Tag: thevaliantlife

New Beginnings and New Adventures

In the words of Britney Spears, “It’s been a while. I know I shouldn’t have kept you waiting, but I’m here now.” Yes, I did just quote a banger from her 2007 Blackout album so blame my lack of blogging for the last 2 years, but it felt like a fitting way to “Break the

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Ski Big 3: A Ski Vacation in Banff

The beautiful mountains, amazing ski resorts, and incredibly friendly people are what come to mind when I think about our time in Banff. I had dreamt about visiting this Canadian paradise for years. The majestic Canadian Rockies surrounded by brightly colored lakes sounded like the perfect vacation for us. And although my initial intent was to

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GoodBelly Probiotic Juice

Three years ago, my family and I went through a major transformation with our diet. I was a steak eating, milk drinking, I love to eat anything with a face kind of girl until my health started to deteriorate. It was hard for me to understand why I felt so lousy when I exercised pretty

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Redwood National Park

I’ve mentioned several times on this trip how the feeling of insignificance constantly emerges whenever we go sightseeing. I can still say that the most intense feeling of insignificance was definitely during our trip to see the Redwoods in northern California. Standing at the foot of these trees and looking up a couple hundred feet

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Oregon Coast (Part Two)

Florence After we left Newport, we had no idea where we were spending the night. Driving along I-5, we had so many rest areas to choose from, but highway 101 had nothing. Well, nothing free. We stumbled upon a campsite along the highway that had a few RV’s parked. Initially, we thought we got lucky

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Crater Lake National Park

When our time in Ashland ended, we made our way east to Crater Lake National Park. Prior to our visit, I did some research on the lake and found amazing photos of the park during summer. The crystal clear lake, awesome trails and beautiful flowers was an enviable sight, but I had to keep in

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Ashland, OR

Southern Oregon is a definite spot on our list that we would love to visit again. We are no strangers to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest was my home until my teens. It wasn’t until this trip that I had no idea how unfamiliar I was with the southern part of the state. Our first

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Lake Tahoe

We rang in 2016 in South Lake Tahoe, California. Growing up in the Bay Area, we were very familiar with Tahoe and its beauty. We knew it would be cold and snowy, but our plans were filled with hikes and more hikes. I imagined picturesque views of the lake where we would play in the

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