Year: 2022

How to Get the Most Out of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival

It has been a dream of ours to attend the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado for many, many years. This festival is often considered to be the best bluegrass festival in the world, and many of our favorite musicians are staple performers who love attending just as much as the fans do.

We finally made our dream a reality for 2022's festival, and we sure did learn a lot from our first (and hopefully not only) trip to this western Colorado gem.

So in this one, we wanted to share all the lessons learned from our first trip to the bluegrass festival in Telluride to help you have the best time possible when you go!

Disclaimer: This guide is long and is intended to be a comprehensive resource for all things Telluride bluegrass. That being said, we stayed at an apartment rental in Telluride and did not camp. As such, while we will briefly discuss camping information in this article, we do not have first-hand experience there for any extra insider tips as we do with other topics. 

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Double O Arch Trail at Arches National Park is a Must Hike

No one will argue that Arches National Park is not worthy of its name. This gorgeous national park in Utah is home to dozens upon dozens of uniquely formed arches and is truly one of the most spectacular places in the United States.

While most visitors will likely make haste to the park's most famous arch, Delicate Arch, we decided to take a different approach with a 6 am entry and went to Double O Arch. There were many reasons for this including being able to see many of the trail's seven arches with epic morning light but also to tackle some of the trickier hiking segments with minimal crowds.

This ended up being a great tactic that we would repeat again in future visits. In this one, we wanted to share more about what you can see on the Double O Arch Trail and give some hiking tips for those visiting as well. You're going to see why you need to visit this one early here!

Note: The Double O Arch Trail can be either completed as an out-and-back hike or a much longer loop hike. The vast majority of visitors only take the out-and-back in an effort of time and we did the same. As such, commentary on the loop section of the trail after the Double O Arch is not included.

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Conquest Maps Review – The Most Beautiful Travel Map

When we are at home, we like to have constant reminders of our travels. From the random knick-knacks to hand painted artwork we pick up on the road, our house is covered with decorations that remind us of where we've been over the years.

But one of our favorite pieces of travel art is one that does not come from our travels, but is about our travels- our world map!

For many years we were settled with a DIY travel map with push pins we made ourselves, but after a while we knew we were in need of an upgrade. We searched the internet, read countless reviews, and settled on one that appeared to be leaps and bounds better than the rest- Conquest Maps.

It was the best decision we ever made.

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The Ledges Trail in Cuyahoga Valley National Park is a Must Hike

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is one of just a few free national parks in the United States, is the only national park located in Ohio (just outside of Cleveland), and, at 32,000 acres, is also one of the smallest.

That being said, 32,000 acres is nothing to scoff at, and Cuyahoga Valley National Park gives us reason to return again and again when visiting family nearby.

On a recent trip, we decided to check out The Ledges Trail, one of the most popular trails in the park, and were not let down by what we saw. 

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