took up the better part of the year so there really isn’t much more to report than that.
Final Thoughts
If I had to sum up my 2024 in one word, I would say “indescribable.” There really aren’t any words to accurately describe the year that I had. Being able to say I visited the Goonies house, Niagara Falls, the Baseball Hall of Fame, Mammoth Cave, Salem, Acadia National Park, Stephen King’s house and New Orleans is something I never thought I’d be able to say I’ve done in my lifetime, much less in one year.
All of this to say, I am, as always, eternally grateful for the opportunities I’ve had these last few years. I feel the growth I’ve experienced. I know I have more growing to do but I’m on a great path.
2025
Next year promises to be just as fascinating as 2024 was. With two trips to Colorado planned in the first two months alone, then a trip to southern Utah in September and a trip to Mexico in October?! Not to mention any of the spur-of-the-moment day trips that may pop up between now and then.
Aside from that, I’ve decided that I want to work to live more intentionally in 2025. I’ve found myself in a bit of a rut lately, always wearing sweats, joggers or sleep pants, always wearing a hat, rarely shaving, and generally being a slob. I am committed to switching back to how I used to be, getting dressed every day, even if I didn’t have anywhere to be. Shave every other day. Do my hair, even if not every day, at least most days. And so on. I’m hoping that will help guide me to better action in other areas, like making sure I get my workouts in, making better dietary decisions, and being a little more mindful about where my money is going.
In that vein, I also want to be more aware of the businesses where my money is going. I will aim to minimize the amount of money that’s going to big corporations like Amazon and Walmart, and start supporting smaller, more locally-based businesses. I’ve already committed to seeing a local barber and paying in cash, I’m starting to do more of my business through the local credit union instead of Wells Fargo, and I will be doing most of my grocery shopping at Hy-Vee and Fareway, avoiding Walmart to the best of my ability. Now, I know, there are going to be times when a trip to Walmart will be inevitable, or office supplies that are nearly impossible to come by will have to bought on Amazon, but I will be putting in effort, at least.
I know that last couple of paragraphs don’t have a ton to do with adventuring, traveling and what-not, but this blog is as much about my mental health as all that, so if I can live a life that leads me to better mental health, it’s still part of this journey.
Otherwise, we are coming up quickly on the fifth anniversary of this blog; I will be taking another look at the growth I’ve encountered since January of 2019
“Wait, that’s SIX years, not five!”
Oh, I know, January 2019 is when I started a precipitous slide into the dark. One year later, I started my climb out and that’s when I started this blog.
My math checks out.
Anyway, look for that post coming soon, and in the meantime, I’m going to live this life to its fullest!
-Phil