After being in a global pandemic for ten months during 2020, 2021 brought so much hope. The introduction of the vaccine left most people hopeful to return to their regular lives and for me, a return to travel. And that is what I did. After obtaining my vaccine the next order of business was to book a trip.
With the uncertainty of international travel, I kept holding out in hopes that restrictions would be lifted or stop changing every other week. I still felt that there was an overlying criticism of people getting back to traveling so tried to do it the safest way possible and didn’t advertise or post about travel as much. Between fear and anxiety about testing positive for COVID before or during my trip I elected to do more domestic traveling where restrictions for testing were not needed. Lucky for me the United States has so much natural beauty to escape to and some wonderful cities.
Also, my passport was due to expire by the end of this year, so I worked to renew that. This was the final year of my passport and the only year in it where I did not travel internationally. I am truly hopeful that 2022 will be more open for international travel despite the newest surge in COVID cases and more restrictions being placed again. Nevertheless, I went to some very incredible places this past year.
This year was once again a challenging year for work and balance. My goal of starting this blog was underway and I really tried to put some effort into making this blog into something. I realized right away that it was going to be a significant more amount of work than I even thought of. Having never built a website, I found myself reading other blogs and YouTube videos on how to do the smallest things. Pouring over old photos and trying to look up the places I had been and what I had done took even longer than anticipated. I told myself I really wanted to have more content, images and really get my social media started and up and running by the end of the year. As the months were nearing the end of 2021, I was flabbergasted with how much more I had left to do. I made the deadline though and I was going to stick to it.
Was my website ready on December 31st, 2021? I’d say not, but here we are published and out in the world. Like so many things you can delay putting off and trying to make perfect before releasing only to realize that if you don’t release it you never did it. Like when I dreamed for years of traveling around the world, that’s all it was fantasy until I took that leap. I am hoping this will project me into the next phase and development of this goal. I want to create more content and really focus on getting my social media platforms running this year. I want to be more in real time with my travels this year and in between focus on past adventures.
So, I met a goal and did a lot of travel and still 2021 was an exhausting year. I am still very hopeful that 2022 is going to be an even better and more productive year. In 2021, I started this new dream and chapter in my life. I just know 2022 to be a new year with a lot of promise and change and definitely more travel!
USA States visited
This year I traveled to and around 15 USA states:
AK, AZ, CA, CO, CT, FL, KY, MD, MT, NV, TN, UT, VA, WV, WY
Awesome cities explored
Tampa FL
St. Pete FL
Washington DC
Baltimore MD
Las Vegas NV
Solomon Island MD
Bozeman MT
Jackson Hole WY
Fairbanks AK
Valdez AK
Seward AK
Annapolis MD
Destin FL
San Francisco CA
Charleston WV
Lexington KY
Nashville TN
Havre de Grace MD
USA National parks visited
1. Shenandoah
2. Yellowstone
3. Grand Tetons
4. Assateague
5. Death Valley
6. Zion
7. Bryce
8. Grand Escalante
9. Wrangell- St. Elias
10. Kenai Fjords
11. Denali
12. Arches
13. Mesa Verde
14. Black Canyon of the Gunnison
15. Rocky Mountain
16. Yosemite
17. Great Falls
18. Catoctin
19. Harpers Ferry
Iconic travel & State Parks Visited
Valley of the Fire NV
Coral Pink Sand Dunes UT
Caladesi Island State Park FL
Silver Sands State Park CT
Radnor Lake State Park TN
Susquehanna State Park MD
Patapsco State Park MD
Hanging Lakes Park CO
Crab Island FL
Cheekwood TN
Annapolis Rocks MD
National Monuments/Historic Sites/Battlefields/Recreation Areas
Fort McHenry MD
Vermillion Cliffs AZ
Colorado National Monument CO
John Muir Woods CA
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Park KY
Stones River National Battlefield TN
Monocacy National Battlefield MD
Antietam National Battlefield MD
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area- Horseshoe Bend & Lake Powell
Golden Gate National Recreation Area- Marin Headlands & Muir Beach
