A to Z Recap

I did it! I completed the A to Z Challenge. I think I blogged for maybe a week before it started, so this has really been my introduction to WordPress. The challenge definitely provided motivation for writing, and it introduced me to a lot of new bloggers that inspire and motivate me further.

Z is for Zehro’s House

Though this isn’t a place many people can visit, I struggled with Z places I’ve been to so this will have to do!

There used to be a pizza place in my town called Mizza’s Pizza and it was run by Mizza’s brother, Nuhi. His pizza cook was Zehro. Nuhi is Albanian and Zehro is Bosnian and they are two of the kindest most generous people I have ever met. My sister and I both worked there as waitresses and they not only fed us, but they helped us with our lives outside of the restaurant.

When my parents were hiking The American Discovery Trail and gone for a year my sister was left to take care of the house. Zehro would come over and take care of our gardens and help us grow fresh produce. In the winter he would come and snow-blow our driveway. They checked up on us to see how we were doing, always willing to lend a helping hand. One of my favorite examples of Zehro’s kindness and generosity is when I went to visit him at his house.

Y is for Yellowstone National Park

After our Wonderland Trail hike we visited my Uncle Pete in Olympia, Washington then drove up to Vancouver Island and finally made a stop at Yellowstone National Park before going home. Yellowstone is incredible and there are two memories that stick out to me.

First, the bison. I had never seen a bison in real life before and in Yellowstone they are everywhere. There was a time when the herd was moving and just blocking the road and the rangers said you just have to wait for them. I love that. In the park the nature is in charge, not the people.

Walking in Wonderland

Here’s part 1: W is for Wonderland Trail in Washington and I will share more pictures soon!

SI Exif

X is for “X-Rated”

X is hard. I haven’t been to a place that starts with X, at least that I can think of. So instead I’m going to share pictures of my pets that are “X-rated”. THEY AREN’T REALLY DON’T GET SCARED.

See the featured image for what Garfield normally looks like. He just got brought to the groomer. Some might call him…naked.

W is for Wonderland Trail in Washington

W day is here! I’ve never been more excited!! (Okay, that’s definitely not true.) Anyway, I wrote a story called Walking in Wonderland that I would love to share. I am going to break it into pieces like the Oregon story because it’s a bit long BUT I wrote it soon after hiking so the memories were very fresh and I actually had time to go over the story and make it “good” instead of just typing it up on the spot. I also have a ton of pictures that I’d like to share along the way. I won’t lie, I’m very proud of this story and accomplishment of hiking the Wonderland Trail so I really hope you enjoy it too! 🙂 Now without further delay:

Oregon: The Ending!

FINALLY getting around to ending this epic saga… 🙂 Check out Part 1 and Oregon: Part two! if you haven’t already! And here’s a quick refresher: We left off with my parents now missing for two days and we still had no contact with them. Our decision was to wait until a set time the next day and then head to a ranger station if they didn’t turn up.

V is for Vancouver Island

When my family took a vacation in Washington to hike the Wonderland Trail (which I am super excited to write about for W!) my parents wanted to include a trip to Vancouver Island in Canada to visit one of their friends.

We were told what a great time we would have because it would be on the beach and it was a very beautiful place. This is what convinced us to take the 13 hour drive from my uncle’s house in Washington to Vancouver Island (not that my siblings and I really had a say anyway).

When we arrived it was bitter cold, windy and rainy. Our 13 hour drive led us to this:

U is for Utah

I am a day behind the A to Z so here is my catch-up post! I went to Utah on one of my family’s western U.S. vacations and we did a lot of hiking as well as camping in Arches National Park. I don’t know where our pictures are from said vacation, so I got some from the web to share since it truly is an incredible park to visit.

T is for Tennessee

My high school band got to take a big field trip every other year and Florida happens every 4 years while the other trip changes location. The trip my class went on was to Nashville, Tennessee. We got to visit and see a show at the Grand Ole Opry, listen to an Elvis impersonator, and visit many more historical and musically relevant places. Unfortunately, I was in high school so most of my pictures are me being silly with my friends…. oh well, I will share some anyway! 🙂