2022 Year of Travel in Review – Always Lost & Elsewhere Bound

2022 was probably my busiest year of travel yet! Below are my five favorite destinations of the year, plus five highlight experiences and a collection of photos from each trip.

5 Favorite Destinations of 2022

Cabo San Lucas

I visited Cabo San Lucas for an extended weekend in January and it far exceeded my expectations! The people were very friendly, the city was charming, the food was great, and we really enjoyed kayaking, hiking, and a day trip to Todos Santos while we were there. It was the perfect sunny getaway right after the holidays, and I would totally recommend it to anyone looking to escape the January slump.
Las Vegas

This trip was a long time coming! We knew we wanted to visit Death Valley and other outdoor areas outside of the city, so we planned our trip during my school’s spring break in March. This was my second time visiting, and I did way less of the stereotypical Sin City activities and more used Las Vegas as a home base to explore the surrounding areas. Death Valley National Park was absolutely beautiful, and then I spent solo days hiking around Valley of Fire State Park and Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. I’ve been visiting more and more desert locales in the last few years and have come to really love the colors and features of the landscapes, which are so drastically different from what I see on a day-to-day basis living in Alaska.
Cordova

This was my first time visiting Cordova, and I was blown away! Between the end of the school year and summer school’s start my friend Liz and I snuck down for a few days over Memorial Day weekend for a girls’ trip. A southeastern Alaska town, we were expecting rain and fog all weekend but lucked out with some gorgeous sun!
Colorado

I visited Colorado in June to visit my brother and explored a few different spots around the state. My parents surprised us by crashing our trip and we had a lot of fun spending a day exploring Piney River Ranch with them before driving through tiny mountain towns to Rocky Mountain National Park. After a stop in Boulder we ended our stay with a few days in Denver before flying home.
Nome

I was very excited to accept a position working with the Alaska Arts Education Consortium in Nome! I taught visual arts at their August 2022 institute and was so excited to return to Nome for a second visit. (My first trip was 5 years earlier as a student at the same institute!) Dinner at Pingo’s restaurant, hiking Newton Peak, visiting the local museum, picking cloud berries, a day at Camp Nook, and driving out the road to Safety Roadhouse are just a few highlights of this trip. I’d love to go back for the Iditarod finish at some point and take a trip out to Pilgrim Hot Springs!

St. Thomas, USVI was technically my last trip of 2022 and the first of 2023, so I didn’t count it in the top 5 but man did I love this little island!

5 Highlight Experiences of 2022

Las Vegas Neon Museum

A friend recommended the Neon Museum as a point of interest for my spring break trip to Las Vegas and I was blown away! The tour was amazing and I’m shocked I hadn’t heard of the museum before- it’s such a cool nod to Sin City’s history.
Nome’s Train to Nowhere

Last time I was in Nome we drove out to Safety Roadhouse for the day, but this time around we went even further down the road! Our final destination was Nome’s Last Train to Nowhere, two abandoned trains in a gorgeous marshland near Solomon ghost town on your way to Council.
Weekend Concert Getaways

I was fortunate enough to sneak away for two weekend concerts during the school year (!) and both of them were awesome experiences. The first was Willie Nelson’s FarmAid in Raleigh, North Carolina. The second was Elton John’s farewell tour in Phoenix, Arizona. Both bucket list events, both filled with awesome people in new-to-me places.
Assateague Island’s National Seashore

I can’t believe this is even a thing but I have a confession to make….My family has camped at Assateague Island State Park every summer since I was in middle school. And I had never been to the National Park side of the island until this year! I was feeling a little cooped up one day and took the bike trails to the other side of the island. It was stunning! I couldn’t believe I’d spent all those year so close to this area but never explored it before. Definitely an amazing way to experience an old favorite!
Exploring California more: Julian, the Getty, & Hiking the Hollywood Sign

California trips have become pretty common for me, but these weekend trips offered some pretty amazing experiences. As an art teacher, the Getty was obviously amazing, but I never knew that you could hike to the Hollywood sign! We did it in the spring and it was beautiful. Another spring trip took me to Julian for my birthday, where my boyfriend surprised me with a little cabin rental. We stopped in Oceanside on the way and had an awesome weekend filled with tiny towns, old-school donuts and hikes!