Trees and Travels

     In the last few weeks, I filled out applications for a summer job at around 20 establishments in or around national parks. I received emails from 10 of them requesting a phone or Skype interview. There were only three interviews that I actually did. All three offered me a job. It came down to figuring out how my boyfriend and I could both get jobs at the same place, and several other factors in deciding which job to take. Out of the three locations, two of them also offered my boyfriend a job (he had contact with some places that never called me as well), Two of the places are right at the entrance of Denali National Park in Alaska, and the third is in Yellowstone. If you read my  last post  about this topic, you can probably predict our decision... We're Going to Alaska!      I'm going to be working at Denali Gift Companies . I'm not going to go too much into detail about the job itself, but here is some  job information  that ...

     Anybody who knows me personally knows that I despise being trapped in the Midwest for the majority of the year. There is one particular spot that makes me forget that I reside in such a flat, boring area. Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan is the perfect nearby getaway spot for people in the northern Midwest who wish that they were somewhere else. About the Park      Warren Dunes is run by the  Michigan DNR . The park has a few miles of Lake Michigan shoreline, trails, camping, and a giant sand dune. There are towns nearby for any of your needs. A nominal fee is charged per car, which is pretty standard for most state and national parks.      Camping      Camping is $22 per night for a basic non-electric campsite, and of course, a bit more for electric hookups. I have only been camping here once and stayed three nights. The campground is not on the water and is a little bit farther away than ideal. It's within...

     A new endeavor has recently risen in my life. It's not an entirely new idea to me, but it seems far more attainable and realistic than before. This new adventure would involve my boyfriend and me working in one of the many national parks in the U.S. for the summer. A Goal Reborn Angel's Landing, Zion National Park, 2014      Before the beginning of my last year of college, I realized that a career that I could truly imagine myself having would be a job as a park ranger. After I graduated with an only slightly related degree in elementary education, I put in applications at national parks. I found these jobs on  USAjobs.gov . Some of the listings required training that I didn't have. There were some ranger jobs that I qualified for due to my related coursework from college (mostly my science credits). The issue is that I have no experience working in a setting even close to that of a national park. To no surprise, I never got any calls that...

We all know that traveling has the potential to be very expensive. One of the most effective ways to ensure that you don't spend all of your money on a trip is to create a budget. Setting a budget is one of the tips I outlined in my video / blog post about 5 major ways to save money while traveling. Budgeting is one of the more straight-forward ways to manage your travel money, but can sometimes be difficult to manage. Before You Plan... Before you begin to figure out a budget, you have to ask yourself if there are some things that you know that you want from your trip. Is there a specific amount of time you want to spend on your trip? Are there places in particular that you are already starting to plan to visit during the trip? Having a vague idea of your trip will help you to set a viable budget before you start the specific planning. For instance, if you know that you want to spend a week camping, you know that you’ll need to pay for a week’s worth of food and campsites...

1:00pm      There's no way around it-- from August to May, I'm stuck in the Chicago suburbs for the school year. I get restless. This only increases as the time goes on, particularly in the winter time. Travel is hard, and frankly, I'm a baby when it comes to the cold. What am I to do? How am I supposed to get my nature fill when I am trapped in middle-class subdivision-warehouse-department store-chain restaurant-land? The only thing that one could do in this situation is enjoy the little things.      As I type this out, we are receiving the first snowfall of the year. On most years, the first snowfall comes quite a bit before December 4th. Attribute the lateness to climate change, abnormally mild weather conditions, or coincidence-- I kind of like the timing. There was no snow until the start of meteorological winter, and I'm okay with that. Plus it's a Sunday. I don't even need to drive in it.      Anyway, I've been able to spend my Sun...

     During a visit to Rhode Island, I had the pleasure of stopping for the afternoon at the  Cliff Walk  in Newport. This was a lovely, peaceful stroll down a path with the ocean on one side and rich architecture on the other side. The path is 3.5 miles long, but we did not get to the whole thing.      There are a couple different spots from which you can start the Cliff Walk. We parked and started at Narragansett Ave. It is metered parking, but was only a few bucks for three hours. This is also the spot called Forty Steps. A guy got his credit card stuck in the parking meter... He was trying to put it in the slot where the receipt comes out, if I remember correctly...      Anyway, we checked out the Forty Steps area. It was very nice, but a little bit crowded. There were a couple bathrooms there that had long lines. The Forty Steps themselves are stairs leading down to an area good for ocean viewing. There are rocky edges vis...

     Over the past couple years, I've done a fair amount of traveling. Now I wouldn't say I'm a cheap person, but I certainly enjoy saving money. Being that I don't mind traveling using minimal resources, I've developed some tips that can help others while planning and traveling. Be advised-- these tips may not work for everyone. If you're willing to live without some certain accommodations, you can plan a trip on relatively small budget.      1. Set a Budget      Speaking of budgets, they are my first tip! Set a budget before traveling as opposed to planning and setting a budget after the fact. Stick to your budget too! Don't let yourself come home broke. In a future blog post/video, I will talk about how you can maximize your trip based on your budget.       2. Go Camping!      Sleeping accommodations can easily become your biggest expense while traveling, but they don't have to be. Camping is gen...