Posts in Travel
Terceira, The Azores (Day Six): Ponta dos Biscoitos & Alto da Memória
Terceira, The Azores (Day Six): Ponta dos Biscoitos & Alto da Memória

On our final day in Terceira, we took a roadtrip to the northern part of the island to check out the natural lava rock pools of Biscoitos. This area of the island is famous for its wine, and the drive took us through lush green pastures and vineyards. The lava pools are along the coast and filled by the ocean but protected from the waves. They’ve built platforms where you can sunbathe (or eat yet another grocery store atum sandwich), and some of the pools have concrete steps or ramps built down into them. The shallower pools/the ones further away from the ocean tended to be warmer, and we enjoyed swimming with some interesting looking fish while being sheltered from the waves. I would recommend having some kind of swim shoes (my trusty Chacos did just fine), since lava rock is deceptively sharp.

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TravelHannah Schultztravel, travel with me, International travel, portugal, azores, terceira, ponta dos biscoitos, alto da memoriaComment
Terceira, The Azores (Days Four & Five): Sightseeing in Angra do Heroísmo, Lava Tubes, & Volcanic Hiking
Terceira, The Azores (Days Four & Five): Sightseeing in Angra do Heroísmo, Lava Tubes, & Volcanic Hiking

On day four, we caught a flight from Ponta Delgada over to another island, Terceira, or the lilac island. It’s one of the largest islands of the Azores, and it’s home to the oldest city of the archipelago, Angra do Heroísmo.

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Travel, HikingHannah Schultztravel, travel with me, International travel, terceira, azores, angra do heroismo, lava tube, hike, misterios negros, algar do carvão, gruta do natalComment
São Miguel, The Azores (Day Three): Hot Springs Soaking in Furnas
São Miguel, The Azores (Day Three): Hot Springs Soaking in Furnas

On day three, we took a roadtrip to Furnas, which is the thermal hotspot of the Azores. The town itself is nestled in a dormant volcanic crater that last erupted in 1630. The residual volcanic activity is still present in the form of steaming fumaroles, thermal pools, and natural mineral springs.

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Travel, NatureHannah Schultztravel, travel with me, International travel, sao miguel, portugal, azores, hot springs, furnas, terra nostra park, pocas da dona beija, cozido das furnasComment
São Miguel, The Azores (Day Two): Dophin-Sighting and Snorkeling at Vila Franca Islet
São Miguel, The Azores (Day Two): Dophin-Sighting and Snorkeling at Vila Franca Islet

Our second day on São Miguel, we booked a full-day whale and dolphin watching tour that included a snorkeling excursion to Vila Franca Islet. We booked our tour through Picos de Aventura, and it was a good experience. The tour left from the marina, where we were given heavy-duty raincoats to keep off the cold sea spray. The boat itself was pretty small, so you got hit by a lot of spray. The seats were fairly comfortable on the ride out to the island—you were essentially horseback riding the cushion, with each space for a passenger separated by the seat back. On the way back, my thighs and butt were definitely feeling pretty sore from this position and the up-and-down motion of the choppy waters.

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Travel, NatureHannah Schultzsao miguel, portugal, azores, travel, International travel, dolphin, snorkel, vila franca islet, ponta delgadaComment
Travel With Me: São Miguel, The Azores (Day One)
Travel With Me: São Miguel, The Azores (Day One)

After our overnight flight to PDL, we decided our first stop would be to see some nature before checking into the B&B. The Jardim Botânico António Borges was founded in 1861 by a wealthy citizen of Ponta Delgada, and it is now a free public park. There are tree species from across the globe, caves, and a viewpoint that you can access at the top of a restored cistern. This introduction to the island did remind me of Hawai’i, as that was the only other place I’ve ever seen Moreton Bay fig trees like the one pictured above.

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TravelHannah Schultztravel with me, International travel, azores, islands, portugal, sao miguel, ponta delgada, botanical garden, Jardim Botânico António Borges, Pópulo beach, Forte De S. Caetano, Lagoa das Sete Cidades, Vista Do Rei, Boca do InfernoComment
Red Rock Scrambling in Garden of the Gods (Colorado Springs, CO)
Red Rock Scrambling in Garden of the Gods (Colorado Springs, CO)

We’re rounding out the blog posts about my trip to Colorado last spring with my first visit to Garden of the Gods. The park was originally privately owned and upon the death of Charles Elliot Perkins in 1909, much of his land was donated to the city of Colorado Springs to establish this free public park. There are several notable rock formations here, as well as layered sedimentary rock that has been upheaved into striking spines by the mountain-building forces that shaped the Rockies.

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Hiking, TravelHannah Schultzhike, hiking, colorado, colorado springs, garden of the gods, siamese twins, praying handsComment
Snow-Capped Mountains at Emerald Lake (Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado)
Snow-Capped Mountains at Emerald Lake (Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado)

We began the trip with a drive out to Rocky Mountain National Park. The last time I visited RMNP was in January when everything was well and truly frozen and snow-packed, so I was hoping things would be a little more thawed in April. We opted to try Emerald Lake, an easier 3.5-mile loop to an alpine lake nestled in the heart of the mountains. We were hoping that the lake wouldn’t be frozen despite the promise of snow lingering on the ground.

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Hiking, TravelHannah Schultzcolorado, Rocky Mountain national park, emerald lake, alpine lake, hike, hiking, longs peak, hallett peak, flattop mountain, denver, elkComment
Zion National Park (Day Three): Angels Landing
Zion National Park (Day Three): Angels Landing

We now come to the last day of our Zion National Park trip. We saved the hardest hike for last, which, in hindsight, is a good thing, because I couldn’t walk the next day (more on that later). Angels Landing is the most famous (or infamous) hike in Zion, and, as we learned during the hike, the most dangerous. In the last 21 years, 14 people have fallen to their deaths on this hike, the most recent just a few weeks before we did the same hike. Had we known this, would we (or at least I) have done this hike? Probably not. More on that later. I should also mention that we inadvertently saved Angels Landing for last because they had to repair a section of chain that had broken away in the previous days. Which was a whole other awesome anxiety to pile on to this hike.

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Hiking, TravelHannah Schultzhike, hiking, Zion national park, angels landing, death, refrigerator canyon, walter's wiggles, switchbacks, chains, scout's lookout, fear of heightsComment
Zion National Park (Day Two): The Narrows and the Emerald Pools
Zion National Park (Day Two): The Narrows and the Emerald Pools

If you read my first post about this trip, you’ll know that our Zion adventure came in the middle of a very busy semester during my PhD program, so I didn’t do the ~ best ~ job researching and planning beforehand. I’d done some cursory reading on how to make sure that the water level isn’t too high; otherwise, the Narrows is impassible. But it had completely slipped my mind to think about the water temperature. Or question my assumption that a canyon/river hike is the same as a normal hike. I can only imagine that the poor NP ranger we asked about water level and the conditions of the Narrows the previous day was giving us weird looks for looking as if we wanted to hike 9 miles in 45-degree water wearing only leggings/shorts and a t-shirt (which, in fairness, was our original plan).

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Hiking, TravelHannah SchultzZion national park, national park, narrows, emerald pools, hike, hiking, waders, Zion outfitters, virgin river, riverside trail, slot canyon, upper pool, middle pool, lower poolComment
Zion National Park (Day One): Watchman, Pa'rus, & Canyon Overlook Trails
Zion National Park (Day One): Watchman, Pa'rus, & Canyon Overlook Trails

It’s my eventual goal to hike every national park in the U.S, so for the past couple of years, I’ve been asking my in-laws for a National Parks Pass for Christmas as a good motivator to wrangle Ryan into a couple NP trips throughout the year. When my NP pass was bestowed on me for 2022 and we didn’t have any Spring Break plans, I knew we needed to go on another camping trip. Popular national parks tend to fill up quickly (like 6 months out), but by some miracle, there were still a handful of spots available in March for Zion, one of the parks we’d been wanting to make it out to. So at the start of my Spring Break, we packed up all our camping and hiking gear and made the 27-hour drive from Kentucky to Utah.

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Hiking, TravelHannah Schultzhike, hiking, Zion national park, watchman, pa'rus, canyon overlook, trail, trails, camp, watchman camground, springdale, utah, tunnelComment
Fall Hikes: Lye Brook Falls Trail (Manchester, VT)
Fall Hikes: Lye Brook Falls Trail (Manchester, VT)

Last October, my husband and I took a short Fall Break camping trip to Grout Pond in southern Vermont. In addition to hiking the lake where we were staying, visiting the cute towns in the area, seeing one of Vermont’s famous covered bridges, and driving up Mount Equinox to learn about Carthusian monks, we decided to do one bigger hike while in the area: Lye Brook Falls.

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Hiking, TravelHannah Schultzhike, hiking, lye brook falls, vermont, manchester, vt, wilderness, green mountain national forestComment
Chasing Fall Colors: Camping & Hiking at Grout Lake, Vermont
Chasing Fall Colors: Camping & Hiking at Grout Lake, Vermont

Ever since Ryan and I took our first camping trip together back in the spring of 2021, I’d been itching for another. So when Fall Break afforded us an extra long weekend, we took the opportunity to seek out some fall foliage in one of the premier scenic spots in the U.S: Vermont. When I was applying to college, I toured one up in Vermont, and I had fond memories of the stunning vibrant leaves and rustic charm of the state. We settled on Grout Pond in southern Vermont, near Stratton, nestled in Green Mountain National Forest, as our destination.

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Hiking, TravelHannah Schultzhike, hiking, camping, fall foliage, autumn, grout lake, vermont, vt, green mountain national forest, strattonComment