March 2026 – A Monthly Roundup

March is one of my favorite months. Not because of my birthday – although, I do love birthdays – but mostly because it’s always the beginning of our family’s camping season every year and because it’s the beginning of spring – my favorite season. I love the feeling of fresh starts and seeing the world come alive again. It fills my cup and makes me feel alive again each year. Plus, this month has been overall incredible and that feels really good and really exciting too!

Travel Planning This Month

The biggest thing I’ve been planning this month is my group trip to Ecuador! That’s right, I’m hosting a trip to Ecuador with an amazing and adventurous itinerary. This is a women’s trip, and I’m so excited to get a group of women out together from the Andes to the Amazon with some cultural spots in Quito too! And guess what – there are still spots open! YOU CAN COME TOO! The whole vibe I’m trying to curate is one of Empowerment. I want women to feel empowered to travel the world, to connect and build community and to prove to themselves that they can do anything they set their minds too! I would love to have the chance to travel the world with you!

In other travel planning news, I booked a weekend camping trip with CJ next month. Just her and me! I cannot wait for this and I hope this is a tradition we keep forever. (Low-key hoping she’ll turn 16 and ask me to hike the PCT with her or something. Haha)

We also booked my Mother’s Day camping trip, which is taking us to a brand new destination in Arkansas. I’m really excited for this because I love a new experience and I love camping with my family.

Lastly, Matt and I got a week in Asheville on the books for this summer. We’ve been meaning to go back as a family for a couple of years, and this year it’s finally going to work out for us! We have a collective list of musts to visit, but I also have a few new things I want to do on our list for this year too! Grandfather Mountain, I’m looking at you!

Travel This Month

We kicked off the month with a camping trip to celebrate my birthday down in Ponca, Arkansas. This is a go-to destination for us. My request for this trip was to see something new since we go here a lot. The trip didn’t go completely as planned. Matt took a half day on Friday so we could have extra time… but tornadoes were in the forecast so we decided not to camp. So, instead we took a day trip up to Ha Ha Tonka. Then, Saturday morning, we went down to Ponca and because of those storms, the water levels were high and the waterfalls were flowing. We weren’t able to do one of the hikes because the road there was flooded out, but we still did Triple Falls (+ the hike to the top), Paige Falls and Balanced Rock Falls – which was my something new! It was a great trip, even if Liam in all of his three-ness is a lot these days.

Kate and I took a lovely little day trip down to Eureka Springs this month, after going on a little hike that morning with Shea, to celebrate my birthday. Kate planned the perfect day of all the woo-woo stuff for me. We went crystal shopping, bought beads, had our tarot read and had our aura photos taken! It was so much fun! I am so grateful for the beautiful friendships I’m forging in my thirties.

We finally took a camping trip I’ve been wanting to do since buying our first camper in 2023: Palo Duro Canyon State Park! We stayed in Canyon, Texas, and spent some time in the park, and we also did a little exploring around Canyon and Amarillo, Texas. It was a really fun place to spend a week and I really love that my parents came with us! This desert-dweller was thrilled to get time in red rocks, go to a museum, see some Route 66 kitsch, and just spend time as a family.

Local Adventures This Month

As usual, local greenways have been explored: Fellows Lake, McDaniel Park Greenway, Chadwick Flyer and the Springfield Nature Center. I tried a couple new food trucks: Chop Shop and Soal Food – I got to talk with the owner of Soal about my time in her hometown, which also happens to be my favorite town in the world: Luang Prabang, Laos. My hiking club met up twice and had close to 50 women both times. I love that it’s spring again and I get to see these ladies (and meet so many new ones) twice a month now!

Plus, local, but a little more distance away, Shea, Kate and I had our monthly girls day. It took us down to Branson to the Lakeside Forest Nature Park where we hiked a few miles on a brand new trail for me. Then, we went up to Walnut Shade, to Bear Creek Winery where we had lunch and wine slushies.

Blog Posts from March

February 2025 – A Monthly Roundup – This is monthly roundup, just like this one, from last month with laughs, favorite moments and more!
Tower Arch Trail – Arches National Park, Utah – This is a trail guide to one of the less-popular arches in Arches National Park, simply because it’s a little harder to get to the trailhead.
Feeling Settled at 36, In the Most Adventurous Way – A little note of self-reflection on my 36th birthday.
Loving Patagonia – An Intro to One of the Most Iconic Trips of My Life – My dad and I have taken a lot of amazing father/daughter trips, but it feels like this is one that was awe-inspiring in the beauty of the landscapes and the awakening it gave us for our everyday lives. It felt like it needed an intro, and eventually I’ll link the other posts from this trip into this post.
Our Top Tips for Hiking with Preschool-Aged Children (Ages 3-5) – We’ve graduated into a family of four hikers – all of us on foot! And it’s such a beautiful journey! I love this age and this journey – even if it can be hard at times – and I wanted to share my favorite tips for hiking with preschool-aged tips that we’ve learned along the way!

Quote of the Month

“Go ahead and jsut love your f*cking life. Take pictures of everything. Tell people you love them. Talk to random strangers. Do the things you’re afraid of. Stop playing small. Take your life and make it the best story ever written.”

Best Thing I Ate in March

It feels like a cop-out to say this meal because every time I have it in a month, it is my favorite meal. But, here it is… the brown butter and sage, parmesan crusted filet from Avanzare is just the best, every single time. And gloriously, I got to have it twice this month. How lucky am I?! On my birthday date, I even paired it with a beautiful glass of Malbec.

What I Read in March

I paused reading Finding the Mother Tree because it wasn’t holding my attention as well as I wanted it to. So, I picked up Grandma Gatewood’s Walk: The Inspiring Story of the Woman Who Saved the Appalachian Trail. It was wonderful. It was so much more than a trail story. It was a time capsule of what life was like for a woman born just before the turn of the century who lived in rural Ohio and was married to an abusive husband. It told of her struggles, her ability to overcome and the beauty of the fact that a 67-year-old woman could become the very first woman (and only the third person) to thru hike the Appalachian Trail. It was incredible.

I listened to Wuthering Heights this month, with it being in the popular culture so much and having never read it. Hot take. I hated it. It wasn’t the yearning of Jane Austen, like I was imagining. It was a book about one of the most toxic relationships with one of the most toxic men that I’ve ever read in my life. 10/10 do not recommend. It was a chore for me to finish it. I’ve also started listening to the Fae of Snow and Ice Series. I’m enjoying it, but it is definitely more of a convenience read so far than a deep connection to the characters and story like Fourth Wing.

Most Popular Blog Post in March

For the third month in a row, Things to Know Before Driving Shafer Trail in Canyonlands National Park, Utah has been the top post on For the Love of Wanderlust! I always love when something from Moab makes the top of the list because it’s a place I pour my heart and soul in to writing.

Wild Motherhood Journey

My goal this month in my wild motherhood journey is encouragement and instilling confidence. This is the month that we really started setting Liam off on foot on hiking trails and he’s killing it! I will say, his spacial awareness and lack of fear stresses me out far more than CJ’s did at that age, but it’s all part of the learning process and I’m proud that he’s taking this on so fearlessly. Charleigh has also been trying to push herself more outside – tackling obstacles and crossing creeks on her own, confidently stating, “I’ve got this!” It’s so cute and I love watching them blossom.

Wild Motherhood Truth – I’m currently struggling with the pace at which I have to hike now. I miss being able to tackle a high number of miles in a few hours. I find myself pushing them to go faster and be distracted less because I selfishly want to see and do more. This is something I’m working on. Some days are simply about the destination and I want to see what’s at the end of the trail and if I have to wait for CJ to throw another gumball from a gum tree into the water to “give the river medicine” I’m going to give up on the trail. But also, I need to have the awareness that if this is something I want them to be into, I have to learn patience. I read somewhere that practicing patience is just that, a practice.

I’m also deeply considering homeschooling CJ starting next year with kindergarten. I have the passion to do it, the desire to have that time with her (Liam we’d keep in Montessori school for now) and when I asked which she would prefer, she’s saying being with me. So, I’ve been doing “homeschool light” this month, trying to see what our dynamic is as a teacher/student duo. I’m excited to take school outside a bit this month as well.

Taking Care of Myself in 2026

This month started camping season, which is always self-care for me. Checking out of the busyness that is our home life and work. That feels like taking care of myself in itself. I am still in therapy and I’ve been making some moves on my “For the Love of Wanderlust” business that feel big. I’m not ready to talk about all of them yet, but I am excited about them. One of those, though, launched this month and that is that I’m hosting a women’s trip to Ecuador in September! The itinerary is amazing and I’m excited to spend time with some adventurous ladies from the Andes to the Amazon!

I was going to use my birthday money for something practical this year – new Tevas because I’ve worn the soles off of mine in the last few years since I bought my last pair, and Matt encouraged me to just buy the shoes out of our normal budget and do something extra and fun with that money. So, very spontaneously, my friend Kate and I bought tickets to go see Zach Bryan next month! I can’t wait! Live music makes me feel things in big ways. So, I’m really excited for girl time and seeing someone whose music has been on all of my playlists for the last few years.

Home and Life in March

I turned 36 camping in Ponca, Arkansas. We made a beautiful day of treating myself to my favorite brekkie and coffee places in the area then attempting a new trail and pulling an audible when it didn’t work, to go to a different waterfall. We had a picnic at our camper – of my favorite camper meal that Matt cooks, and I sat in my rocking camp chair and read while the kids played and Matt cooked. Then, we did a new trail that felt like an adventure. The evening was simple pleasures. A moon pie while looking at the mountains, time spent writing and hanging out. It was beautiful.

At our house, we’ve been doing some spring cleaning, purging our house of old clothes, things our kids have grown out of and Matt has been building me a really kick-ass gear closet. I can’t wait to share the magic he did in that space next month.

What’s Coming in April

In April we’ve got a couple of weekend adventures on the books, but nothing too crazy. We will be staying closer to home, I’m sure, trying to save and prep for Nomad Summer 2026. But you never know. We’ve been known to take some crazy adventures on short notice before.

At home, we’ll be preparing the camper for living for 5 weeks, soaking up family time, doing some serious spring cleaning and trying to ensure we’re as ready as possible on all fronts for Nomad Summer!

I hope that everyone had the most beautiful March. That the beginning of spring has been kind to you and that April brings you all the joy, growth and adventure that you deserve.