About Us

Hi there. We are Scott and Kathy, and we’ve been traveling the U.S. National Parks for over 11 years. We have been to more than half of the national parks, and we love to share our travels with friends and family. Learn about our story below and enjoy our favorite travel blunders. Traveling doesn’t always go as planned!

Two hikers at New River Gorge.
Kathy and Scott at New River Gorge National Park

We got hooked on traveling since we started adventuring together in 2015. As we continued to explore the United States, we found that we loved our trips planned around visiting the national parks.

When we aren’t working our day jobs, you can find us dreaming of our next hiking adventure. We prefer a nice, cushy bed at the end of the day, so all of our itineraries are created with no camping in mind. Plus, our last camping trip ended in a washout!

You can find us spending some of our free time creating itineraries that would rival one planned by a travel agent. We have had countless family and friends ask us how they can go to the places we go. Some have even asked us to provide them with details on the exact trip we took, so they can plan an unforgettable trip of their own.

Fun Facts About Us

🧭 We’ve been traveling together since 2015!
🦠 One of us is a disease detective, and the other is an elementary school teacher. 👩🏼‍🏫
✈️ We can really only travel during certain times due to our 9-5s. You can do it too!
🌴 Our favorite city we have visited to date is Charleston, SC!
🏔️ Our favorite national park we’ve been to so far is Glacier National Park in Montana. 😍
🍕We could both eat pizza for every meal.
🅾️ Finally, on Saturdays in the fall, you’ll find us screaming at the TV. Go Buckeyes!

Upcoming Destinations

  • Virgin Islands National Park

Favorite Travel Spots

There are too many to choose from! A few of our favorite spots include:

Favorite Travel Blunders

Where should we begin?! Traveling is not always puppies and rainbows. Things can quickly go south.

  • We almost got stranded in Denver during intense thunderstorms on our way to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. We got on the last flight to tiny Idaho Falls and arrived at 3 am, only 8 hours after our planned time! We showed up at our hotel after driving in the pitch black for an hour to find that they had canceled our reservation as a no-show (even though we called them), but they got us a room in the end.
  • We watched our connecting flight departing as we were landing in New York City during our return home trip from Florida, and almost got stuck at LaGuardia due to the weather. We couldn’t even find a rental car to drive home, but we lucked out with a VERY helpful gate agent who somehow magically got us on a flight that “didn’t exist” to us on any search engine.
  • A rental car company slapped us with a $900 damage claim during our visit to amazing Maui. Learn more about how to avoid this on our post here!
  • On our trip to Lake Tahoe and Great Basin National Park. Our flight was delayed until the next morning. We were stranded in Dallas due to the weather and other airport issues. Tornado sirens and fire alarms were sounding in the airport, and chaos ensued. We got to spend the night in a hotel 20 miles from the airport with no luggage or change of clothes. Waiting for the hotel shuttle in 100°F weather for an hour was not pleasant. That being said, we learned our lesson to carry some extra clothes in our backpacks. Oops!
Have you ever had a flight delayed to the next day?

Our most EPIC travel blunder of them all:

During our trip to Washington and Alaska, on our way home, we had quite the adventure. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes due to air traffic control issues in Chicago, where we were connecting. The delay kept growing: first an hour, then two hours, which meant we would miss our connection. We chatted with the gate agent (along with everyone else at the gate) and secured spots on a backup flight from Chicago to Columbus the next morning. Okay, we’ll figure it out, right?

  • We boarded the plane and sat for an hour before a mechanical issue was announced. Apparently something in the cockpit was smoking?! We were deplaned. They thought they had fixed the issue, so we reboarded about an hour later. Good thing we had that backup flight. We were now planning on spending the night in Chicago, arriving around 10pm, so the hotel search began, though we decided to chance it and hope our Chicago connection would also be delayed.
  • We boarded again and thought all was well, but there we sat with the cockpit door open. We were then told the aircraft could not fly — the fix hadn’t worked — but that they were bringing over another plane. That plane had to be deboarded and cleaned first. So we all deboarded AGAIN and waited at the gate for another hour. Our flight was now set to land in Chicago at 3:14am. Guess we’re sleeping in the airport with our morning flight. Or so we thought…
  • The flight attendants then started leaving, and we KNEW it was all downhill from there. Communication was minimal and passengers were getting frustrated. Finally, the ramp supervisor filled us in. The pilots and crew would time out while taxiing on the runway, meaning the flight was essentially canceled. The pilot was amazing and genuinely wanted to get us to Chicago, but his hands were tied.
  • Luckily, Kathy and I were already near the front of the line at the gate. The agents were incredibly helpful given how stressful the situation was, though a belligerent passenger began berating them and security had to be called. 😲
  • While we waited in line, the airline sent hotel and food vouchers to everyone via text. That was promising, but we still needed a new flight home since the app wasn’t working and the available flights had us arriving at 11:30pm the next day. Terrible! Eventually, our awesome gate agent got us booked on a different airline flying out the following morning.
  • We headed to the hotel listed on the voucher because only one option to choose from. We walked over, got completely lost in the parking garage along the way, and finally arrived to find a line out the door. The manager was informing everyone that the hotel was sold out. SAY WHAT?!
  • We regrouped with some fellow stranded travelers and started searching for open rooms nearby. The Hilton website showed availability just down the street, so we booked it and headed over. “The hotel is sold out. I’m not sure how your booking went through.” is what the front desk told us. NOOOOO!!! But here’s a shoutout to Hilton, the front desk staff went above and beyond and found us a room. We could finally get some rest, though we did have to pay out of pocket. (The airline will be hearing from me on this!)
  • The next morning we headed to our new airline, hoping our checked bag had transferred as promised. Thankfully it was smooth sailing. After a direct flight to Columbus, our bag arrived with us. We only got home 18 hours later than planned. Could have been worse! 😄
A screenshot of our flight delays.
This was not going to work!

Travel blunders are some of the most memorable. Even though they can really derail your plans and throw you for a loop as they happen, it’s always funny when you look back on it!

Locations on our Bucket List

  • All the U.S. National Parks – 46/64 visited!
  • Faroe Islands
  • Switzerland
  • Norway

Peanut Butter & Jelly

Wait….PB&Js? You saw that on our homepage, right? Well, let’s just say whenever we go hiking for the day, we bring PB&Js for lunch.

  • Do we get sick of PB&Js while traveling? YES!
  • Does it taste delicious at the top of a mountain? Most definitely.
  • Will we continue to count the number of PB&Js we eat? You can be sure of it!