2019 in review | life on the road all over the west + at home in Moab, Utah | the hearnes
Miles Driven: 32, 445 (28,717 on our truck, 3000km in the Alps, 3000km in Iceland!)
Countries Visited: 10
Coldest Night: 10 degrees in Zermatt, Switzerland
Hottest Day: 88 degrees in Idaho (first time in our lives avoiding 90+ degrees all year!)
Miles We Hiked: 80+
10 Countries
USA / Switzerland / Germany / France / Italy / Austria / Liechtenstein / Canada / Iceland / Mexico
14 States
Texas / New Mexico / Arizona / California / Nevada / Utah / Idaho / Montana / Alberta (Canada) / British Columbia (Canada) / Yukon (Canada) / Alaska / Washington / Oregon
12 National Parks + Monuments
Dolomiti World Heritage Site / Canyonlands / Arches / Zion / Bryce Canyon / Capitol Reef / Yosemite / Pacific Rim / Kluane / Wrangell-St. Elias / Kenai Fjords / Gates of the Arctic
This is one of my favorite blog posts of the year! 2019 is my fourth year doing it, and it’s always my favorite to put together + look back on. Here are our previous “Review” posts:
2016 Year in Review | 2017 Year in Review | 2018 Year in Review
And if you missed it, here is our 2019 Elopements + Adventure Sessions blog post from last week!
JANUARY
We typically try to do a big trip in January each year for a few reasons — it’s a slow time for booking, it’s not ideal weather in any of our main locations (Moab, Yosemite, or Alaska), and it’s easy for us to travel out of Texas where we spend the holidays with family. 2018 was a pretty hectic year, and as it came to an end, we didn’t have any plans for January 2019 because we didn’t know how my dad would be doing, or what we’d want to do that month. But then around mid December, things were looking more stable and while taking a lunch break from skiing in Utah, I got an email about cheap flights to Switzerland in January and within an hour we had booked two weeks in the Alps, a van to live in during that time, and immediately realized that it would be really really cold but we’d make it work 😜 It ended up being one of our favorite trips yet!
We flew into Zurich, rented a van in Germany, and spent two weeks exploring Lauterbrunnen, Grindlewald, Zermatt, Chamonix, the Dolomites, Austria, and then back to Lauterbrunnen before flying home! We ended up driving through 6 countries! We ate croissants and drank espresso every morning, hiked through deep snow, saw mountains we’d read about for years, and managed to stay pretty warm thanks to our boujee van rental!! It was such a fun whirlwind of a trip, but I’m so glad we pulled it off and I can’t wait to go back for something similar in the summer one day!
FEBRUARY
In February, less than a week after getting back to Texas form the Alps, we flew to Arizona to teach two back to back workshops (that both sold out in 20 minutes!) It was a really fun experience, and we met some amazing people that we’ve loved staying connected with since, but we both decided we don’t love teaching, and since our job and life is so demanding already, and so fulfilling, we don’t need to do anything we don’t love! So, while this was fun, we won’t be offering any workshops in 2020 or the near future.
After the workshop, we flew to Texas and loaded up a Uhaul with a few pieces of furniture from our parents’ houses to move into our NEW HOME!! By far the highlight of 2019 for us was buying a house in Moab and watching it become our dream home — not because of looks or anything money can buy, but because of the people who have filled it, slept on the floors and the guest bed, and in their vans in the driveway, people who have come for dinner, for rest, for N64…It’s been such an amazing experience!!
MARCH
March was an absolute dream, we got settled into to our house and hosted a lot of great friends. I set a clear goal of climbing Castleton for my birthday in April and was really motivated to work toward it all season. I hiked more than I ever have (and fell in love with solo hiking!), climbed more often, took up running (still working on enjoying that…), and visited the local gym a few times a week. It was really enjoyable to be working toward an objective and see myself improve! Meanwhile, Callen took a lot of trips up to Salt Lake to snowboard with his Ikon Pass. It was such a fun month for both of us!
APRIL
In April, we took a quick trip to Zion for a few elopements and sessions (always a good time!), we celebrated my birthday with a visit to some of our favorite hot springs, and we had more great visits with friends! For me, a big highlight was climbing Castleton with Mark and Jordan!! They were so kind to take me out there and encourage me, and I am so proud of myself for doing it!! One of my favorite memories from the day was after we got down to the saddle. Basically, I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to actually climb the whole thing, so I told Jordan to bring aiders just in case because what I really, really cared about was standing on top of my favorite rock. He said sure and throughout the whole preparing process we made a lot of jokes about my abilities (in fact, a few months before when I first proposed the idea to him, he joked he’d only climb it with me if I proved I could do the hike 😜). So the day of the climb, I was pretty nervous that we’d put all this effort in and I’d be a total junk show because I tend to doubt my abilities often. We did the hike, and I was glad I’d done it a few times before because Jordan is an overstoker and hikes fast! As we started climbing, I felt great and was really excited, but also pretty scared at each belay! It was the most exposure I’d experienced and the chimney is pretty airy. There were a few parts that were quite difficult for me, and a few parts that I got pretty scared, but Jordan and Mark were super patient and encouraging!! We made it to the top and I was so so psyched!! The rap off was pretty scary but fun after I got over the fear. So, back to the favorite memory, we we got down and fetched our packs from the base, Jordan showed me that he’d left the aiders at the bottom because he knew I could send :) Now that’s a good friend!!
April brought a lot of great friends, and we also had both sets of parents come visit at different times. We explored in the Jeep, went skydiving, took a helicopter tour of Castle Valley and Moab, and shot a few amazing elopements!
MAY
In May, Callen and I tried to soak up the last few weeks in Moab before hitting the road again! We explored a ton of new places in our Jeep, hiked up on new mesas, and even climbed a few new routes! We skydived a couple of times, and then began prepping for 5.5 months on the road again through the summer. It was so bitter sweet to leave Moab an our new home, but we left it in good hands with our renter Katie and we got to go to Yosemite + Alaska, so it really wasn’t such a bad thing ;)
We also photographed some elopements in Zion, our good friends’ vow renewal out in the middle of nowhere, and a handful of couples in Moab!
JUNE
My very favorite memory in June was at the very beginning (actually, it might have been the end of May? Not sure). My brothers and I pulled off surprising both of my parents in Austin for my Dad’s birthday party!! It was AMAZING. Ben flew in from Oregon, I flew in from California, Conner picked us up and we just walked right inside the day of the party (a few hours before). My dad screamed, my mom screamed, my dad cried, and we were all so happy. It was a really sweet memory that Conner captured on video and I will cherish it forever!
June is notoriously our really busy season in Yosemite and while that was still the case this June, we did a much better job with our schedule and left room for fun with friends as well! I’ll remember this June as a wonderful time hiking a new trail with Eliza, lazy days relaxing in the meadow, swimming in the river (and the “El Cap Lake”), and nights with buddies cooking dinner in our rigs. Our Yosemite elopements were so fun, and extra spicy with the added challenge of a late snowstorm that all but destroyed our usual trails! But our couples were badass and handled it like champs, we had such a great time!
After Yosemite, we headed over to the other side of the mountains for my brother Ben’s wedding! He and Amelia got married in a small town where her family has had a little cabin for generations and we got to spend 10 days out there with family. It was a mix of relaxing, lazy days as well as work to get the wedding together, but all of it was so much fun. We photographed their wedding, something most people will tell you to never do for a family member, but it was honestly one of the most joyful things I’ve ever done for someone! I loved the process, and while it’s a bit of a bummer to only be in a few of their photos, I am so thankful to have been involved in creating the photos for them and for everyone present. While we were there, I motivated my mom and my other brothers’ girlfriend Cassidy to drive the 6 hours round trip for a visit to Yosemite! It felt a little silly to put so much effort into going back after we’d JUST been there, but Cassidy had never been and showing people Yose is one of my favorite things ever. I was so stoked!
We also took a short trip to Santa Fe to photograph a wedding, it was such a blast and I can’t wait to go back sometime soon.
JULY
At the very beginning of July, I flew out to Salt Lake City to spend a few days hanging with Bri and Keith. We spent every day lounging by the kiddie pool in their backyard, I got sunburned, and it was a perfect little trip!
After SLC, I met up with Callen in Seattle and we started making out way north to Alaska for the summer! We spent a few days exploring Vancouver Island and then drove for days to finally make it back to our favorite glacier ever!! We camped up there, explored the area, and even did a hike down to one of the toes of the glacier where there were a ton of beached icebergs. It was stunning and such a perfect little mission to get us mega psyched for Alaska! This year, we drove into Skagway again but then took the ferry to Haines and drove from there back through Canada and into Anchorage area. We loved Haines, especially the incredible pass driving out!! It was stunning. I fell even more in love with the Alaska Fireweeds everywhere and now have a tattoo of one on my arm :)
This season in Alaska was our best yet. We spent a lot of time with our good friends Grace + Austin and Hannah + Quillan in Anchorage, and we also spent a lot of time exploring some old favorites and finding new awesome places. We finally made the intimidating leap into glacial hiking and extremely moderate top-rope ice climbing, two things we are still reallllly psyched on and can’t wait to do more of! Our friends came up from Salt Lake and we had some great ignorant adventures with them, India graciously took some more family photos for us, and we all quested around icebergs in our packrafts!
ALASKA
AUGUST
We spent nearly two months in Alaska, and August was like a whole new world compared to July! in 2018, we left on the last day of July, so it was really fun to spend more time up there exploring and experiencing full on Fall. In August, my parents came up to Alaska for a week, which was so much fun. They got to meet Grace and Austin, which was such a treat for us (and them), and we all got to spend some time with our old friends the Minors! It was so surreal having them up in Alaska adventuring around with us.
Callen and I took an official Intro to Mountaineering course where we learned more about ice climbing, building anchors, and glacial traversing for more intense, long distance things. It was pretty intimidating but amazing to learn more in depth about the things that had been really scary to me before. We did more ice climbing, some rock climbing, and more paddling around icebergs. We also got to photograph a wedding where we took a helicopter to a glacier and went dog sledding!! It was amazing. I took my parents on a helicopter tour (their first one ever!), and then we got to trade photos with a heli instructor in Valdez — Callen and I each flew the helicopter, it was so scary!!
It’s really hard to pick a highlight of August, it was such an incredible month! But the very end will always stand out to me. As an early 5 year anniversary gift to ourselves, we took a flight tour into Gates the Arctic National Park, flew over the Arrigetch Peaks in the Brooks Range, and even got to land + walk around in Anuktuvuk Pass, which is within the Arctic Circle!! AND Charlie got to join, it was all so amazing. Then that night we saw the Northern Lights in full swing and it was absolutely mind blowing. We had seen them briefly in Girdwood earlier in the month, but this time they were MEGA and we are still reeling from it. This was probably one of my highlights of 2019!!
SEPTEMBER
After experiencing the arctic circle and the northern lights, we left Alaska on cloud nine an made our way (rather quickly) to Banff for an elopement! We got there in time to spend a day exploring Jasper a little more, do some rock climbing, and some more glacier hiking. We found a little icy slot canyon and wished we had more time to explore and climb! Next time! After the elopement, we drove down to Idaho so I could teach at a workshop put on by our friends Wylder Goods at the dreamy Maple Grove Hot Springs Retreat Center. After that, we drove straight to Sacramento to fly to ICELAND for a semi-impulsive trip 😅 We just didn’t get enough ice in Alaska!
Iceland was such a whirlwind but so much fun. We rented a little Jimny with a rooftop tent and rallied it 3000km in 6 days, exploring glaciers (of course!), hot springs (duh!), epic valleys and huge mountains, black sand beaches, more icebergs, and giant waterfalls. Our friends from Alaska convinced us to do this trip with them and the days that we overlapped were so much fun! It was amazing to get a little bit more time with them after our amazing summer together, and to get to hone in on our glacial hiking and ice climbing skills even more. Plus, Callen soaked in a natural hot spring almost every day of the trip, so he was stoked :)
ICELAND
OCTOBER
After Iceland, we took a couple days to rest before going straight into our fall Yosemite season! We’ve been better and better at scheduling time to actually enjoy Yosemite when we’re working there, and this season was probably our best yet! Between elopements, we got to go rock climbing with buddies, stay up late into the night having good times, an my parents even came through for a day!
After Yosemite, we drove straight to Moab for our friends Devyn and Adam’s wedding and then enjoyed an amazing week finally being HOME! We got to do a really fun desert tower climb with them a few days later. Then my friend Bri and I went out to Cedar City for our buddy Laura’s bachelorette party, and THEN Callen and I did a little road trip through southern Utah out to Zion for an amazing two day intimate wedding! October was a super full month, but it was so amazing to come back home and be in Utah for a majority of the Fall season.
NOVEMBER
We started November in Zion and then spent most of the month in Moab! This is typically our favorite time in Moab because it’s when a lot of friends come to town, the weather is normally quite amazing, and we almost always get the first snow of the season near the end of November! The biggest highlight of this month was our friends Brian and Sam spending a full week in Moab with us. It was SO fun having them around. We went rock climbing, canyoneering (total junk show), played video games (well, they played, i watched some), hiked, and stayed up talking every night. Sam joined us for an overnight trek around White Rim in Canyonlands, so we brought the Jeep and the motorcycle which was such a blast! Brian joined for our first tree-cutting mission in the snow the day after Thanksgiving.
I do want to mention, the lowest low of the year for us was the tragic death of our friend Brad Gobright. He died in a climbing accident in November, the day before Thanksgiving, and truly that night and the morning after felt a bit like hell. Sam had just left when we got the news, and Brian was here with us, and we all processed it together. I was very thankful for the community we’ve built, but also struck with so much sadness for everyone who knew and loved Brad. He was funny, unique, driven, and such a joy to have around. I always loved our times with him and was hoping to have many more. We’re so sad to have lost him.
DECEMBER
A few days into December, we took an impulsive trip to Baja California to visit our buddies Mark and Jordan in La Ventana. It was a super quick trip, but we had a lot of fun and it was so great to get some quality time in with them! And the weather was a perfect break from the cold, snowy weather in Utah. When we got back, we were pretty much sick for a solid week and a half in Moab before heading home to Texas for the holidays! We celebrated 5 years of marriage on December 12th, but both felt too sick to do anything significant, womp womp.
We made it to Texas in time for a party to celebrate Ben and Amelia, to go visit family in Waco, and spend Christmas with my family + the following week with Callen’s family! It was great way to end such a great year. On New Years Eve, we flew to Las Vegas and kicked off 2020 with Sam, Brian, and our friends Alex and Sanni! Such a perfect to start the new year!
We are so thankful for all of the support, for every person who follows our story on Instagram, comments on these blogs, shares about us on Facebook, and loves on us in real life :) 2019 had a lot of ups and downs, but overall it was our best year yet. We know 2020 will be full of surprises, and we can only hope it gets even better ❤️