Practical Wanderlust

Off-Beat Couple's Travel Blog

25 amazing gifts for hikers under $25, so you can splurge on your friend or family member who's addicted to hiking without breaking the bank! #giftguide #hiking
Gift Guides, Hiking & Outdoor Adventure

25 Gifts for Hikers Under $25: The Ultimate Budget-Friendly Hiker Gift Guide

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Buying gifts for hikers isn’t as easy as you might think. I mean, chances are they’ve already got the basics covered, and if you’re not an avid hiker yourself, it can be difficult to know what to actually buy them. Like, aren’t they just going outside and … walking a lot? How much stuff do they really need?! Well, as the representative for People Who Hike, let me be the first to say: WE LOVE GEAR. We love studying up on it and measuring it and weighing it and testing it and making weirdly specific decisions about it and then returning it and buying something else and then testing THAT. And on and on and on. Hiking gear is a hobby. It’s an addiction. So, there is LOTS of stuff you can buy the hiker in your life. We went on a little REI shopping spree, because REI is the much beloved mecca of outdoor enthusiasts everywhere, and picked out all of the things that we wish someone would buy US for Christmas this year (hint hint, fam). Here’s how to shower your friend/family member/loved one in hiking shwag without breaking the bank (because like … you love them, but you don’t $200 pair of hiking boots love them, yanno?).

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The Sierra Nevada Mountains are full of stunning places to go hiking. Here are 8 scenic day hikes in California's eastern Sierra Nevada mountains!
Hiking & Outdoor Adventure, United States

8 Scenic Day Hikes in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas, California

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The Sierra Nevadas are a rugged mountain range in eastern California containing several absolutely stunning and world-famous outdoor destinations, like Yosemite National Park, Lake Tahoe, Sequoia National Park, and Kings Canyon National Park. Here, you’ll discover some of the best hiking in California AND one of the best places to view California’s fall foliage. Lace up your hiking boots or trail runners and head off for these 8 stunning day hikes in the eastern Sierra Nevadas!

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Our disastrous hike of beautiful Cataract Falls in Marin, California.
Hiking & Outdoor Adventure, Personal Posts, Travel Stories & Fails

The Cataract Falls Hike Disaster: Hiking in the Bay Area, California

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This is the story of our very first hiking disaster: the first time we ever attempted to casually complete a hike only for it to go horribly, terrible, very very wrong. Learn from our mistakes, laugh at our stupidity, and learn what to do if you find yourself bawling on the edge of a cliff miles away from civilization. But the real moral of the story here is never listen to Jeremy
when it comes to hiking.

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The 8 best day hikes near Denver, Colorado that you've never heard of. Avoid crowds and take in the mountains on these incredible hikes in Colorado!
Hiking & Outdoor Adventure, United States

The 8 Best Day Hikes Near Denver, Colorado (That Nobody Knows About)

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When most people think of hiking in Colorado, peace, solitude and wilderness are usually the goal. But most of the hiking trails near Denver, Colorado are crowded: not exactly ideal. The good news is that with just about the same amount of driving away from Denver, you can find yourself in some very remote locations that are easy to find, easy to park at and way less traveled. These undiscovered hiking trails near Denver, Colorado promise amazing sights, solitude, and a good chance of wildlife sightings – and they’re all an easy drive from Denver. This guest post lays out the 8 best day hikes near Denver, Colorado that nobody knows about!

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ABOUT

Meet Lia & Jeremy

Recent Posts

  • 'Tis the season of cheerful cold weather, eating a ton of food, and buying things. Lots of things. Oof, was that your wallet I hear whimpering?⁠ .⁠ I wanted to give y'all some tips to keep in mind when the inevitable shopping overwhelm starts creeping in later this month. Save this post for when you're about to spend more than you have in your bank account!⁠ .⁠ 🎁 Don't buy things hoping they will make you happy. Things & stuff may bring you a little joy, but they won't solve all your problems. If you're feeling down, go take a walk, spend time with a loved one, play with a cute animal, or make an appointment with a counselor for a little mental health check-up. (See also: travel. We love travel a LOT, but it also will not solve all your problems. Or make you a different person. Trust us, we've tried!)⁠ .⁠ 🎁 Shop local when you can. It supports your home community! See also: supporting small business owners, such as Etsy creators, your friendly local blogger (hayyy!) and that sweet old lady who sells creepy dolls and weird-smelling candles at your local craft fair. Support her, too.⁠ .⁠ 🎁 Consider buying from fewer online stores to conserve packaging waste. If you can get most of your shopping done in one big order from a single store, instead of buying 1 small thing from 20 different online stores, you'll be saving bubble wrap, boxes, and the gas it takes to ship all those boxes to you. Plus, returns will be easier and require less packaging, too!⁠ .⁠ 🎁 Don't feel guilty for buying stuff. I know, I sound like I'm contradicting myself here. But listen: give yourself a damn break, especially if you sometimes find it harder to spend your hard-earned money than NOT spend it. Buy a few items you truly think will bring you - or a loved one - a little joy, or make things easier. Don't feel guilty for treating yourself or those you love. Just do it responsibly. Shop mindfully, vote with your wallet, and make choices that you feel genuinely good about.⁠ .⁠ Are you planning to do some shopping this month? (We'll be stocking up on stuff for our new house!) Drop us a comment about what you're genuinely excited to buy - or your favorite tips for thoughtful consumerism!
  • This photo was a VICTORY. You see, we'd forgotten to bring our tripod to Lake Arrowhead. Depending on who you ask, it was definitely one of our faults, but we disagree on exactly whose.⁠ .⁠ Why did a missing tripod matter? Well, I had a Job to do on this trip. It wasn't a work trip, it was a family weekend, but I had a few specific things to photograph on this trip, including this adorable, comfy wool dress gifted by @wool.and. The idea was we'd dress up, take a little walk together, find somewhere to set up our tripod, take a few quick shots, and go back to hanging with the 'fam. Supes chill. NBD. Right?! ⁠ .⁠ If you've been following us for more than 5 minutes, you know by now that we are NEVER supes chill. We're more like totes anxsch. (Yes, I just coined anxsch. It's a thing.)⁠ .⁠ Anyway, so we forgot our tripod. And we've learned - after lots of trial and error - that asking other people to take our photo makes us feel awkward and anxious and rushed. Plus the photos always seem to end up oddly lit and weirdly angled. Long story short, our tripod takes all of our photos now. And we didn't have it.⁠ 🤦‍♀️ .⁠ So we spent our walk snipping at each other (lovingly) and looking for places on which to rest our Very Expensive Camera, like the ground, and on a trashcan. And then we definitely may have but absolutely did trespass onto somebody's dock - and lo and behold: a BENCH! . With some careful rigging, and the use of his wallet, Jeremy managed to balance the camera just so. We started the self-timer and did like, this awkward shuffle-step so as not to rock the dock and tumble the whole setup into the water. (I'm not holding Jeremy's hand just because I love him. It's actually because I'm trying not to fall into Lake Arrowhead.) . But all things considered, I think this photo came out looking pretty good! We even found a conveniently placed stump for a few more photos afterwards. And it all reminded me: the most fun part of my weird job? It's not the ~creativity of crafting a narrative or staging a photo bla bla bla. It's just hanging out with Jeremy and exploring places, together. 📸 . Have you ever turned a f**k up into like... a fun-up? Drop us a comment!
  • Where in the world is Lia Garcia? 🎶⁠ .⁠ In Episode 1 of "Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego," Carmen flies to Amsterdam, eats some Stroopwafel, admires some canals, and then casually steals the famous portrait of Vincent Van Gogh, that handsome ginger with a missing ear (this is where the couple's costume part comes in - just go with it, y'all). Then she hops from city to city, mixing sightseeing with stealing famous paintings from museums - all with one dastardly goal in mind: to cut them up turn them into a portrait of herself!⁠ 😱 .⁠ Which like ... that's a fantastic idea. I want to host a craft night and do exactly that. Where my crafty criminals at??⁠🎨✂️ .⁠ I was never clear on whether Carmen Sandiego was supposed to be the hero or the villain, because like ... come on. She's AWESOME. She is clearly the most bada$$, most fabulous, absolute coolest world-traveling criminal mastermind of all time. Don't @ me. You know she's amazing and like, a total role model.⁠ .⁠ I mean, she taught us GEOGRAPHY. She taught us HISTORY. She taught us how to rock a red hat and trenchcoat and look AMAZING. She taught us how to be a fabulous take-no-BS-from-nobody SHTAR. And she taught us that sometimes, the fun of a heist is just the challenge of the heist itself.⁠ 🧘🏽‍♀️ .⁠ I may not personally be a criminal, but I am a world traveler who looks fabulous in red. And while having a fun rhyming name post-marriage wasn't immediately appealing to me, I grew to love it once a friend pointed out that Lia Garcia has a similar ring to it as Carmen Sandiego, and therefore is the perfect travel blogger ~~nom de plume~~. And Carmen has been my patron saint ever since!⁠ 💄✈ .⁠ What did you dress up as for Halloween this year? Tell us all about your costume in the comments!! ⁠ .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #femaletravelbloggers #halloween2019 #girlslovetravel #shewhowanders #ladiesgoneglobal #travelwriter #trickortreat #happyhalloween #globecouples #marriedtomybestfriend
  • You know that moment when the weather turns? When there's a certain chill in the air, that crispness creeping in, and leaves begin turning overnight as if a clock has struck. The exciting promise of holidays to come, of impending coziness. I love that feeling. And I miss it like crazy. . Here in the Bay Area, at least for the past few years, fall starts when the leaves change and the weather heats up to 85 and winds come rushing down at 90mph through canyons lined with dry brush. Fires spring up late at night as we're asleep. The air fills with smoke. Rolling blackouts blanket Northern Califirnia. And we all retreat indoors to our darkened, non-air-conditioned houses, stuffing rags under the cracks in our doors and wearing masks to keep from damaging our lungs in the sweltering air. It's not great, honestly. . When I think about our future, I don't like to imagine boiling hot fall weather, seasonal fires and blackouts. But that's the California of today and, more than ever, the future. Climate change is a terrifying reality that hangs over us, even as we do our best to mitigate our impact by going zero waste at home, reducing our meat intake to special occasions, and use our car infrequently. I miss changing seasons, but what I really miss is reliable weather and a future that looks bright and optimistic rather than depressing and morbid. . This was supposed to be a post about how much I love fall, but I guess these days it just makes me sort of sad to think about it. Maybe our time in California will be coming to an end in the next few years... . If you or anyone you know is currently affected by the fires, our hearts are with you all. . Have you noticed a change in the seasons over the past few years? Does it fill you with existential dread like it does for us? . #fallvibes #glaciermt #fallishere #montanalife #montanagram #montanamoment #visitmontana #lastbestplace⁠ #fallcolors⁠ #montanacolors #nationalparks #montanafwp #lovemontana #fallleaves #GetOutside #wildernessculture #REI1440Project⁠ #stayandwander #liveoutdoors #folkscenery #UnitedStories #OutdoorsUSA #ilovefallmostofall #allthingsfall #fallyall #changingleaves #naturesgifts #leaves🍁 #livesimple
  • This month we carved out time together to do stereotypical fall things, like get lost in a giant corn maze, eat apple pie at an apple farm, step on some crunchy AF leaves, take this dorky AF picture, and make a lame fall pun that I really hope y'all caught 🎃 We also managed to lose Jeremy's glasses at a pumpkin farm and found them smashed to smithereens in the middle of the road, which isn't fall-like but is very much us in a nutshell (a vlog of that fun little incident is in the works! Yes, y'all, we ~vlog now. Follow our new bebe YouTube channel!).⁠ .⁠ Even though we haven't been very active on IG, we've been having a lot of fun in real life. And like, I hope y'all understand that sometimes we're doing awesome things in Actual Life and not sharing it on IG not because we don't want to share it with you, but because it's important for us to just be together without stepping out of that moment to document it for online consumption. (And also because stories take hours and hours for me to post and I find them overwhelming this month for whatever reason.)⁠ .⁠ I love you guys, but boundaries are important, and keeping our relationship healthy & fun isn't just something we do for the 'gram, the blog, the podcast, the YouTubes, the 'book, or the, like, email newsletter. Or for anyone else other than us.⁠ .⁠ For nearly 6 years, we've been the kind of mushy, annoying couple that gets the same song stuck in our collective head, finds the same dumb joke funny to the point that one of us references it WAY too much (usually me, I have no sense of overkill), has the same "omg a cute animal!" voice (with different voices for different sized animals) and sings along in the car to the same songs on road trips. For nearly 6 years, our relationship has been a source of comfort, joy, and stability. And that is truly something precious.⁠ .⁠ Do you have a relationship that's a source of joy & comfort to you? (Is it a fur friend?! Can we see pictures?!) Drop us a comment and tell us all about your special loved ones! ⁠ .⁠ #couplesofig #colorsofautumn #couplesthattravel #travellustcouples #marriedtomybestfriend #marriedaf #couplestuff #fallfestivities #fallfeels #bayareablogger
  • What happens when you drop the ball? When you were supposed to do a thing, and you MEANT to do the thing, but then you just ...don't do the thing? . Sometimes, people get really mad. You let them down. You let YOURSELF down. Everything is horrible and everybody feels terrible. That's the worst, and it sucks. . But sometimes nothing happens. Nobody cares, really. It was a self-imposed deadline. The only person upset is yourself. And when you DO do the thing - or a small portion of the thing, or maybe just let everyone know "hey, I can't do that thing, and here's why," everything is actually OK. And that gnawing feeling of dread and guilt you've been holding inside for weeks? That was worse than just admitting your ball-drop. . I drop the ball a lot. For example, this month I'm dropping the ball on blog posts and Instagram Stories. I have like, 912689 stories I've recorded that I was so excited to share with you, but when it came down to it, I couldn't make myself sit down and spend the several hours I'll eventually need to catch you up. Whoops. My b, y'all. . And like, yeah, it makes me feel like sh*t and like I'm a bad blogger, which is my job, so therefore I feel like I'm bad at my job. But I'm not seeking validation. I've made my peace. I know it's really (probably) just me who's legitimately upset about all of my ball-dropping, and the rest of you likely haven't noticed or don't really care. So I'm forgiving myself. I'm accepting my shortcomings. And I'm practicing gratitude for the things I AM accomplishing (cuz actually, I'm kinda killing it if you look at the bigger picture). . We are all constantly juggling so many things: work, life, mental health, keeping the house clean, etc. And you know what? Everything can't be perfect all the time. It just cannot. It's OK. You're fine. We are fine. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Listen to some waterfall noises. Pretend you hiked to that waterfall with a llama (which I did!!!!). Relax. It's OK. . Where are you dropping the ball? Have you been beating yourself up about it? Is it time to forgive yourself? Drop me a comment below! #sheisnotlost #girlslovetravel #wanderlustvibes #girltraveller #glaciermt
  • CHEERS! We're celebrating, y'all! 🥂Wait, what are we celebrating?? Is that a baby bump??! 😱 (Ahem: NO!, just a cheese bump. Sorry y'all, we're not quite there yet.) We actually have a LOT to celebrate this month! I know its still October, so we won't dip into being thankful just yet - let's just say its spooky how much we have to celebrate these days:⁠ .⁠ 🍷We're celebrating our new home! After spending most of this year applying to Oakland rentals only to be denied over and over again for BS reasons like "actually somebody offered to just buy the entire building in cash within 30 seconds of the posting going live" (I'm exaggerating, but just barely - the Bay Area rental market is nuts, y'all) we FINALLY found a place, got approved, and then beat out all the other thirsty MFers trying to slide in and take it from us. It is CUTTHROAT 🔪But we love our new place! It's a standalone house rather than an apartment, with 400 extra feet, an actual upstairs (!!!!), a bigger backyard, and a real room for my office rather than just squeezing behind the couch in the living room. No dishwasher, because that's a level of luxury we may never experience. BUT! They allow PETS!!! Which is a Bay Area jackpot 🐕🐺 what should we get first? Cat or dog? Llama, maybe?⁠ 🦙 .⁠ 🎙We're also celebrating the launch of our new Podcast! We're working on finishing up editing the first few episodes and will be launching in just a couple of weeks. Ahh! More on that very soon!!⁠ .⁠ 🎂We're also celebrating the birthdays of 2 of Lia's best friends! One from afar and one in New Orleans next week for Halloween 🎃🎭⁠ .⁠ 🍁And finally, we're celebrating fall, of course! It's the best season of the year and we've been all over California this month in search of fall foliage (plus we got like 28762867 leaf garlands to cover every surface of our apartment with, so it's leafy inside, too).⁠ .⁠ What are you celebrating this month? Drop us a comment & let's celebrate together!⁠ 🍾 .⁠ .⁠ .⁠ #travelcouplelife #globecouples #youcansipwithus #inspiredtravelcouples #ilovefall⁠
  • California was made for road trips.⁠ 🛣️🚙There's nothing more quintessentially Californian than hopping in a car, throwing on your coolest shades, rolling down the window, turning on some music about California (yes, we've got a whole Spotify Playlist just for this purpose), and heading off on a road trip - to somewhere else within California.⁠ .⁠ In a few hours, at any time of the year, you could be anywhere. Lying on a sunny beach with palm trees waving overhead. Sledding soft, powdery snow. Lighting a fire in your A-frame cabin deep in a pine forest. Sipping wine amongst rolling vineyards. Dune-buggying through an otherworldly desert. Hiking through a lush, humid forest filled with ferns and towering redwoods. Befriending otters in a foggy coastal town. You might be driving for 4 hours or 8 hours, but you won't ever need to leave the state: California truly has it all.⁠ .⁠ By far the most popular California road trip is along Highway One, for good reason - it's one of the most scenic drives in the world! But there is no shortage of scenic highways and byways in California. This stunning view is on Route 158 in the Eastern Sierras, near the June Lake Loop. We've got a complete guide to the area (and all of its gorgeous fall foliage) on the blog - link in bio.⁠ .⁠ We think the best time of year for a California road trip is in February & March. When the rest of the country is limping through the last slushy remnants of winter, California is thriving from the rainy season, vibrant green hills bursting with colorful wildflowers. Right now, those same hills are bright gold and dry as a bone (also, it's fire season). But we've been hitting the road anyway to head to pumpkin patches, apple farms, and the parts of the state that actually get a bit of fall foliage (yes, it exists)! ⁠ .⁠ Have you ever taken a California road trip? Where'd ya go? And if not, what is your ideal California road trip destination? Drop us a comment below!⁠

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