Twice a year my running partner and I, both of us geoscientists, teach geology for Texas Parks and Wildlife Becoming an Outdoors Woman program. I created the course in 2014 by condensing an entire semester of freshman level physical geology into a 3.5 hour workshop (~1 hour lecture, ~1 hour lab, and ~1 hour spent in the […]
Camping & Hiking
Everyday/Emergency Car Kits: Emergency Supplies Checklist
I was prompted to update and consolidate my emergency car kits due to recent hurricanes in Texas, ice storms, tax day floods in Houston, and cleaning out my car to sell. On a scale from Tide Pod eater to zombie apocalypse survivor, I probably fall just under zombie apocalypse survivor…meaning I probably wouldn’t survive a […]
A Return to Big Bend National Park: Lodge Edition
My husband’s favorite place to visit is Big Bend National Park in West Texas. Following a Jeep upgrade to the current year’s model (2018 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited JK Willys Wheeler), he wanted to christen it in the park. So earlier this month (January), we drove the 12 hours (yeah) from Houston to Big Bend for […]
Carry-On Wine Corkscrew: A Travel Necessity
Those who spend any time with me know that I always have a corkscrew on me (emergency wine drinking, duh). And because I got tired of buying a corkscrew whenever I got to my destination when traveling, I now always pack a special TSA-compliant corkscrew that doesn’t need to be checked and won’t be confiscated […]
How Blisters Saved My Relationship: A Yellowstone NP Trip Report
A guest blog post by Tracy My boyfriend, Steve, and I finally made a visit to Yellowstone National Park a reality this past June. It was our first hiking trip of any kind…ever. (Cue suspenseful music.) It should be noted that I’m a city girl who generally likes to remain dry and free […]
Lost Maples Trip Report: Backpacking or Wine Tasting? Both! (Part 2)
Continued from: Lost Maples Trip Report: Backpacking or Wine Tasting? Both! (Part 1) What do you do when life hands you lemons? Go drink wine. So when we woke up to thunderstorms after backpack camping, we realized our 8-mile day hike that we had planned for that day was not going to happen. As serendipity […]
Lost Maples Trip Report: Backpacking or Wine Tasting? Both! (Part 1)
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Becoming an Outdoors Woman Workshop: Spring 2016
I’ve now been teaching geology at Texas Parks & Wildlife Becoming an Outdoors Woman workshops for three years. Twice a year at each new (or sometimes revisited) location brings new experiences and I meet new people. The most recent workshop at Concan in April was no exception. Concan is probably my favorite location […]
Visiting Big Bend National Park (Part 4: Outside the Park)
Continued from Visiting Big Bend National Park (Part 3: Flora) In this part of my Big Bend National Park trip report, we drove west along River Road to Terlingua to have dinner at Starlight Theatre, crossed the Rio Grande River into Boquillas, Mexico for lunch, and stopped in Marathon north of the park for a look […]
Big Bend National Park (Part 3: Flora)
This post contains affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase, Red Shoes. Red Wine. will earn a small commission for the referral at no cost to you. Read more about affiliates & disclaimers here. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed […]