Are you looking for PNW travel destination guidance? Maybe tips for traveling with babies, toddlers, or kids on a budget? Are you looking for inspiration for spending more time exploring the outdoors, perhaps a hiking-lover? Then you’re in the right place!
Hi! I’m Elizabeth, and this is my little family. We are outdoor enthusiasts, hikers at heart (or at least, I am!), wandering souls, and always in search of fun.
I moved to Washington during 2020 and have spent a LOT of my after work hours, weekends, and vacation time planning and experiencing outdoor adventures in the area, especially exploring Washington hikes. I’ve visited every Washington National Park, 12 of Washington State Parks, and hiked over 100 trails in Washington (and counting), many more than once. I’ve developed a veritable catalogue of incredible hikes in Washington and probably have a blog post about just the hike or park you’re looking for. Check out some of my most popular posts:
The Complete Guide to Visiting the North Cascades
6 Incredible Weekend Getaways from Seattle
Hiking with a Baby: A complete guide
The 10 Best Hikes at Mt. Rainier National Park
I started this blog as a travel blog when I moved to Ecuador at 22 (where I met my husband, Gonza!) and since then it has been a place for me to write about my experiences exploring our beautiful world. Having made our home in Washington, this blog has a *LOT* of Washington specific resources, but also general tips for traveling, camping, and hiking on a budget or with kids. You’ll also see a focus on Ecuador, where we still spend several weeks a year, as well as other international trips we’ve taken. My goal is to help families get outside and traveling more.
We took the adventure of a lifetime when we went to Thailand when our son was 6 months old. First trip to Asia! One of our favorite moments? Sunrise boat ride at Cheow Lan Lake, Khao Sok National Park.
More about Elizabeth Seeks and her family…
My husband Gonza and I met when I moved to Ecuador after graduating college to teach English. I had wanted to move abroad and live in Latin America after graduating with my degree in Latin American History, and I found myself living in the beautiful Andean city of Quito.
It was only supposed to be a year, but I ended up falling in love with a local teacher and lived in Ecuador for four years. We had a lot of fun during my time there, especially when we only worked 4 hours a day and spent all the rest of our time together.
We traveled as much as we could around Ecuador, to places like Cotopaxi National Park, a beautiful snow-covered volcano in the high Andean plains; Baños, the adventure capital of Ecuador, filled with waterfalls, rivers, and looming green mountains and volacanos; the Amazon, where we white water rafted in Tena and sat in awe of pink river dolphins at Cuyabeno preserve; and more.
But our adventures didn’t end in Ecuador. We moved to the States in October of 2019 (yep, right before the big pandemic…) and spent our first few months in Boston, then moved to California for a bit (where I’m from), and ultimately ended up in the Seattle area in the fall of 2020, where we’ve lived ever since.
Washington is an absolute treasure. We have adored getting to explore the nature areas of Washington over the past few years, and there is so much that remains on our “to visit” list! We’re also eager to continue exploring other nearby areas, like Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and British Columbia.
Here’s a little bit more about each of us…
Elizabeth is the writer and adventure planner of the family. She loves the excitement of novel experiences, so visiting new places is high priority. She gets nearly as much satisfaction from the anticipation of upcoming adventures as she does from actual adventuring.
She is completely obsessed with hiking thanks to her dad’s yearly (oftentimes multi-yearly) camping trips that involved slightly insane things like summiting Half Dome when she was 11. Elizabeth grew up hiking regularly in places like Yosemite, coastal redwoods parks, Sequoia, Kings Canyon, and Tuolumne Meadows. She’s originally from California, but has lost all loyalty to the state because Washington’s mountains are so clutch. She’s hiked over 100 trails in Washington and is always adding more! She often hikes in North Bend; it’s close to home and so gorgeous.
When she’s not hiking, she is eager to participate in other outdoor pursuits, like biking (a lot of that is planned for the coming year!), swimming in (warmer) waters and occasionally polar plunging into alpine lakes, white water rafting, and picnicking in beautiful spots. She’s working on becoming chiller about outside time (not making every outdoor activity into a physical challenge) and enjoying the simpler pleasures of fresh air.
Outside of outdoorsy pursuits, Elizabeth enjoys the finer things in life like tasty foods, reading books on Libby, spending time at cafes or bars with friends, getting into the spirit of whatever holiday is on the horizon, going to the gym, napping, and of course writing this blog.
Gonza is the musician and photographer of the family. A bass player by training, he is an artist at heart and loves composing and playing music, painting, and taking high quality photos. The best photos you’ll see on here are almost certainly taken by or set up by his hands.
Born and raised in Quito, Ecuador, he’s a mountain guy who likes cooler weather and appreciates mosquito-free trails. His favorite outdoor activities include trails that are shaded, not too long, and have beautiful destinations at the end. He prefers to vacation in the tropics which is where you’ll find us whenever we can sneak away from dreary Washington winters!
Nico is the baby of the family, a joyful and exploring toddler that we adore with our whole hearts. Adventuring with him has been more complicated than it was before, but we love him to pieces and are so excited to bring him on our explorations. One of his earliest words was in fact “go”; he always gets excited to head outside. You’ll find a lot of tips and tricks here for how to maximize your adventures with your children.
Gaby is our loyal dog. You may not believe this but multiple people have said that they don’t really want a dog, but they would take Gaby if they could. She is that amazing. We try to bring her anywhere dogs are allowed (hello State Parks and State Park Cabins, sad face to national parks) so you will often see her in our photos, too.
We are so glad you’re here to join us!