I have a highly complex relationship with the word trust to the point that it is tattooed on my arm as a daily reminder. If you want to hear the crazy story about this tattoo, check out my post “Why It's a Great Idea to Get a Tattoo with a Random Stranger in Denver, Colorado.”

I am one of those people who used to trust everyone at a younger age . . . until I realized I couldn't. I learned the hard way multiple times, opening up to "friends" about my life to discover they judge, spread rumors, or disclose personal information to others. Every time I opened up, my ass was handed to me, to the point that it was hard for me to trust at all.

As a local, this is both my favorite and least favorite time in DC. With the flowers in bloom and spring around the corner, you can feel the city come to life. With that, though, come many tourists, causing high traffic and low mindfulness.

First, I will take you through the history of these magic trees, then follow it up with the 7 things you should do to make your time in DC easy and fun!

Full disclosure here; I am not the biggest Denver fan. I first explored Denver in July 2020, extending my trip to Colorado after visiting Telluride. I spent three days in the city and made the most of it.

Since then, whenever I returned to Colorado, I spent a few days in Denver before returning to DC. After my week in Telluride, I decided to spend a week in Denver to see if I could enjoy this city more.

These are the places I have been going to since 2020.

I really love exploring outside of Denver, but if you are looking for things to do in Denver, you should check out the 9 places I usually go! They are always worth visiting.

In this post, I will discuss places to eat and drink. This post will only cover the places I have been to and loved in Telluride.

I have been to Telluride in the fall, winter, and summer months. Each season in this town has moments of fun, adventure, and beauty, but my favorite will always be winter. In this post, I will tell you all my snow activities and some suggestions for other ideas if you aren’t a snow bunny like me.

Kanab, Utah, is filled with fantastic places to hike, camp, or tour, and it’s worth visiting if you get a chance. Follow my tips to have an experience that’s even better than mine on your next solo trip to Utah, and remember always to leave no trace.

Tips and Trips to Successfully Camp, Hike, and Tour Page, Arizona!

This post will lay out where I camped and what I did in May of 2022 while in Sedona, Arizona. These tips and tricks will help you have a great time when you head out there.

My top things you should do in London, if you only have three days!

My food tips for eating around Copenhagen, Denmark!

As I mentioned in my post, The Troubles of a Solo Traveler in Islamorada: A Fiasco at Sunset, I decided to go to Homestead, Florida, since there were two National Parks within 30 minutes from there, and it was close to the Florida Keys. This post will give you more background on my trip and my travel review of Homestead, the Keys, and South Beach/ Miami.

I had three main goals on this trip to Florida, besides not catching Covid, and they were:

Biscayne National Park

Everglades National Park

Snorkeling (Praying I would see a shark!)

And I achieved all my goals! 

In this post, I will discuss all my snorkeling trips, where I went, how much I paid then, and if it was worth it. I will also discuss the mishaps, my combined love and fear of snorkeling, and the importance of taking care of the ocean…..

After work one afternoon, I headed to the preserve, which was about an hour away. The drive was pretty straightforward until I saw I was driving straight into a massive thunderstorm. I debated just turning around but stuck it out and finally made it to the preserve.

Once I got to the visitor center, I saw it was closed, and they had modified hours because of Covid. Outside the Big Cypress visitor center, though, is a boardwalk where you can walk and see alligators. When I pulled into the parking lot, I saw a family with their cat on a leash. I didn’t think too much about this situation; I ran into them later. While walking the boardwalk, I saw more alligators than at the Everglades; there were like ten or so just hanging out on the grass and in the water below the boardwalk…..

This blog post will only talk about Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center.

But I also debated whether I wanted to drive up to Shark Valley. It was about an hour or so from Homestead, Fl. Shark Valley has a 15-mile loop where you can bike or go on a tram ride to the Observation Tower. The tower is the halfway point on this loop, where you can get out and climb up the 45-foot observation deck and experience panoramic views of the Everglades.

This sounded cool, but in the interest of time, I decided to go to the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center, the park's headquarters. Once I arrived, I went straight to the visitors center to speak to my ranger friends (if you are new here, one thing I love is talking to the rangers!).

I started traveling solo because I had no like-minded friends and was fed up with myself for always waiting for someone to do something with me.

I have previously mentioned that you should NEVER wait for a person to travel with you. Take that trip!

"But Bel, I don't want to go alone!"

But baby, you aren't alone; you have yourself. She wants to go on that trip and learn, see, do, and experience new things. She also wants to know about you, and she wants you to learn about herself too. I learned this lesson in my late 20s or early 30s, and I wish I had known this much sooner.

We resumed hiking again but then stopped. It was getting too sketchy to hike, at least for me. When I sat down again, I saw these teens wearing white Nike sneakers, crop tops, and no water trying to hike through the snow we had been hiking in.

So, what does one do when it's raining like crazy in the Grand Tetons? Bring your rain gear!

In the morning, I got lucky. It wasn't raining yet, so I could make coffee. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, nor did I have breakfast before I started my adventure.

Last time, we discussed the start of my solo trip to the Grand Tetons and my hike up to Inspiration Point, which was, of course, inspirational! We also discussed the Cascade Canyon Trail and Hidden Falls. Be sure to catch up on this experience if you haven’t already read it.

After taking a quick side trip back down the mountain to Hidden Falls, I decided to it was time to set up camp before the storms came in.

I started my day sometime between 5:00 and 5:30 a.m., taking one last shower since I didn't know when my next shower would be. I headed to my car and started the trip to Grand Teton National Park Visitor center, about a 20-minute drive.

The sun rose over the mountains on my right as I left town. It was one of the prettiest sunrises I have seen in a long time. The sky broke from the darkness and clouds to produce different shades of blues, pinks, and yellows. I pulled over on route 189, the road you take to head to Grand Tetons, and watched the sunrise for a few minutes. The water was so still that it reflected the colors of the sunrise and the mountains. I didn't realize that the place I pulled over was a National Elk Refuge until I saw a sign.