Happy March! February (along with March) is historically the most difficult month for me mentally (then add on the polar vortex temps). I wasn’t sure how much movement I’d end up with this month, but writing these recaps helps me remember just how much I can do during this time.
For context around these posts: Toward the beginning of each month, a blog post will go live recapping some activities from the previous month. The idea of monthly recaps is twofold: to motivate and show others a few ways to add movement into their lives, while simultaneously motivating myself to continue getting outside and to keep moving.
"Movement" is my north star thought for this year, and I'm excited to see what movement looks like throughout each season as the year goes on. Have an idea on how I can incorporate movement into daily life? Or how these monthly recaps could better serve you? Please let me know!
Miles hiked/walked: 66.35 miles (148,893 steps)
Miles recorded on trail: 19.90 (activities recorded on Strava/AllTrails) (missed adding some walks/activities on Strava))
Miles so far in 2025: 187.19 miles (420,070 steps)
New places visited: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Table of Contents
Celebrating Friendsmas
February started off strong with Friendsmas! A day with great company, of fun games, tasty food, and an evening that ended in a night of music. In the year I’m trying to remember to take more pictures with my friends and family, I still accidentally only took one photo :-\ But the day was amazing nonetheless!
Visiting a brand new coffee shop – Jones Coffee
Before our hike at in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge (more on that below), we stopped at Jones Coffee shop, which just opened in Chaska. Their oat milk latte instantaneously became my favorite – it even gives Smith Coffee & Cafe in Eden Prairie a run for its money (not there’s any competition here, I will gladly give my money to both of these coffee shops). I can’t wait to get back there!
Hiking in the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge
After grabbing a coffee at Jones Coffee, we headed south about 10 minutes from the coffee shop to the Louisville Swamp Unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge in Shakopee, MN. We have done this trail before in the warmer months, but never with snow! This trail was beautiful with snow.
Here are some trail stats: 📍 Shakopee/Jordan, MN (USA) 🥾 Easy rated 3.05 mile loop 🪧 Mazomani Trail specifically ⛰️ 135 ft of elevation gain 👀 Birds of prey, birds of song, fox, coyotes, smaller critters can be seen along this hike. A portion of this hike is along water and if you’re looking out across it you can see an eagle’s nest! 🦅🪹
Skiing at Mount Kato
February 9th brought us to Mount Kato! Missing Jessica this time, Emily, Eric, Dave, Brenna, and myself spent a few hours in southern Minnesota skiing Mount Kato in Mankato. Mount Kato is about an hour from where we live in the Twin Cities Metro, and offers 19 runs across all skill levels. It’s also on the Indy Pass! We always try to prioritize resorts on the Indy Pass.
Snowmobiling in Wyoming (Eric)
In February, Eric went snowmobiling in Wyoming/Montana with friends. He also went in January (in Colorado) and I missed adding that to January’s recap – oops. He typically goes annually, but this year he was able to go twice! This trip, they saw elk and moose, rode at least 100 miles between the trees and the mountains, and ~10,000 ft of elevation changes.
Snowshoeing at work (thanks, Three Rivers!)
Three Rivers Park District was brought onsite a couple of days in February to offer snowshoeing classes! While I’m familiar with the activity, I didn’t hesitate to sign up because it’s just so much fun. Plus, what a great way to get some fresh air during the work day – a rare opportunity for me being in a corporate setting that I just had to take advantage of. I love when the Twin Cities has enough snow to snowshoe, it’s a really great workout and a fun way to play outside in the winter season.
Lots of Walks with Archie
As is tradition 🙂 There were some brutally cold days (-14*F with a real feel of -38*), which eventually warmed up to some very warm (51*F) days, and we happily trotted through all of it.
Monthly meetings for creative connections
2025 is the year I really am going to chase some of my long lost dreams.
Writing, photo, video, and lighting are all things I fell in love with in my lower teens. While I ended up with a BS & M.Ed in recreation and sport management (no regrets), a dream for me originally was to go to a prominent school in Winter Park for show production and touring, but I just couldn’t make it work. That love has never gone away, and really only is most noticeable if you ever go to a concert or live event with me.
They say “you become who you surround yourself with,” and suggest to surround yourself with people who you want to be like, so I’m going to do just that. This is a first for me, but I made the decision to start attending monthly meet ups with creative people. It was both surreal and motivating to be surrounded by conversations with producers, cinematographers, actors, cartoonists, comedians, photographers, light designers, sound techs, web designers, writers, and everything in between.
The speaker this session was a famous lighting designer, Arlo, who has made the world better and more exciting for attendees of both massive arena shows and smaller intimate venues alike. I left feeling so inspired by his message and have so many notes with relevant takeaways for both my corporate role and my creative outlets.
Celebrating Lindsey’s birthday in New Prague
New Prague is a quaint town about 45 minutes southwest of Minneapolis with around 8,000 residents. Lindsey chose the 1319 Woodfire Tavern restaurant for a birthday lunch and it was absolutely deeeeelicious. We both recommend the brunch Espresso Martini, her BBQ pulled pork sandwich with pineapple slaw, and my lost forest omelette with crispy hash browns. The entire menu looked really good, so we decided we’ll be back sometime again this summer. Connected to the restaurant is the 1319 Ice Cream Shoppe & Cafe, but we were too full to have any dessert.
Following lunch and catching up, we walked around the downtown area and checked out some shops. New Prague is a great, underrated town and I’m excited to get back there!
Day trip around Amsterdam (Netherlands)
On February 26th, I hopped on a Delta flight and crossed the pond over to Europe for my first ever solo international trip. The first stop? A 13-hour layover in Amsterdam. What a beautiful, bustling city. This was my first time in The Netherlands! More to come in a full-length post, but a few of the most impactful stops for me included the Anne Frank House (+ secret annex), a ride through the historical canals, and visits to various museums and art galleries.
What were you up to in February?
Please share in what ways you were able to move in February!
Curious about other ways to incorporate movement into your life? Check out my January adventures recap post, or the Best of 2024 travel memories recap post.
New in 2025, I plan to recap my monthly adventures (big or small) with the goal to motivate others while simultaneously motivating myself. I kicked this off recently with my top travel memories of 2024. Some months may be more uneventful than other months, but all recaps will focus on how I was able to incorporate movement and adventure into my life for that month.
Have an idea on how I can continue incorporating movement into my daily routine? Or how these monthly recaps could better serve you? Let me know!
Miles hiked/walked: 74.27 miles (166,673 steps)
Miles recorded on trail: 27.11 (activities recorded on Strava/AllTrails)
New places visited: Two Harbors, MN
Table of Contents
Skiing at Lutsen Mountains
Ski season in the Minnesota/Midwest region usually starts around or after the New Year. For us, it started the second weekend in January in Lutsen, Minnesota. Lutsen is along Lake Superior’s north shore and is one of the most popular ski resorts with the Minnesota/Wisconsin locals. Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort has lodging (as do the towns around the resort), but Eric and I stayed in the town of Two Harbors, and Jessica and Emily stayed in Duluth.
Saturday was our first day of skiing, which unfortunately ended up being minimal. The gondola broke down, stranding Emily and Jessica on Moose Mountain. Because of this, they didn’t get much skiing in for several more hours – until they were able to get a snowcat ride back to the main mountain areas. It was unbelievable. Eric and I arrived just after noon and missed getting on the gondola with them and even though we weren’t stuck, we could only go on the same few runs all day. Sunday was more successful: the gondola was open again, and we all got a few hours of skiing in before our long drives south back to our homes.
You can catch the group of us all around the Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan ski areas each season!
Volunteering at Feed My Starving Children
If you haven’t volunteered with Feed My Starving Children before, you really should. If not because you’re creating hundreds of meal packs for those without food, then at least do it for the competition and the fun. Volunteering at FMSC is a blast. The energy is high, the atmosphere is fun, and you’re doing something good in the world. I try to go 4 times per year, quarterly or more. Sometimes it’s when I host a Women Who Explore (Minnesota chapter) event (photo below), sometimes it’s just me and Eric.
Volunteering at The Great Northern
I first learned about The Great Northern Festival and its Climate Solutions Series event in 2024 when Pattie Gonia posted about speaking there. I was so bummed to have missed that event! Our environment, climate, and how to keep the earth happy is something I want to keep educating myself on. Since learning about TGN, I added myself to the newsletter list and signed up to volunteer as soon as the volunteer sign up window was open.
I was timekeeping for the Our Winter Weather Future: Understanding, Preparing For, and Navigating Winter In the Midst of Climate Change panel and/or the Britt Wray and Leah Thomas in conversation session. I was running slides and facilitating audience Q&A for the Unraveling Textile Waste: Hidden Costs and Solutions session, or the Growing Connections: Building Food Hubs to Support Farmers and Feed Communities session, or the Emerging Climate Careers session.
The Great Northern also has art series, music, an ice bar, and sauna village.
I hope to be able to volunteer again next year!
Skiing at Trollhaugen Outdoor Recreation Area
January’s adventures concluded with a day skiing at Trollhaugen Recreation Area in Dresser, Wisconsin. I’ve been here multiple times throughout the years and would consider it to be of my favorites (even though it’s small). I successfully made it down one of the black diamond rated runs! There’s a first time for everything 🙂
Trollhaugen has 27 runs divided by four levels: 6 green circles, 10 blue squares, 10 black diamonds, and 1 double black diamond. I personally prefer the greens and the blues – the ski level which I’ve been at since learning to ski in 2013. It’s my favorite, so flowy and carefree.
You guessed it – the same group of us from Lutsen 🙂
Lots of walks with Archie
Of course, so much walking with Archie! He doesn’t mind the polar vortex weather like I do, so we still try to get a little bit of outside play time throughout the day. Even though Archie doesn’t mind the cold, I still get nervous about unsafe air temps (-44* in parts of Minnesota, the lowest at our house was -21*) and try to limit cold exposure.
I look forward to slightly warmer walks in February 🙂
Feeling inspired by some of my favorite bloggers who write both monthly and annual recaps, and inspired by how eventful 2024 was, I decided to also start writing recaps myself! The idea behind writing these recaps is twofold: hopefully inspire others to spend more time outside and/or to visit somewhere new, to get me writing again more regularly, and to hold myself accountable to also opt outside as much as possible.
I stopped writing regularly because I found myself being so focused on another part of running a website that I honestly sometimes enjoy even more than writing: the actual design work and backend logistics like SEO, accessibility, and weight. I knew I loved all of that stuff (hey, freewebz in like 2004), but I let it consume me.
Plus I’ve never done a travel recap before now, and I love reading recap posts! I learn so much (about travel, cultures, etc.) from reading recaps and find them to be really entertaining. I love learning about other people’s travels too. Oh you visited somewhere new? TELL ME EVERYTHING. Genuinely. Don’t leave out a single detail.
It’s a good time for reflection too, and I am just so grateful for the memories made in 2024 that I really just wanted to write them down. I would hope it goes without saying, but just in case, dear world: I’m incredibly grateful of all of the travel memories I’ve made in my life, especially since I didn’t think relatively consistent travel would ever be in my future. It took a lot to get to this point and I am proud of it. So here we are!
Away we go…
January – Colorado – Skiing and Hot Springs
The year started off strong with a week-long ski trip to Colorado with some of our best friends and who we ski with often. We spent the first night in Denver, eating at Bao Brewhouse, playing at Rhein Haus Denver, and grabbing a drink at speakeasy Retrograde.
Day 2 we hopped onto I-70 and stopped for a half day of skiing at Echo Mountain, followed by finishing our drive to Granby. The rest of the week was spent skiing at Granby Ranch, an afternoon soaking in hot springs at Hot Sulphur Springs, skiing at Steamboat Springs (I was working remote that day), and exploring the towns of Granby and Winter Park.
This was such a fun week! And a great way to kick off the year – if we ignore getting temporarily stranded in Winter Park due to the Berthoud Pass avalanche.
Group at Granby RanchGroup at Steamboat (I stayed at the AirBnB for work)
February – Wisconsin – the State’s Highest Point
This was also my first solo hike! Eric and Jessica went skiing at Granite Peak Ski Area, and I went on my first solo hike to explore Rib Mountain State Park, which is conveniently connected to Granite Peak at the top where the ski lift drops off skiers.
I got 4.5 miles of hiking in, which felt great! I had my new day pack, the Jetboil to make lunch, snacks, water, and layers to ensure I was comfortable. I carried more than necessary for “just” a 4.5 mile hike because I was practicing for an upcoming trek in Iceland. More on that later in this post!
April – Missouri – Total Solar Eclipse and visiting a new baseball stadium
Eeeek I love baseball stadiums! I rarely talk about it, but one of my (many) life goals is to see as many MLB stadiums as I can. On our way to our campsite for the total solar eclipse, an overnight was already planned for Kansas City. Eric and Josh went along with my wishes to go to the Royals game and for that I am grateful. What a cool, intimate ballpark!
Of course, the point and biggest highlight of this trip was the total solar eclipse itself. Eric’s friend/coworker Chris invited us to the same campground his family and his friend’s family were staying at: Echo Bluff State Park. It was also special to spend this time with Eric’s aunt Gail and her best friends Joe and Betty.
After seeing the total solar eclipse in 2018, I became set on trying to see it as many more times as my life will allow. It is the most magical moment. I would encourage anyone who has the ability to see this happen, to not pass up the opportunity.
May – Minnesota – Aurora Dancing Up North
OKAY speaking of magical things in the sky! We are definitely northern lights chasers. The amount of times we’ve left the house at 9pm and didn’t get home until midnight (and *gasp* on a work night) just to chase the aurora can’t be counted. It’s such a magical experience, up there with the total solar eclipse, and I will chase those dancing lights until I can’t anymore (hint about an upcoming trip? maybe).
We were absolutely blessed with the most powerful and awe-inspiring northern lights show that I’ve ever seen. Ever. Even on television. With our naked eyes we could see purples, reds, and greens. We pinned our favorite, super secret, up north campsite and drove 3 hours for this opportunity. Staring through the netting of our tent at the incredible light show above is something I think about all. the. time. It was so powerful that these photos didn’t even need editing!
July – Iceland – Trekking the Laugavegur Trail
July brought me to the jaw dropping country of Iceland. I rarely travel back to the same place twice (there’s so much of the world to see!), let alone three times, but I love Iceland. Between the stunning landscapes and incredible geography, I can’t say no.
But I wasn’t in Iceland for vacation – I was working! This was the very first trip I got to lead for Women Who Explore (an organization I’ve been a part of since 2020). The women on this trip were encouraging and motivating, and we had the best time. The full trip notes and photos deserve their own blog post, so I’ll keep this one short.
A couple of years ago, I set a goal to do a thru hike someday. Though it’s not one of the more well known or high mileage thru hikes such as the Pacific Crest Trail, it’s still a thru hike – and a great one at that.
We tracked over 50 trail miles (not counting walking around the city/towns) over 4 days through four chilly river crossings, through rain, crazy wind, beating sun, and even sand (sometimes all at once). The trek also took us up over 8,438 feet of elevation gain! Wow.
I am so proud of us. This was the greatest and wildest and toughest experience.
PS shoutout to my knee PT team Dr. Gregg and Nate for getting me prepped for this endeavor because without them (and the other clinic docs and staff) I would have majorly suffered and potentially not even made it.
August – Minnesota – Backpacking the North Country Trail
I promised myself to make the rest of 2024 the year of trails and when I returned from my Iceland trek a few days into August, only a couple of weeks later I was back on another long trail! This time, not thru hiking. The North Country Trail actually spans across 8 states and a whopping 4,800 miles! Incredible.
850 of those miles go through my beautiful state of Minnesota. Women Who Explore ambassador Jen (she hosts events in North Dakota and Minnesota) has a goal to hike the MN portion of the NCT over time. She set up an event in the Minnesota Chapter to spend a weekend backpacking a beautiful portion of it, and I was really excited to join them!
We tracked 19 miles over the course of 3 days (one 1/2 day, one full day, then another 1/2 day) and it was TOUGH, but empowering, and despite the rain and mosquitos and crawling over and under a million downed trees, the trip showed me that I am capable. And I actually do like backpacking! THANK GOD, because I saved up and bought gear over the course of three years to make this (and future) trip happen – hahaha.
August – Minnesota – ARA Ojibwe Forests Rally
This one may seem off-brand for me, but hear me out. Picture: Elissa from like 2002-2007, loving motocross, wanting to be a motocross racer, loving all things X-Games and Travis Pastrana… falling out of it but still checking in every so often after then. Cut to 2017: I get to attend the summer X-Games in Minneapolis and I AM SO PUMPED, it instantly re-sparked that excitement.
Cut to August 2022 and August 2023: An ARA Rally takes place in up north Minnesota and we don’t get a chance to attend either of those two years. Cut to August 2024: We finally get to go! Travis is there. And I fangirl over the experience and fall in love with his charismatic co-driver, Rhianon, who I hope to learn how to co-drive from someday. It’s so cool to see females in motorsports. I know this isn’t a new thing, but it’s still really empowering, especially since motorsports are still typically more male-dominated.
The Ojibwe Forests Rally weekend was so much fun. It was exciting to watch the cars fly around corners and throwing dirt back at the spectators, fun to watch the awards ceremonies – to see the “shoey” live from the front row, and to be a part of these moments. This weekend made me start looking into rally co-driving and as mentioned above I hope to take one of Rhianon’s classes someday. We’ll consider that a stretch goal 😉 I plan to be more involved in 2025.
September – Colorado – Hiking and Casa Bonita
Another goal I set for 2024 was to summit a mountain. The best way for me personally to do this was by hiking (vs. mountaineering or climbing). I love Colorado so much, I would move there in a heartbeat, and since Colorado has some pretty amazing mountains – plus it’s just a day’s drive and cheap distance away – that would be my best option to get on a mountain.
But first – dinosaurs! Our first stop was at Dinosaur Ridge. It’s an easy hike but has so many dinosaur tracks and fossils, it’s well worth the stop. It’s also home to one of only twelve known raptor footprints! We even saw a bobcat! If you’re a fan of music and amazing venues, Dinosaur Ridge also overlooks Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. This trip was starting off strong, to say the least.
We chose Mount Stanley because it was mentioned in a few resources (e.g. AllTrails, blogs) that this was a great “beginner” mountain for those who haven’t navigated mountains before. This is due to the trail being clearly marked, the trailhead wasn’t far from lodging (camping was closed), and the distance to the summit was attainable. Plus, I had a vendetta against Berthoud Pass – where the Mount Stanley trailhead is located – because it caused us major delays and a detour (five or six hours?) due to an avalanche when we were there in January (see January’s post above). I was not going to let Berthoud Pass stop me from doing what I wanted, a second time!
Prior to this trip I actually “won” a reservation in the reservation lottery for the coveted Casa Bonita restaurant outside of Denver. The dates lined up and we celebrated our summit and closed out our trip with a quick stop at the Coors Brewery Hospitality Lounge and entertaining dinner at Casa Bonita.
Casa Bonita was such a fun experience, it honestly was right up there with the joy of summiting Mount Stanley.
October – Utah – Hiking Zion & Bryce National Parks
More hiking! Eric and some of our friends originally planned to go to Las Vegas for MagicCon, but on brand for Elissa: we extended the trip to also explore Zion and Bryce National Parks. After the con on Sunday, our friends Matt and Alicia flew in to Las Vegas and we headed out to Utah.
I had been to the Zion area once before on a short weekend beginner backpacking trip with a few other ladies, but I never made it into Zion proper. Eric and I had “won” the lottery for Angel’s Landing permits and planned the trip around that. I actually found out about these permits when I was on my Iceland trek – we reached to top of a mountain and happened to get enough cell service to make a phone call and check email haha!
Angel’s Landing was a phenomenal hike + scramble, and I’m glad we got to do it. Truthfully, it wasn’t high on my bucket list, but Eric was really wanting to hike it, and I’m so glad we did. I don’t mind heights so the chain section wasn’t quite as bad as I thought, but it’s definitely still a whole thing. We met a pretty neat couple on trail, Fred and Myrna, who were also hiking Angel’s Landing but didn’t get permits to do the chain section. They seemed pretty legit, and since we happened to have two more spots on the permit, I invited them to join us – they were so excited!
After spending a couple days in Zion National Park, we drove up to Bryce Canyon National Park. My National Parks Passport was happy on this trip 🙂
Bryce Canyon had the most beautiful red and orange glowing rock formations, and some pretty cool hikes. The hikes here were challenging, and we could tell we were all still tired from the Angel’s Landing hike. We drove the entirety of the main road through Bryce Canyon, stopping at lookouts along the way.
Angels Landing at Zion National Park
Bryce Canyon National ParkBryce Canyon National Park
November – Arizona – Exploring the Page area
This is a continuation of the above October trip, actually! Matt and Alicia flew back home after Bryce, while Eric and I went on our way to Page, Arizona. This part of our trip was completely unplanned prior to when we got there. We wanted to take in the suggestions of the locals and see how that goes.
Driving from St. George, Utah to Page, Arizona brought us to a rest stop at Pipe Spring National Monument. We learned so much about those who used to live here, including the Kaibab Paiute and the Mormon settlers, and even got a 1 mile ridge hike in.
A town festival was going on throughout the few days we had in Page, Arizona, which made our visit extra special. There were hot air balloons! We’ve been wanting to go to the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but either the dates haven’t worked out or the campsites have been sold out, so we never made it. But honestly, this seemed so much better! It was a smaller festival so you could be right up close with the 60+ hot air balloons. It was amazing.
We also spent a day a little further south at Lees Ferry where we saw two California condors, Horseshoe Bend, and Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. This will also have to be a whole separate blog post because these areas are so amazing they need to have more screen time.
December – Arizona – Hiking around Sedona
In an attempt to catch a little more sunshine before the brittle cold of Minnesota winters, we flew down to Sedona, Arizona for an extended weekend focused on hiking. Two trips to Arizona in 2024 – what a pleasant surprise! The beginning of 2024 did not include thoughts of this much travel, let alone this much travel in Arizona, but for it I am grateful.
We started our trip by visiting Wupatki National Monument and Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument. Learning about the historical cultures of an area we’re visiting is always a priority, and we enjoyed visiting Wupatki National Monument and seeing a pueblo for those reasons. Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument was also geologically amazing with of course the crater, along with an otherworldly lava trail.
Across four hikes over the course of two days in Sedona, we tracked 15.39 miles of hiking with at least 2,537 feet of elevation gain, and it felt so good. I really needed to close out the year with that type of movement. Movement is what I’m working on in 2025.
The trip ended with a mindful walk through the peaceful Amitabha Stupa and Peace Park, followed by a visit to the Chapel of the Holy Cross on our way out of town. It was a lovely way to wind down and close out the year.
I feel so blessed to have traveled so much in 2024. It was the first year that felt like I was finally reaching a point where I can spend my free time in a way that helps me reach my life’s goals of spending time outside, exploring new places, and being with my favorite people. I am so proud of the life I’ve been building. It’s taken a lot of work and a lot of time and patience to get here <3
“Move” is my word for 2025. It can be defined in many ways, but one of the directions I’m taking it is through movement. I plan to hike more, hike harder, and hike in new places in 2025. I plan to branch out, push myself out of my comfort zone, and view life in a way I haven’t before. Only the next 333 days will tell what that exactly looks like, but I have some ideas in the meantime 🙂
