Wander With Jen

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Taking the Shuttle to Shell Key Preserve

There is so much to do on the gulf coast of Florida. It’s hard to chose between sunset cruises, dolphin cruises, and all the different beaches. Finally we decided to take the shuttle over to Shell Key Preserve. The shuttle picks you up at Pass-a-Grille in St Pete Beach. We took the 10 am shuttle […]

Coyote Valley Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park

The Coyote Valley Trail is one of the easy meadow trails in the Kawuneeche Valley. Kawuneeche is the Arapahoe word for coyote because there have historically been a lot of coyotes in the valley. There are pit restrooms at the trail head. The trail is fairly heavily trafficked and sometimes in summer the parking lot […]

Blue Spring State Park, Florida

Several years ago I discovered Blue Spring State Park in a Florida travel guide. I asked my friend Laurie, who was from Florida, if it was worth the drive. She immediately said “That’s the best part of Florida!” Although it took many Florida trips before I went and saw it I was really glad when […]

A Quick Visit to Everglades National Park

We had an extra day in the Miami area, so what better to do than see the Everglades for the first time? It was a hot day in June. In Miami it was high 90’s and it was even hotter as we entered the park. After a brief one hour drive from Miami we reached […]

A Week in Venice Beach, CA

Venice Beach is definitely not one of the cheaper places you can visit. Even a lower end AirBnb is about $120/night, and that is for a very small studio apartment five blocks from the boardwalk. But surprisingly Venice beach itself is affordable and there is a ton of free stuff to do right there on […]

Four Hours in Versailles

I had planned to spend an entire day at Versailles but we had a few issues with the Metro breaking down. By the time we got to Versailles it was 1 pm. We were using our Paris Museum Pass which includes entrance to Versailles so it wasn’t like going in was wasting our money. Because […]

Four Days in Rocky Mountain National Park

Thursday, Arrival and Emerald Lake Trail As soon as the school year ended in May my daughter and I drove to Estes Park, Colorado. We stayed in a hotel that was walking distance to all the downtown festivities and about a 5 minute drive to Rocky Mountain National Park. Before checking in we had a […]

Biscuit Basin, Mystic Falls, Old Faithful in Yellowstone NP

Biscuit Basin, Mystic Falls, Old Faithful, and Hayden Valley There is so much to see at Yellowstone it’s hard to decide what to prioritize. I think Biscuit Basin is a must-see destination. I wanted to see Sapphire Pool really bad. We walked all around the boardwalk area and looked at all the geysers and springs. […]

Breakfast at Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade

After a morning of riding the Hulk, Spiderman, and Forbidden Journey we were starving and it wasn’t even lunch time yet. I had read some great reviews for Three Broomsticks so we gave it a go at about 10:15 am. When we got in line there was a nice display of all the breakfast offerings, […]

Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. – Terry Pratchett

Hiking

Emerald Lake Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO, US

We arrived at the Bear Lake trailhead about 4:00 pm and started off. We had tried two other times to hike up to Emerald Lake but never made it past Dream Lake because of snow. So we were really hoping to actually see Emerald Lake today, July 3. The trail is about 1.8 miles each […]

Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park

We saw Old Faithful the evening before we hiked Upper Geyser Basin, just so we had plenty of time to hike around the other geysers and springs in Upper Geyser Basin. Old Faithful was cool to watch but crowded. The parking lot and visitor center is also really crowded but once you get away from […]

Colorado River Trail, Rocky Mountain National Park

I have to say that this is my favorite hike in my favorite national park. It’s an easy walk that you can spend hours on in the mostly shady forest. There is usually a ton of wildlife on the trail if you’re quiet. And, for whatever reason, it’s not nearly as swamped as the the […]

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Florida

Solo Trip to Disney and Universal Orlando Theme Parks

After many years of taking my kids to Orlando I finally decided to try a solo trip. Would the Orlando parks be as fun if I was by myself? I decided to take advantage of Universal’s buy 2 days get 2 days free ticket on Undercover Tourist. I also had one day left on a […]

A Visit to Moe’s Tavern at Universal Orlando

We have been to Universal Orlando many times and never went into Moe’s Tavern. I didn’t realize it was a huge Simpsons-based food court! I went to Duff’s Brewery first, which is a waterfront bar, and got a Duff beer. I don’t know why that was so satisfying, but it was. It tasted roughly like […]

Hogsmeade, Universal’s Islands of Adventure

Our first full day of vacation we went to Islands of Adventure! It’s one of our favorite Orlando parks. First we went on Hulk and Spiderman and then we went to Hogsmeade! The first thing we always do is ride Forbidden Journey. We love that ride. My favorite part is the Quidditch ride through the […]

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National Parks

Trout Lake Trail, Yellowstone National Park, WY, US

One morning we (me, my son and my daughter) got up reeeeaaaaly early to listen to the wolves howl in Lamar Valley. We were hoping to see them but we could only hear them howling to each other that morning. At about 6:30 am we drove to Trout Lake Trailhead for a hike. I had […]

Two Days in Grand Tetons National Park

Day 1, Sunday: Grand Tetons We drove to Lava Mountain Lodge in Dubois from Denver. It only takes about 6 1/2 hours so we were there by 4 pm. We checked in, ate some sandwiches, then decided to drive to Grand Tetons National Park for the evening. Our plan had been to spend all day […]

A Day at Canaveral National Seashore

We try to do something new every trip. We had never been to Canaveral National Seashore, and I had a valid National Parks pass, so off we went! This park only costs a couple dollars to get a carload in. I think it was $3 if you didn’t have a pass. We stopped at several […]

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It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end. – Ursula K. Le Guin

Anywhere