What a whirlwind month September has been! We kicked it off and ended it with travel, with lots of adventures sprinkled in throughout! Matt turned 33 – finally caught up with me – and we started getting into the fall feels in home and on the road! Buckle up for a somewhat lengthy roundup – we’ve been busy!
Travel Planning This Month
Trip planning this month was very concentrated on our California trip! We’re going to be going through a few truly beautiful National Parks as well as other beautiful areas along the way. My dream is to make it to 6 national parks, but we’ll see how it goes for us!
I’ve also been doing some day-dreamy trip planning for potential long-weekend-trips with our camper for next year. I am so excited to try to make the most of next year’s peak camping seasons.
Travel This Month
We kicked off the month down in Ponca again. Labor Day Weekend was spent enjoying the outdoors, doing a couple of our favorite hikes and we went back to GotAHold Brewery in Eureka Springs for beers and delicious tacos from the food truck there, Twisted Taco. Alaina came down for one of the days and it was amazing to have some friend time in our camper. Plus, we had two stunnings nights of stargazing as well!
We took a day trip with my brother and his family to Exeter, Missouri to visit Exeter Corn Maze. It was such a fun fall-inspired day! Our kiddos all played in corn pits, rode rides and ziplined all through this small town gem that ranks highly as one of the best corn mazes in America according to Country Living Magazine and we agree! It was truly just the best day trip!
My dad and I enjoyed our 15th annual father daughter hiking trip at Beavers Bend State Park in Oklahoma. While my dad was still a total badass, hiking even with a torn Achilles, we didn’t get the same number of miles in that we would typically. We still did a little over 7 miles of hiking, saw some truly beautiful things, had the best hot dogs I’ve ever had in my life and, most importantly, we spent lots of quality time together.
Petrified Forest National Park doesn’t get the hype it deserves, in my opinion – I think Matt thinks it’s appropriately hyped, but that said, we fell in love with the Blue Mesa hike when we passed through in 2021 en route to Zion. So, of course, when we knew we were going to drive right past it again, we had to do this hike again. Plus, it was Charleigh’s first National Park and now it was Liam’s first as well.
We spent an entire day in Grand Canyon National Park. It was so much fun and the kids were pretty great! It wasn’t the intense day of hiking that Matt and I would’ve had on our own, but we still did just shy of three miles along the rim. We also ate there, did so many of the overlooks and caught the sunset over the Grand Canyon! It was a beautiful day!
We had a few days in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks! All-in-all a very successful visit! We did a handful of hikes, saw some beautiful views, Matt turned 33 and we definitely felt very unplugged in this park. I can’t wait to share our more detailed post on our adventures there! And Charleigh became a Junior Ranger for the first time too!
We entered Yosemite for the first time ever and finished out the month here. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I cried upon seeing Yosemite Valley for the first time. This park is unbelievably special. The magnitude of these rocks is humbling unlike any other place I’ve been. I can’t wait to keep exploring over the next few days!
Travel Laughs and Mishaps in September
Well our road trip was full of mishaps from the get-go. I packed like a crazy person because we knew we were going to experience every type of weather possible. We also are trying to squeeze as much possible into our 18 days, so we didn’t want to do laundry. We laughably thought we could fit it all in our Outback. We did not. We took the truck, which is significantly worse for gas mileage, but it has been so comfortable and so nice to have all the extra space!
While the truck has been 99% perfect for this road trip, we did find the one flaw… Mice can get in the tuck bed. We discovered this in Sequoia National Park when we found mouse – or mystery rodent, I should say – poop on Charleigh’s jacket. So, we had to stop in Fresno to get a lot of cleaning supplies to sanitize the space our baggage, clothes and even food was in, while in transit. Then, the night we got into Yosemite, we had to make a stop at Housekeeping Camp and do our laundry… the thing we packed so many clothes to avoid.
We have an uncanny ability to go places for closures and natural disasters. So, of course, there was a wildfire in Sequioa National Park! It didn’t affect us too much, but it did affect my breathing a tiny bit and the views from mountain hikes were definitely not what they could be. Also, most of Kings Canyon was already closed for the season and the one mountain hike we were able to do we were turned away on our first attempt because they were painting the parking lot.
Blog Posts From September
A Monthly Recap: August 2023 – A deeper look into August, just like this post.
Exeter Corn Maze: The Most Fall-Fun I’ve Had in Missouri – We went to the Exeter Corn Maze in Exeter, Missouri and we had the most amazing time! This place has all the most amazing activities, sites and fun you could imagine.
From Content to Fulfilled – My goal for 2023 was to simply feel content. I was hopeful that I’d be able to start to make my life look a bit more like I wanted it to, to feel settled into these new roles I was undertaking. Instead, I found myself feeling beyond content… I feel fulfilled.
Most Popular Instagram Reel + Post This Month
Best Thing I Ate in September
I briefly mentioned this above, but in Oklahoma, I had the best hotdog I’ve ever had in my life. There was a food truck called The Weinery parked at Beavers Bend Brewery in Oklahoma and as a self-declared hot-dog-lover, I truly declare this the best I’ve ever had! The bun was beautifully toasted inside, but soft on the outside. The ingredients were high-quality and incredibly filling. I got the hot dog with chili, shredded white cheddar, cream cheese and I added fried onions to it. It was unreal!
Life Updates in September
We’ve been getting some work on our house setup. We’re reimagining our guest room in our basement into a space that better serves us. Matt’s desk was crammed in there with the guest room furniture, so we turned it into a shared creative space: half office/music room for Matt, half office/craft room for me! It’s got a long way to go, but we did get it painted this cozy, calm color.
What’s Coming in October
We’re still on our road trip through California and looking forward to what will surely be the highlight of the trip, seeing one of my favorite people in the world marry the love of his life! When we get back home we’ve got back-to-back weekends in Arkansas to explore the Ozarks in one of our favorite seasons! We’re excited to have some cooler weather to hike in and hopefully really hit some trails hard.
I hope you’re having a beautiful October and fall season.
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