Life Checklist Double Check - Plan Some Joy

This week I took stock of what's going on in our lives and made a list of what we have to look forward to. I was surprised to see what's not...

So it’s halfway through September and I’m feeling the highs of hope, the excitement of my upcoming work trip to Alaska, and I’m feeling pretty good about the school year. It’s not all wine and roses though, because that would be too good to be true. I’m still nervous about the upcoming election even though I really think Kamala and Tim are an incredible opportunity for the country. I’m fighting physical battles with my dumb knees. I’m really over the teenage boy attitude that is taking over our house. And we still have two more months of hurricane season. Good times.

So what’s new with you? Actually, life really is going very well and I need to not complain about a lot of the little things that pick at my joy. I have big things happening that I’m excited to share. Maybe whenever anything happens with me, like life events or just little projects, I think I call them “big things.” Oh well, here we go!

Newest on the blog:

Alaska Road Trip Itinerary - perfect for next summer!

Travel to Alaska - everything you need to know

Guide to Saguaro National Park - I’m also working on lots of fun AZ stuff right now!

Heading to Alaska!

I’m so excited to head back to Alaska tomorrow! I’ll be gone for 15 days and have some really incredible adventures on the books. I’m working with Travel Alaska and, more importantly, local tour operators (I love small businesses!) to experience Alaska in the fall. My itinerary includes Denali National Park, glacier hiking, helicopter tours, dogsleds, an adventure to Lake Clark National Park for bear photography and so much more.

I’m a little nervous because I’ve got some activities in the next two weeks that I normally only do under duress… aka helicopter and seaplane flights. It’s a great opportunity for me to expand my bravery for once in a lifetime experiences. Seaplanes don’t scare me and I’ve flown in plenty of them in Alaska and Washington, but helicopters really get me. My first helicopter flight was 20 years ago out of Seward and it was beautiful. My next was a doors-off helicopter on Kauai (yeah, thanks Keryn) and it had me in tears for an hour. Amazing but my soul broke.

Anyways, it’s going to be tough being away from my guys for two weeks, as I haven’t done that since China in 2016, but it’ll be great. I’ll be pouring my heart into our new project: MY ALASKA TRIP, our new site about all things for planning and having an amazing visit to Alaska. The site is still under construction but over the next year it’s going to take shape as a fun planning tool for all kinds of travel to Alaska.

Empty Plans = Anxious Joy

The best way to get me at my highest of high-strung is to not have a plan for something, or to fully abandon a plan. That goes for trips or even just low-key days at home. I need that structure, even if it’s not written down on paper. I’ve been actively trying for years to get better about this, and I think I have, but sometimes my regimented brain wins and I have to deal with it.

I’m a big fan of planning for joy in our lives, whether that be something exciting to look forward to or just a standard activity we like to do together. Or just planning to have NO PLANS in hopes that we can just enjoy each other. Well, this week while Chris has been traveling for work and I had the house to myself to let my mind wander, I realized that we have completely locked ourselves into being home through Christmas with zero family trips. Sure, we’ll have local activities to do and we’ve got the holidays coming up, but it’s still too vague for me. Is anyone else like this?

I know we have goal of having more time close to home and we’re trying to be conscious of our budgets, so here’s what I’ve done:

• planned a weekend trip to Savannah (using our apartment)

• planned a weekend trip to Universal (using our annual passes)

• planned a kayaking day (using our own gear)

• planned a Christmas light cruise (I need to write about it)

• and booked myself a quick visit to Maine for fall colors with my bestie (using miles)

I need things like this to give me mileposts along the way so I can be ready for fun. I need simple things to look forward to, especially when we don’t have any big trips planned. And when I can plan awesome stuff and not spend money, I feel pretty good about it.

Fighting AI: the Battlefront has Arrived

You may see a lot about AI on the news or in your social media feeds. You might think “This has nothing to do with me.” OMG, it absolutely does. From DJT using an AI image of Taylor Swift supporting him when she 100% does not to getting crappy search results on Google, AI is touching every part of our lives. Want a fun activity to confirm it? Jump on ChatGPT or something and ask for a baking recipe… and then actually try it. OMG.

But more seriously than that, Google has be providing AI search results to users that, so far in my experience, are only accurate half the time. And when people take the AI results as the correct information instead of actually looking for the real thing or a first hand account (aka what I do for my job), they tell Google that they like the AI answer and that it’s accurate, even if it’s not. This then moves correct, experiential info to the bottom of the search results. It hurts the user, it hurts the creator who wrote the real thing. Ugh.

Anyways, it’s come to bite me in more ways that this. This week I had a lady ask if I could publish something she’d written about where she lives (common to share each other’s work when you’re a blogger) and whaddya know, she provided me an AI written article. She was defensive about it saying that she wrote it herself (I’ve had that happen with another writer before) and so I tested the AI checker I used with my own work. My work returned a solid “NOT AI” result vs hers. And I tried this across several pieces. Yeah, people need to NOT rely on AI to be their guide for creative or experiential work. It’s a problem.

So, here’s what we all can do:

• DON’T fall for the first few Google search results

• DO find first hand information when you’re looking for a how-to or ideas

• DON’T take anything you read at face value and DO some extra research

Together we can make a difference in how the information world evolves, and hopefully we can make it better, not more messed up.

That’s actually all I have to share for now. Life is just continuing on and I know we’ll have lots to share next month. In the meantime, please follow along on my epic Alaska adventures because it’s going to be incredible!!!

Have a great rest of September and I’ll be back to you all in October. Stay safe and healthy, be kind, double check your voter-registration, and let’s have a wonderful autumn together!