I truly cannot believe that it’s already December. This year has flown by so quickly. When we started the year, we had such small goals for the year. Meaningful, but small. And it has been such a privilege to far exceed them! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving-week filled with friends and family and food. I found out some exciting professional news that I can’t wait to share with you in the near future, hopefully. And we just had a fun, fun month!
Travel Planning This Month
My wanderlusty brain is always turning with possible ways to extend trips, so I have some tricks up my sleeve I’m trying to make work after our trip to Moab next year… we’ll see, it may not work out, but I’m dreaming big. I also booked a flight for one of my very favorite people’s bachelorette party in Oregon for next spring! I cannot wait to continue planning this trip!
Travel This Month
I took a solo day trip down to Rogers, Arkansas. It was really just for a tattoo session, but it also was just one of those days that felt really good. I sang so much in the car on the way down, had waaay too much caffeine and took a walk around downtown before being tattooed for 7 hours. I got *most* of the inner part of my half-sleeve completed – a landscape with Half Dome, part of a sequoia, a banana slug, ferns and echinacea. I was in so much pain after 5 hours of inner arm, I was literally trembling, which has never happened to me before. So instead, of continuing there, Andrea and I spontaneously started on the journey of sleeving out the rest of that arm. I can’t wait for my next session in January.
Alaina, the kids and I all went to George Washington Carver National Monument. I’ve driven past the turnoff so many times and wanted to make it down there. Alaina kindly joined us and it was a nice visit. We still left a lot to see for another visit because the kids could only “handle” so much of the museum portion. However, we did go through enough of it for Charleigh to get her third Junior Ranger badge!
We spent a week in Asheville, North Carolina and it was such a wonderful trip. Matt worked from there, so it wasn’t as filled with adventure as we would normally plan for, but it was just nice to be in a different space and do all the city things we loved when Matt was off work. I got out a little during the days with the help my in-laws or just the kids sometimes, and that was really nice. For those who are newer to For the Love of Wanderlust, Matt and I met in Asheville, so coming back here is always filled with all our favorite things and we try to sprinkle in new things too. This time I finally made it to Chai Pani and was not disappointed whatsoever, we tried Archetype Brewing and ate at Vinnie’s Italian for the new things. Old favorite stops include places like Burial Beer Co, Green Man’s Dirty Jacks location, Hole Donuts, Biscuit Head and more.
Travel Laughs & Mishaps This Month
We had to cut our trip short by a full day. Matt caught a stomach bug the last two days there and it was just one of those situations that we were ready to be home for him to get some rest and feel better before work the upcoming work week.
A booking mishap is that I bought tickets to see my favorite artist – Gregory Alan Isakov – in another state on a day that we can’t actually leave town because we have to leave the next day for our Big Bend National Park trip. Whoops!
Blog Posts from November
A Monthly Recap: October 2023: This is a monthly roundup, much like this one, for the month of October. It includes destinations like Buffalo National River, Yosemite National Park and more.
Moro Rock Hike in Sequoia National Park, California: This is probably the most popular granite dome hike in Sequoia. Check out everything you need to know before doing it and what else is in the are.
Little Baldy Trail – Sequoia National Park, California: A less-traveled, longer and different vantage point, Little Baldy Trail should be on every list for Sequoia National Park.
I Have So Much to Be Thankful For This Year: A bit more personal post about how special our year has been and just a practice in gratitude for the beautiful life I have the privilege of living.
Exploring the Giant Forest in Sequoia National Park: The Giant Forest is such a special place to visit. It’s where you get to see some of the largest trees in the national park. In this post I cover a few trails we did in the Giant Forest + other popular sites here.
Most Popular Instagram Reel + Post from This Month
Best Thing I Ate in November
This month, this is incredibly hard because the majority of the “fun” we had in Asheville was eating! Plus, I had an incredible pizza from a food truck in Missouri. So, this month I’m going to do my top 3 things I ate this month in order of consuming them. Haha.
First up is the specialty “Fall Pizza” from Deck Pizza Co. a food truck that travels around the Springfield, Mo area. It had olive oil as the sauce topped with smoked cheddar cheese, thin-sliced apples, ample amounts of bacon and a sprinkle of rosemary. The simple flavors tasted fresh and made for one of the very pizzas I’ve ever had.
Next is the Vanilla Glaze donut from Hole Doughnuts. I cannot get enough of these doughnuts. They have rotating flavors, with typically a choice of four or so. My go to is the simple but sweet Vanilla Glaze. These doughnuts are made fresh to order, right in front of you. So they’re crisp and piping hot when you get them – it’s so good I always lick the glaze off the paper they’re wrapped in. Combine this with stellar customer service and a simple cup of coffee and there is no better way to start a day of Asheville explorations.
Last, but definitely not least, is everything we had a Chai Pani in downtown Asheville. Specializing in Indian street food, this restaurant has a line to get in just about every single day for a reason! Get there a bit before opening to not have an insane wait. I had bites of almost everything ordered at our table and I’m obsessed: from aloo tiki chaat to chicken pakora and butter chicken, naan, daal and paratha, plus all the different sauces. We left with fuuuuull bellies and satisfied tastebuds. Chai Pani has become a must for every visit to Asheville now.
Favorite Local Find
We finally visited El Cafecito – a Mexican cafe in Springfield, Missouri and we were not disappointed! Between the deliciousness and the beautifully planned interior of the building, I was swept off my feet. I had their Sopaipilla Cheesecake latte, which was perfectly sweet and delicious. To eat, I had the Chichaloco Burrito with is the perfect blent of spiced churizo, potato, bacon, egg, made in-house chimichurri sauce and queso fresco. It was incredible and huge. Matt built his own tostado and has said he cannot wait to build another on our next visit! If you plan to eat there, seating is very limited, so be ready to potentially be patient for a table – it’s popular for a reason!
Life Updates in November
Our sweet little Liam turned one in November. I cannot believe that our last baby is a toddler now! We celebrated him with our big, wonderful family and closest friends! It was a fun party with a national park theme for our “One Happy Camper”. Liam was pretty timid with the cake, but all-around such a good sport the whole day!
The Christmas season is in full swing in the Wunder house! This is my favorite time of year to be home. I love the coziness of the season, especially because we put a lot of work into decorating our house for Christmas! Here are some pics of CJ and I decorating our kitchen tree!
We had a few lovely mini-adventures in town, like going with Stacey and her family to Wonders of Wildlife. I also have been making some changes in my life. I started going to yoga/working out again. I got an annual membership to a studio in town and I’m obsessed with it. I also got another new tattoo. It’s been the year of the tattoos for me. One of my besties is an amazing tattoo artist and she gave me this beautiful rhododendron tattoo that represents North Carolina to me. It felt right to finally get something for the place I met Matt, and, honestly, to a degree met myself.
What’s Coming in December
This month we have a lot of time at home planned. Between the holidays, family coming to town and the cooler weather, it’s one of those months that it just feels nice to be home after 90-something days of travel this year. We have some house projects planned for the winter that we want to work on while the days are shorter.
That said, we do have a couple random weekend and day trips planned: one to Ikea – we’re fixing up our office/creative space room and need some supplies! Another is to Tulsa with my parents and my brother’s family to go back to The Gathering Place for their Christmas lights and some other Christmas festivities.
I hope that everyone had a beautiful November and you’re able to find peace in both the good and the bad and that you have a beautiful holiday season ahead of you this next month.
1 Comment
Geo Smith
February 9, 2024 at 9:07 amI’m genuinely grateful for the information you’ve shared here.