When you picture Ireland, what comes to mind? Verdant fields dotted with sheep and the occasional circle of standing stones or castle ruins. Pints of velvety Guinness in a toasty warm wood-paneled pub. And the rainbows, oh my gosh, the rainbows! On my recent, fourth trip to Ireland, I was delighted to discover that all the quintessentially Irish I've enjoyed on past trips to the Emerald Isle are still as lovely as they were when I first started visiting a decade ago... and this time, I got to...| Valerie & Valise
Alaska is full of unexplored corners – even for someone who has visited more than a dozen times. I've probably been on 10+ Kenai Fjords National Park cruises over the years, yet have never splurged to stay out at one of the remote resorts in the park. The most exploring I've done of Kenai Fjords – other than the day cruises and hiking at Exit Glacier – is lost in fuzzy memories of a place called Fox Island...| Valerie & Valise
I've been blogging for over a decade now, and focusing on Alaska for more than half that time. After so many years of exploring this great state, you might think I've seen and done it all. And sure, I've seen and done a lot, but there are always new experiences to be had – and new places to go, in a place so big! One such example is the Kenai Fjords Wilderness Lodge on Fox Island, which I had only previously visited as a kid on a dinner cruise from Seward...| Valerie & Valise
I swear, it wasn't on purpose that I left Bryce Canyon to last among the Mighty 5 to visit; on my first trip to one of Utah's national parks – Zion in 2019 with my friend Marissa – the Zion-Mount Carmel Tunnel was closed. This tunnel, which began construction in the late 1920s, helped connect Zion and Bryce Canyon and aided the latter in its effort to become a national park. Today, it's common to visit both parks on a single trip – when the tunnel is closed, that's hard to do...| Valerie & Valise
There's an interesting thing about Alaskans: we don't travel very much within our own state. If you live on the road system (as I did when growing up in the Anchorage area), you'll probably see the main sights in places like Denali or Seward – you might even be adventurous and head out to further flung spots like Homer, Valdez, or McCarthy (in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park)...| Valerie & Valise
