Happy Birthday She Who Wandersđ. Today you are 1! Still a baby by most standards but hell you've seen so much in your 12 months of being live on the World Wide Web.
I started blogging a fair few years back (on Tumblr) posting song lyrics, and movie quotes. From there I moved onto social media & left Tumblr in the dusty background. Then came the faithful day I packed up my life in Montreal and moved to Tiny Jasper Alberta to start a job and wanted a way to share my new life with everyone back home that wasn't 10 group chats. From there my obsession with travel grew and grew & before I knew it I was Australia bound & the blog was a way for me to share photos and my adventures. I used it as a platform to help those at home feel as included as they could without actually being with me and hopefully as a too for others who were wanting info on the same places I had been. When I wasn't traveling I used it as a way to express how I felt being sedentary while I waited for my next big trip. And then last year happened. I found myself back in Canada (indefinitely) and was missing being lost somewhere in the world and wanted to keep sharing but have the ability to share more than just my words. I wanted to change things up and re-vamp the blog..and so the website was born! And oh what a year it has been. I realized quite quickly after leaving New Zealand that I had basically left my soul in that amazing country and that Vancouver was not what I had hoped or wanted it to be for me. Don't get me wrong, I have been on some absolutely amazing adventures throughout BC and the PNW in the last year, but I have never felt completely content with being here. Iâve been at my happiest when Iâve been out exploring and traveling, but coming back âhomeâ was not something that I ever looked forward to while I was away. But as this is a Happy Birthday post, Iâll stay off the negativity train for right now! Check out the first post I ever published for the site here!
Hawaii â Kaui & Oahu My first trip of 2016 was one I had been dreaming about for years & even more so a much deserved reunion with my best friend! Two weeks, two tropical islands & a kick ass adventure buddy? Nothing more could compare!
Victoria, BC Vancouver Island, so close to Vancouver, but yet it still took nearly 10 months for me to hop the ferry and get over to explore all the amazing things that island has to offer! And with 2 great travel buddies (Aussies always make for good friends right?)
Kelowna, BC A place that will always be close to my heart, having had it be the first place I ever traveled to some 8 years ago. My dadâs side of the family moved from Montreal to Kelowna when I was quite young and now that Iâm currently calling the West Coast home Iâve been sure to take advantage of how close we all are now by making the trip up to the Okanagan a few times.
Again, somewhere so close, and so quintessentially Canadian but took me almost a year to visit. Home to the 2010 Olympics and some of the best skiing in Canada (lost on me however) I opted for a summer weekend adventure in Whistler & I was certainly not disappointed!
Home of craft beer, waterfalls & some of the best food Iâve ever had. I spent my 27th birthday exploring a city that I could have honestly spent weeks getting to know. For as much as you hear about Portland, itâs all true & then some!
Home Sweet Home. A surprise trip for the books, with a little help from a friend I was able to get one over on not only both my parents but my brother as well. The look on their faces when I showed up at a restaurant for dinner will always tug at my heart strings. A quickie trip back east to get my fill of friends, family & food was just what I needed!
Tofino, BC Labour Day weekend? Definitely the perfect time for a getaway. Although the weather was not what Iâd hoped for I definitely was not disappointed! So many rain forest trails, incredible stretches of beach & basically the cutest seaside town Iâve seen in a long time.
Nothing more than a day trip, but probably the single best day of my whole summer. Joffre Lakes Provincial Park was a hike I had been dreaming of doing for years since I originally moved to the west coast back in 2010 (to Alberta) and with the sun up high & not a cloud in the sky Iâm sure you can imagine how stoked I was to be seeing this all myself.
Penticton, BC Wine + Reunions + Adventures = a perfect weekend. A great friend came up from Washington state for the weekend and together we got to take advantage of the insane amount of wineries the Okanagan has to offer.
What do you do when you find a ridiculously cheap seat sale & need some serious sun in December? Book a trip to California. For as long as I can remember Iâve always been dreaming of California, and if the 4 days I spent exploring SF were indicative of what Cali has to offer, I will definitely be back, & soon!
I finished off 2016 with a trip home for the holidays, my first one in 6 years & man did I need it. There is nothing quite like being surround by your favourite people in the world during the holidays.
And then before I knew it, it was 2017! While I havenât done any traveling or even day trips yet this year Iâve had a few exploring days around the city & up in the mountains. Plus, a reunion visit with my best friend from Ontario & a cheeky trip up to Whistler to see it in all itâs snowy (but effing cold) glory. There were a few other highlights from the last year that didn't make it into the highlight reel so here a little snapshot!
So what does 2017 have in store for She Who Wanders? Your guess is as good as mine! I started last year off with a trip already booked & planned, but this year thatâs not the case. Iâm in a stage of âfiguring it all outâ, of trying to see where it is I really want and need to be & just how to make that happen. Iâm doing my best to stay positive about my current situation, and while itâs not always easy for me to do I am beyond grateful to have this platform to share my experiences & feelings about my situation with you. This whole experience has been amazing so far, and while the site & the platform are still young I have aspirations and dreams of what it could become & am doing what I can to promote it and work towards making it just that. I want (and plan) to keep sharing everything with all of you and hope that some of it inspires you or makes you curious. I can't express how grateful I am for all the advice and help I've received related to the site,posts & even Instagram. To everyone who has been a guest poster for She Who Wanders, I love you guys! You've all given a little bit of your heart & a lot of your time/effort into the posts that have been featured and I hope to work with more of you in the coming year(s).
So with that, letâs hope that 2017 ups her travel game for me because Iâm itching to take you all along on this wild rideâïž