The blogger returns

Welcome to summer!! :) I've officially started the road trip to National Parks of the West.  I've updated my calendar a bit and am currently on my second and third parks (they're so close, I visited each yesterday for a sneak peek and will explore more in the next few days). I just left Big Bend National Park in the southwest corner of Texas. A friend is a new Law Enforcement Park Ranger there and it was neat to see a little behind the scenes action. 

Now that I'm back to camping with no internet or human entertainment, some blog updates are long overdue. I also no longer hold any hope of being a travel writer or blogger because it is clearly not my thing ;). 

I figured I'd do a quick roundup of what's been going on in the gap year and then share more of the details. I left off back in late February with my awesome volcano overnight hike. From there, I spent a week at Lake Atitlan relaxing with other backpackers, kayaking and hiking. Next up was Semuc Champey, which included a bout of illness, swimming in a cave and exploring amazing pools of water on top of the river. I then headed to Flores for more lakeside relaxing and a trip to Tikal (Mayan ruins). The next adventure was across the border in Belize where I went to another cave, saw more ruins and spent a week on an island that was golf cart only. 

By the time I returned home, it was late March and winter was over (for the most part). I wasn't home too long before my parents and I traveled to Ireland. It was the first overseas trip for my dad and his new passport and the longest time for the three of us together in a long time ;) (maybe ever). I had a quick respite at home before joining some friends in Acapulco and then home to prepare for this summer road trip. 

I started in late April and headed to Memphis to stay with a friend for a week. Then down to Texas and I flew from Houston to Romania to join more friends for a May birthday holiday hike in the Carpathian Mountains. Three of six of us had our May birthdays on that trip :)! I visited friends in Houston before heading out to Big Bend and kick off the National Parks tour I've developed. I don't expect to be home until Labor Day -ish. 

If you have any "must see" suggestions for me or want to fly out and meet me somewhere, just drop me a note :). Although I dropped my iPhone a couple days ago and it might be a week before I can get that back up and running. So I'm running off my iPad and free wifi for now.