This is one of the articles I most look forward to writing each year because it’s an opportunity to really reflect on the last 12 months – both the ups and the downs.
We don’t send Christmas cards, so this is kind of one of those “back of the card round-ups”, but a little a lot more long-winded.
While some of the things on this list are bucket list adventures, we’re also sharing some vulnerable moments too.
This is the 10th year I have written an annual recap and it’s wild to think we’ve been doing this “blogging thing” for a decade and counting!
2024 at a glance
I’ll be honest: 2024 was one of the harder years we’ve ever had, and I’m still in kind of a raw place after everything we’ve been through.
But when I was reflecting on the year to write this roundup, I realized that — while very challenging — it was also really beautiful in so many ways too.
For one thing, Juniper has been at such a fun age all year. I swear each month I say to Ben, “This is my favorite age!” Her personality is really started to grow this year, and she is so dang funny. I can’t even explain.
And amid some really hard times this year, we found out that we’re expecting Baby #2, which we’re so incredibly excited about.
We hosted visitors, went on a dream trip, and made some core memories as a family of three.
Before we dive into the ups and downs of 2024, I want to rewind to the beginning of the year. We had just returned home after 2 amazing months of traveling in Japan and Thailand (and visiting family in Minnesota for the holidays).
We were feeling pretty on top of the world. Little did we know, that we’d be facing quite a few obstacles and hard decisions in the upcoming year.
Without further adieu, here’s what 2024 looked like for us…
1. We got Juniper on a snowboard
As our Christmas present to Juniper, we bought her a snowboard and all the gear (which is so dang cute I can’t handle it!).
Back in another lifetime, Ben was a snowboard instructor for little kids and he says the most important part of introducing kids to snow sports is making sure they have a positive experience in the snow. So that was our main focus.
We got her out on a board quite a few times over the winter (some more “productive” than others).
Our most memorable snowboarding experience this year was driving our van to Mount Hood Meadows where we camped for 2 snowy nights (fyi our van stays suuuuper warm because of our heater and wool insulation).
We dropped Juniper off at the mountain daycare while Ben and I were able to go out on our own. Then, in the afternoon, we got her on her board while it snowed big, fat, fluffy, magical flakes!
2. Palm Springs getaway
In February, we took a direct flight (one of the only direct routes out of Bend!) to Palm Springs to visit my parents where they were staying in an Airbnb for the month.
This is kind of a high and low situation, because on the drive out there, my dad fell and broke his ankle.
He ended up having to get surgery while we were out in Palm Springs; and while he was a trooper, it definitely changed the trip.
Highlights:
- Ben and I did a day trip to Joshua Tree National Park, which was really fun
- My brother and sister-in-law came out too, and the four of us took the aerial tram to the top of Mt. San Jacinto State Park
- Hiking in Indian Canyon (probably my favorite part of Palm Springs!)
3. Cancer scare
One of the first big lows of the year came in late February.
Late last year, I met with a high-risk breast cancer clinic, and due to my family history, I am on a twice-annual exam (alternating mammograms and MRIs).
I went in for my first MRI, and the call came back that they found something.
Two somethings, actually.
They attempted an ultra-sound biopsy, but that didn’t work. So I had to go back in for an MRI-assisted biopsy, which was wayyyy more traumatic than I was expecting.
And then there was the waiting.
I think it was about a week and a half but it felt like a month to finally hear that it was benign, thank goodness.
One of my best friends was going through something similar at the time, and while I would never wish this upon anyone, it was so therapeutic being able to talk to her about it all.
2 other lows at the same time:
- Right around the same time, our daycare closed suddenly (due to reason’s outside of our provider’s control). While it all ended up working out in the end (now Juniper is at a Montessori daycare on our block which we can walk to!), it was really stressful at the moment. If you’re a parent, I’m sure you can understand how stressful childcare stuff can be – especially in an age where you often need to be on waitlists for a year before getting in.
- Another thing to top it off was that at roughly the same time I was going through this, Ben found out his own really tough news about a surgery he’d be needing (more on that later)…
4. Hot Spring retreat
We’re kind of obsessed with hot springs, and Breitenbush has been on our list for a while, but we kept having to put it off (due to 2020 and wildfires).
We finally went in March.
This is one of those memories I kind of forgot about until I was looking through my photos (does that ever happen to you?!).
But it was such a good one.
Our visit came at a time when we were in the midst of a lot of lows, and this space is just healing… I don’t know how else to put it.
I don’t really know how else to describe it as a hot spring oasis in the Oregon forest that’s run by a staff of mostly volunteers (there are around 50 people now, but prior to 2020 there were 200!).
There’s a lodge where they serve vegetarian buffet meals (that are amazing!), offer classes like yoga, meditation, and calligraphy, and an assortment of cozy places to stay (like yurts and tiny cabins).
It’s like something out of a movie.
We left wishing we had more than just a day, and I’m really hoping to go back in 2025.
5. Eclipse in Texas
Last year when we hiked to Havasupai, we saw a partial eclipse and as soon as we got back into cell signal we booked an Airbnb in Texas so that we could see the full eclipse in April.
My parents were on their drive back from Palm Springs so able to join us for a few nights, which made the experience even more special!
We didn’t get the luckiest with the skies – we had clouds coming in and out – but it was such a cool experience!
We haven’t traveled much in Texas, so we took it as an opportunity to make a bigger trip (because we always do haha), and we packed a lot in!
Highlights:
- Exploring Austin and San Antonio
- This A-frame Airbnb in Hill Country
- We ate amazing food (especially Terry Black’s Barbecue in Austin)
6. Folk & Forage festival
When we first heard about this festival a few years ago, we knew we had to go because sounded magical:
Folk music in the forest in a micro-festival atmosphere, and a focus on mushroom foraging (which is something we’ve been wanting to get into!).
How “Oregon” is that?!
The last few years, the dates have conflicted with other plans, so we haven’t been able to go.
So when this year’s festival happened to be the weekend before Ben’s surgery, we jumped on it and had a wonderful time!
7. Found out we are expecting baby #2
I kid you not, the literal DAY before Ben’s surgery, I took a pregnancy test that came back positive.
We’d had a few months of negative results (or chemical positives), and while it wasn’t that long compared to what a lot of people go through, it was humbling.
Everyone’s experience with growing a family is different, but even this tiny glimpse of waiting forever changed how I think about this stage of life.
It was a really weird experience only being able to celebrate our happy news for a few hours, because we had to be at the surgery center at 6:30 the next morning. And the couple of weeks that followed were extremely heavy.
8. Ben’s first major surgery
This was a big part of our year, and it has been a really heavy thing that we’re honestly still processing and dealing with. (And will be for a while.)
If you aren’t exactly sure what we’re talking about, we explained everything about this surgery and why it was necessary in this video.
It’s a really hard subject to talk about, so I’m not going to type it all out here again. But I will say that watching someone you love go through something like this is horrible.
On top of trying to comprehend the procedure, healing process, and what it means for Ben’s future, none of this procedure was covered by insurance.
The cost of something like this is astronomical, and the fact that this (medically-necessary) surgery is not in any way covered is something we’re still trying to wrap our heads around.
To further complicate things, Ben was told a week before the surgery that he had too many infections for them to go through the entire procedure as they had intended. This meant there would need to be another surgery later in the year, and a 12-16-month recovery instead of 4-6 months like we were originally planning.
It was not news we were wanting to hear. And just like the original news of needing the surgery in the first place, there was a long period of denial and frustration.
The silver lining of it all is that the surgery went as well as it could have and the team we have is incredible. Ben needed several follow-up appointments and adjustments over the next few months, so we were happy with our decision to have the procedure done at home (rather than abroad, which we have done in the past).
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Gorge
Ten days after his surgery, Ben and I took a little trip up to The Gorge (in Washington) to see a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert!
Background: Ben has a question he loves asking people:
“Who would be your dream artist to see, and what would be your dream venue to see them at?”
His answer is always “Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Gorge” (look up the Gorge if you’ve never heard of it!).
So when I saw that exact show, I knew we had to get tickets!
The thing was that the concert date was just 10 days after Ben’s huge surgery. But when his team approved it — and even encouraged it! – we couldn’t not get tickets, could we?!
Thankfully, a sweet friend offered to watch Juniper and we had the night to ourselves.
I was in full-swing of first-trimester nausea and Ben wasn’t 100% himself, but it was such a cool experience being able to see one of his favorite artists at one of the coolest venues.
10. Campervan trips
While we didn’t cover as many miles with our campervan this year as we have in the past, we still got in a handful of fun trips. Here are just a few:
- Mount Shasta: We don’t live all that far away, but this was our first time in the area. It’s definitely a place we’d love to explore more in the future!
- Oregon Coast: We went out to the Oregon Coast twice this year, and returned to some of our favorite spots. (Check out our Oregon Coast road trip guide if it’s on your list!)
- Hood River: We love visiting Hood River and this year went up for both Mother’s Day as well as in the summer for cherry picking and lavender blooms.
11. Halifax
In July, we went to Nova Scotia for a trip with friends we met while teaching in South Korea!
It was the 10-year anniversary of meeting and, while we’ve seen each of these friends in the years since, this was the first time we’ve all been together since being in Korea.
It was so special being able to spend time together.
On either end of this trip, we also got to spend a little time in Minnesota (as Juniper stayed with grandparents during this trip). Our time there was quick, but we got to see a few friends and family.
12. We hosted lots of visitors
This was our year of hosting, which we’ve been craving since we first moved out here. We’ve had guests over the last years, but during 2024 we had the most!
- In January, we hosted Ben’s brother and sister-in-law and went skiing at Mount Bachelor during a cozy, snowy weekend.
- Then in July, we hosted two sets of guests pretty much back-to-back: Ben’s sister and her family visited us for a week, then my brother and sister-in-law stayed.
- We hosted a friend in August, my parents came out for a week in early October, followed by Ben’s aunt and uncle.
It’s always so much fun showing people our favorite spots around Bend, and falling in love with this area all over again.
13. We planted a garden
This was the first year we put some intentional effort into growing a garden, and it was especially cool to see Juniper watch our vegetables grow. We also did some landscaping and really made our yard a nice place to hang out!
I will say that it wasn’t exactly the best summer for us to grow vegetables because Ben was pretty limited on what he could eat, I had aversions to some of the things we grew that are usually my favorites (pregnancy problems!), and we were on a big trip during the peak of harvesting.
Maybe next summer will be our year!
14. Stopped breastfeeding
Another big milestone from this year was that I stopped breastfeeding Juniper in August (right before a big trip).
I haven’t shared much about this publicly, but I was surprised by how much I loved this journey. It wasn’t easy in the beginning, and we went much longer than I expected (a couple months past 2.5 years).
I will forever be grateful for the bonding that we shared throughout this time, but it has also been nice to semi have my body back. I say “semi” because I stopped breastfeeding when I was about 5 months pregnant with Baby #2 when we actually stopped, so my body’s still not really mine haha.
15. We went backpacking near Bend
We only went on one backpacking trip this year which is far less than any of the last 8 or so years. In fact, we had more planned (permits and all!), but due to life stuff, we only made it out there once.
That said, I’m still so proud that we made it happen.
The hike we did was Green Lakes Trail, which is actually quite ambitious for bringing a toddler (with quite a bit of elevation gain and distance), but it was so worth it and made us proud that we are able to continue doing the things we love.
This was the first backpacking trip since Juniper was born where we didn’t take a full-on hiking carrier (like our Osprey Poco).
Instead, we let her hike part of the time and when she got tired, one of us carried her in a Trail Magik. It was our first time using this type of carrier, and it makes me excited that we’ll be able to keep backpacking as she gets older.
We even bought a new backpacking tent to fit 4 people, and we’re looking forward to putting it to good use next summer!
16. We took a dream trip to Norway
In September, we took a dream trip we’ve been planning for years!
At the beginning of the year, we were positive we’d go, but after everything that went on this spring, planning the trip kept falling on the back-burner. In fact, we didn’t actually have all our flights, campervan rental, or hotels booked until about a month before our trip (which I would NOT recommend, for the record).
But it was everything we wanted it to be, and so worth the stress of last-minute planning.
We went on some of the best hikes of our lives (and we’ve hiked a LOT, all around the world). We had the best time exploring Norway in a campervan (definitely recommend this!!), and we loved exploring the Lofoten Islands.
We spent our 11th wedding anniversary in the charming town of Bergen (you should definitely put this one on your list!), and made so many sweet memories with Juniper.
It was our last international trip as a family of 3 and got us so excited to expand our little travel crew and adapt to exploring with 2 kids.
17. NOLA & Taylor Swift
While in Norway I did something really spontaneous and a little crazy…
I got an email from my credit card company saying they had access to seats at some do the last shows on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.
And I jumped.
There we were, at a marina in a random Norweigan town using cell data to wait in a virtual queue. I didn’t have much time to choose seats because they would suddenly disappear so after I purchased them I looked closer and to my happy surprise they were tickets on the FLOOR!
Luckily one of my best friends jumped at the invitation and pretty soon we were booking flights and a hotel.
I’m admittedly not a huge Swiftie and don’t know all the lyrics and fandom trivia, but it was such an amazing experience. I thought that there was no way the show could live up to the hype, but it genuinely did. And more.
Plus, I got quality time with one of my favorite people, which is hard to come by in this season of life. And we got to explore New Orleans, which has been on my list for a while!
18. Google update
I want to start by saying that we LOVE our job as travel bloggers. We started Two Wandering Soles in 2014, and both went full-time on it in 2017. So we’ve been at it for a while.
But honestly, this last year has been ROUGH in the blogging world.
And it involves some major drama with Google.
Curious what I mean? Well, we’re about to spill the beans…
There are a lot of other content creators who have been really vocal about what’s been happening lately, and we’ve stayed kind of quiet on the topic because:
- a) we’ve had a lot of life things going on this year, and
- b) I wasn’t sure if people who aren’t in this industry would actually care to hear the drama that’s happening in the world of blogging
But I do think it’s important that even non-bloggers know what’s happening behind the scenes of Google these days because it really does impact us all. We all use it to search on a daily basis, after all.
And chances are that your favorite content creators – food bloggers, garden bloggers, mommy bloggers, and (you guessed it) travel bloggers – have all been impacted in some pretty major ways.
We know bloggers that had 95% of their traffic wiped away in a matter of weeks. We’ve heard stories of bloggers (the small business owners of the internet) who had to sell cars and homes to make it through this time.
A bit of background…
Okay, so here’s the (super short & simple!) scoop of what’s been happening in the world of blogging this year…
Google does several updates each year, and most people are totally unaware of them. Historically, these updates have been intended to wipe away spammy sites or promote truly helpful content.
But with recent updates in September 2023 and again in March 2024, Google got things all wrong. Some are even saying Google is broken.
They’ve demoted helpful websites that were built by real people and promoted forum sites like Reddit or Quora, even when the threads are not helpful for your search query.
Even more frustrating, Google scrapes content (written by sites like ours) and rewrites it in AI-generated answers, thus taking away traffic (aka income). It sounds like plagiarism to me. Just sayin’.
There’s a lot more to it than that, but for the purpose of this round up I’ll just say that it has been a wild year in the world of blogging.
With all the other things we’re dealing with, these major business changes have come at a pretty inconvenient time for us personally (things like this always do, right?). If I’m honest, I feel like we don’t have the time or capacity to give it our all at the moment, like we used to.
But behind the scenes, we’ve been trying our best to figure out ways to pivot and diversify our income, which leads us to the next point on this list…
19. TWS Itineraries
One of the parts of our business that we’ve been devoting more time to is creating super detailed, done-for-you itineraries.
These include:
- hidden gems and unique things to do
- best food recs around
- perfect hotel recommendations
- how to get around and plan your time
- insider tips
- maps with locations pinned
We don’t just make these for any location… it has to be a place we know very well or we’ve spent a crazy amount of time planning our own perfect itinerary that we want to share!
Most recently, we published our Japan Hidden Gems itinerary, and I am SO PROUD of it.
Other itineraries we have:
- Classic Japan itinerary
- Iceland
- Scotland
- New Zealand
- Italy
In 2025, we have more itineraries in the works (including Norway, the Canadian Rockies, and the Pacific Northwest). Let us know in the comments if there are any places you’d like to see an itinerary for!
20. Halloween
Fall is my favorite time of year, and immediately after getting off the plane from Norway, we did everything we could to cram in ALL things fall.
With my trip to New Orleans and Ben’s impending surgery at the beginning of November, we really had to make the most of our time.
We went to the pumpkin patch, carved pumpkins TWO times, baked all the fall treats, watched all the fall movies, went on fall foliage walls, jumped in leaf piles, and, yes, made a family costume where Ben and I were trees and Juniper was a koala.
She landed on a koala after an entire month of changing her mind every day. (Video evidence!)
21. Surgery #2
Ben’s second surgery, while still an incredibly-intense 10-hour procedure, was much easier than the first.
Also, it happened to fall on Election Day, which made the whole day all that much more nerve-wracking.
He had some ups and downs in the weeks following surgery, but overall, his healing has been much quicker this time.
He’ll still be healing until at least March of next year when they will assess his progress and determine when he can have his final (for now) procedure, which will be a cake walk compared to the two surgeries he endured this year.
22. Quiet Thanksgiving
We weren’t sure if Ben would be up for traveling so close to his surgery date (especially for a holiday that revolves around food and conversation)… so we decided to hang around in Bend instead of visiting family.
Honestly, it was so nice.
Ben was feeling pretty good so in the week leading up to the holiday, we hosted a couple of friends and also went to a Friendsgiving where the spread was Vietnamese and tbh way better than traditional Thanksgiving food. There, I said it!
On Thanksgiving day, we went to a nearby National Forest to cut down a Christmas tree, spent the afternoon soaking in this hot spring, then came home for dinner and a Christmas movie. It was the perfect day and I wouldn’t mind that becoming a new tradition!
23. Leavenworth trip
At the beginning of December, we took a little getaway over Juniper’s 3rd birthday to one of our favorite places: Leavenworth, Washington.
Back in 2016/2017, we lived in this mountain town for almost a year while we worked at the local ski resort, so it’s always fun to come back and visit.
This time around, we did all the touristy stuff we usually skip and it was so much fun!
Highlights:
- Feeding reindeer and meeting Santa
- Dining in an igloo
- Staying in cozy cabins and having slow mornings (& nights in the hot tub after Juni went to sleep)
- Doing a maternity/family photo session
We put together a winter Leavenworth itinerary (and free map!) in case you’re interested in recreating this trip yourself. If you haven’t been, definitely put it on your list!
24. Preparing for Baby
Our due date near the end of January is quickly approaching and while we are so, so excited, I feel like there is just so much still to do.
By the way: Like we did with Juniper, the we’re waiting until birth to find out gender which is such a fun surprise!
In the weeks leading up to the new year, we’re trying really hard to wrap up some work projects and leave things in place for our team to run things while we’re unable to for a while (thank you, Amanda and Meaghan!).
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling really overwhelmed and stressed at the moment.
And on top of, you know, trying to get the house ready, remember things about labor & birth that I thought I’d never forget but somehow did, and wrapping up work stuff, we also have a toddler this time around which makes our time so much more limited than when I was pregnant with Juniper.
I am really trying to be present and enjoy this holiday season and these last moments as a family of three, but it has been hard. We’re also spending 2 weeks over the holidays in Minnesota with family and friends, which is so great but also makes things so busy (in a good way!).
Despite the stress, we are so excited to meet this baby. And I’m so grateful that I’ve had a healthy and mostly easy (despite first trimester nausea) pregnancy.
Well, that just about does it!
When I first started writing this roundup, I kept thinking that 2024 was a bad year, but after putting it all into words I can see that there was so much good, too.
I hope you’re able to take some time to reflect on your year and think about all the ups & downs and the lessons & memories you’ve collected.
Because even if you’ve had a rough year, like us, I’m sure there are lots of good things scattered in there too.
And if 2024 was amazing for you (yay!), I hope there’s more of that magic in store for this upcoming year.
May your 2025 be full of laughter, memories and time spent with people you love.
Wanna see how this year compares to years past?
We’ve done these round-up articles each year since 2014, so you can dig in deep!
- 2023 Recap
- 2022 Recap
- 2021 Recap
- 2020 Recap
- 2019 Recap
- 2018 Recap
- 2017 Recap
- 2016 Recap
- 2015 Recap
- 2014 Recap
We’d love to hear from you! Pop down to the comments below and let us know your thoughts on 2024. We try to get back to everyone. Cheers!