Last Friday was my golden birthday - that’s when you turn the age of your date of birth. So, you guessed it, I turned 27. I wrote a blog piece on how I feel about turning this age and everything leading up to it, if you want to check it out. But one thing that I have learned over the years of existence is that I am the creator of my own happiness. I had hoped for a long while that someone would throw me a surprise party, but with the fear that I’d be let down, I planned my own birthday weekend celebration. I decided that I wanted to go to Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

Christy SwanbergMay 4, 2018friends, hiking, red, river, gorge, kentucky, cousinsComment

Charlestown State Park

Since I have moved back to Illinois, I have been DEEPLY missing what Louisville, KY offered. I miss the local food, the bourbon, the breweries, the people, the church that I call home - but I especially miss the vast amount of options for hiking and exploring. One of my go-to places that is only a 30 minute drive from downtown Louisville, is right across the river in Indiana: Charlestown State Park.

Christy SwanbergFebruary 11, 2018charlestown, state, park, hike, hiking, waterfall, winter, louisville, kentucky, indiana, trailComment

My Hike in Starved Rock

I decided to set aside one day a month to do absolutely nothing. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I can’t do anything, but it does mean that I purposefully don’t plan or schedule anything on that day. My to-do lists, hanging out with friends, editing photos, they all take a pause on this one day.

Christy SwanbergDecember 23, 2017illinois, hiking, starved, rock, nothing, hikeComment

Hiking the Flat Irons - Boulder, CO

Because the last time I was in Colorado it was to capture my brother proposing to his now fiancé, I didn’t really have time to enjoy Colorado the way I wanted to: hiking those mountains. So I made another weekend trip out there to hang out with my brother, his fiancé, and my cousin. I knew I wanted to explore Boulder some more, so they suggested hiking the Flat Irons – even though none of them had.

ColoradoChristy SwanbergNovember 11, 2017Colorado, Boulder, Flat, Irons, hiking, hike, rocky, mountains, travel, adventureComment

#SwaninLondon - Day Seven - Edinburgh

At this point in my journey, I started getting more and more tired of being a tourist without anyone to share the experiences with. I started getting extremely lonely. I think the train ride out to Edinburgh was a nice relaxing break. It was about a 5-hour train ride through the country-side of England and it was lovely.

#SwanInLondonChristy SwanbergJanuary 23, 2017edinburgh, scotland, arthur, seat, hiking, cliffs, rockyComment