sabbatical – The Pursuit of Life

October 19, 2016 / 4 Comments

A New Adventure | Moving Home to Florida

Article Circle, Alaska

What an incredible sabbatical this has been. We have been on the road exploring the West for 7 months and our road trip has recently come to an end. I am in mourning. BIG TIME. I have loved this time for us to be free, to explore, to see the most beautiful, varied, breathtaking landscapes that our country has to offer, all on our own time without a schedule, without normal everyday stresses, without any strings attached. It has been a dream – that is the only way to describe it – and it already seems like a dream. Like it didn’t happen. I have to remind myself that it did happen and we were so lucky to have been able to take some time out of real life to explore and satisfy some wanderlust for a while. If you think it has gotten the wanderlusting out of our systems, you are sadly mistaken. It has only whetted our appetites for more travels, more meeting new people, more adventures, more crafting our lives to be what we want them to be. But now it’s time to put down some roots and get back to reality, as much as that pains me. And so we have moved back home to Florida!

Florida life

August 24, 2016 / 6 Comments

So, what exactly do you guys do all day?

Driving through British Columbia

We get this question often – what exactly do you do all day on your road trip? What’s a typical day look like? Excellent question, and honestly it varies from day to day and area to area. But here I’ll break down some examples for you.

Road tripping through the Yukon

July 11, 2016 / 5 Comments

Life on the Road | June Digest

Hey Marmot, you’ve got something in your teeth! 😉

How on Earth is it July already?! We’ve been on the road for 4 months now, and still loving every minute … okay maybe not loving it when the rain’s been pouring on us for a bit, but we will take some rain if it means lovely waterfalls, rainbows and bright sunny days come afterwards! We are now embarking on the part of the trip that I have eagerly anticipated the most – Alaska! But for now, here is the tally of facts and figures from the last month – June 10th through July 10th:

June 28, 2016 / 0 Comments

Insta-Lately

Cascade Locks, Oregon, Teardrop Camper

Here are some recent Instagram snaps from @thepursuitof_life! If you aren’t following along and would like to see more of our day-to-day wanderings, head on over to Instagram to follow!

La Push, Olympic National Park, Washington

June 22, 2016 / 7 Comments

100 Days On the Road

Well we have officially been on the road for 100 days! Well a couple more than that by now. Our 100th day fell on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and we spent the day sea kayaking around San Juan Island in very windy seas but beautiful sunny weather, searching the horizon for signs of Orcas or other whales or dolphins. We didn’t see any whales unfortunately, but spotted a number of Bald Eagles, including some mating activity, and had a lovely time exploring the western coast of San Juan Island, and getting a workout in to boot.

So, as we celebrate this milestone of 100 days into this grand adventure, here are some random thoughts from me.

May 6, 2016 / 1 Comment

Life on the Road | April Digest

The Wave at Coyote Buttes, Northern Arizona

Another month on the road! Here is the tally of facts and figures for our roadtrip as of May 3rd (a few days over the month mark!):

May 1, 2016 / 2 Comments

The Grand Canyon – South Kaibab Trail and Exploring the Inner Canyons

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” – John Muir

South Kaibab Trail, Grand Canyon

April 19, 2016 / 4 Comments

EASTERN SIERRAS, CALIFORNIA

Also known as that time I took my in-laws to a nudist colony.

Ancient Bristle Cone Pine Forest

Ryan is obsessed with the Eastern Sierras. He’s been a couple of times on fishing/camping trips with his buddies, and he raves about it every time he returns. So when Ryan’s parents were coming to join us on our adventure for a couple of weeks, he really wanted to take them to the Eastern Sierras for part of the trip. We drove our little caravan of campers up from Joshua Tree to the Eastern Sierras, which is an area of central California that falls on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains, close to Yosemite and Sequoia National Park but on the other side of the range. It is a beautiful, remote part of the state where the mountains fall straight down into a beautiful open valley. It’s difficult to get to, which is why it remains relatively unspoiled and off the beaten path – perfect for us!

April 11, 2016 / 8 Comments

So how did we decide on a 6 month road trip anyway?!

Excellent question. If you’ve decided to take some time off from work to do something different for a bit, how do you begin to decide what to do? For us it was a long time of what ifs and how abouts and that sounds interestings. One hears from time to time about those people who just quit their jobs, sell their belongings, and travel the world. Actually one often reads about them in a magazine or newspaper or blog. I certainly have – in fact I usually print those stories out and put them on my desk amidst the stacks and stacks and stacks of papers, intending to read up on these fascinating people if only I could find the time.

And then about a year ago, I said to Ryan – no, really, why not?! And that started a semi-serious conversation about whether we could actually take some time off.

February 5, 2016 / 19 Comments

THE PURSUIT OF ADVENTURE | A SABBATICAL

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me – Walt Whitman

We are going on a road trip. For six months. We’ve taken leave from work, given our landlord notice and done our best to purge all of our extra belongings. And so begins an expedition of sorts, an odyssey to explore the West, see where an unstructured life will take us, and give ourselves time to exhale and relax and just be. Here’s why.

Why Not?! It seems like a no brainer – if you find yourself with the opportunity to take a sabbatical and put some wanderlusting into action, why on Earth wouldn’t you? Well, yes. But it’s so much easier dreamt than done. We, like most of you, have for years heard about those people who have cast aside their responsibilities, sold their belongings and quit their jobs and traveled the world. And we always thought wow, I wish we could do that. How lucky those people must be. And then it hit me about a year ago. Why not? For better or worse, I have always been someone who thought: if he can do it, I can do it. And so we started to really think about it and to think about what we would want to do with some time off.

The Pursuit of Life

Tag: sabbatical