The BEST of 2021! 🎉 (Our TOP destinations, hikes, food, & MORE!)

As you may have seen in our last video, our time on the road ended on a painful and not so happy note. I had to get eight stitches in my hand. And after what was definitely the best eight months we've ever had on the road, we just didn't feel good about ending our videos for the year that way. So today for our final video of 2021, we've decorated the van all festive for the holidays. We're going to do a recap of our adventures over the year, and we're going to each share our favorite food, destination, coffee, and so much more. And the most fun part, we think at least, is that we have not seen each other's list. So we have no idea what the other person's going to say. So it'll be a surprise for everyone. But before we get started, we're going to do a little recap of the ground we covered this year. We started our adventures on the road this year in March and left Texas to spend two months in Southern Utah. In May, we headed to Colorado for two months where we spent a lot of the time in the San We then went up to Wyoming for a month, road tripped across North Dakota, spent time in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, visited family in Indiana, made a quick stop in Ohio on our way to Pittsburgh, went to Niagara Falls and the Adirondacks in New York, and then explored New England for the first time visiting Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. We ended the year visiting friends in Virginia and Maryland before driving back to Texas with an interesting stop in Kentucky along the way. This whole journey was a total of 21,830 miles and included 21 states explored with seven of them being brand new for us. We also visited 14 national parks with seven of them being new for us. And we slept at 107 different places with 18 of those being Walmarts. So as you can see, we did a lot this year. It was an incredible year, very exhausting, but it was definitely the best stretch of time we've had on the road. And a common question we get is what was your favorite blank? And to be honest, we're horrible at answering this question because we really suck at picking favorites, but we're going to try to give you our answers in 10 different categories. We truly loved everything we did this year. And so if we don't mention a place, it doesn't take anything away from it. But overall, I thought this was actually really fun because throughout the year, we're always go, go, go and never get to stop and reflect on what we just did. So it was fun to finally be able to do that right now. It was really fun to relive everything. But then it also made us realize how many incredible things we did this year and how much we did this year. So narrowing it down was felt impossible. So I'm really hoping that we have slightly separate different answers. That way we can kind of cheat and provide more answers. All right. With all that said, on to category number one, our top three destinations. I'm nervous. I'm like giddy because we've been like keeping this secret all week. All right. I guess I'll go first. My first one is the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. I have that one too. Isn't that the top of your list? So this was hard enough already as it is to even pick. So I didn't like number them in order. So no. Mine was kind of in order, but kind of not. So I guess to kick it off, the San Juan Mountains, that's basically the area we went from Durango up to Ouray and then over to Telluride. And we just loved everything about it. It was one of the most gorgeous mountain ranges we have ever seen. There's all these mining towns and mining history. It was one of the few places that I've ever thought to myself besides Washington. I could actually live here. Yeah. I mean, it kind of checks all of our boxes. Like, there's beautiful scenery with the mountains, cool little towns, good food, coffee, ice cream. I mean, what are you missing? Yeah. It's one of those places that I see us going back again and again. Like, we don't always want to repeat places, but I would be fine if we spent a whole year there. So it was the best. All right. My pick, all right, is the Wind River Range. Yes. I had that one too. I knew you would too. So the Wind River Range is where we did the Circa the Towers backpacking trip and it was just gorgeous. Best backpacking trip we have ever done. The Pinedale. The cute little town of Pinedale was just cute and fun and good coffee and I just loved it there. It just felt more authentic than some of the other places we've been to that felt very touristy. We had a really unique dining experience there. And even with a ton of wildfire smoke for about half of our visit, it was still so gorgeous. So yeah, that was my number two. I went very broad for number three because I couldn't pick an actual state or even place, but I'm saying New England as a whole. So mine is within New England. I didn't pick all of it. I picked certain areas. So I guess I can explain and you'll say your last two. So we went to Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine and I couldn't pick because every single one felt different. Vermont had more of like farmland and the mountains kind of off in the distance and the towns were really cool and the people were super nice. New Hampshire and the White Mountains, the White Mountains were gorgeous. One of my favorite places we have been like for hiking, hands down. And then Maine, it was just coastal. We did the coastal part. The coastal views and the food and I don't know. I couldn't pick. So I picked all of the New England that we visited. Yeah. So I thought I was cheating, but you're really cheating. I picked specifically, which I loved all of it, like we said, but I picked specifically Vermont and New Hampshire. Those two just, if you look at the map, they like fit together perfectly. And so they were just mountainous, cute towns, loved Burlington, loved the mountains, loved all of it. Yeah. The fall stuff we did. Yeah. The colors made it even better. It helped too. Yeah. So was that your two and three? So I had Wind River Range, San Juans, and Vermont. Oh, okay. Vermont, New Hampshire. Cool. All right. Category number two, our top three hikes. This is the one that honestly kept me up at night because I went, I knew my first two hands down. Those ones were given. The third one I had about 10 options and I was trying to decide, should I do something different from the areas of my first two or should I just listen to my gut and what I truly enjoyed and try to consider all the factors, like the weather, the crowd levels, just all the different things that make the experience. But I guess I'll go first. Sure. I think we're both- I just looked at sheer beauty, I think. Well, I think we'll have this one, but it's probably no surprise, my number one was the Cirque of the Towers. Yep. Got it. Yeah. I mean, just look at it. I can't even put it into words. It is one of the most beautiful places we've ever been. The mountains were super jagged. We did a three-day backpacking trip and that was just a fun experience as a whole. But then the jagged mountains, the lakes, it was just magical. Yeah. We just had a great experience there because we read that it was going to be very crowded and it wasn't too bad. We didn't think it was that crowded compared to what we were expecting. And then to top it all off, the burgers at the end. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Yeah. Big Sandy Lodge, the burger there. Which would be good anywhere. It wasn't because we just cranked through three days of backpacking out in the wilderness. It was good. So good. All right. My number, my first pick. All right. So we already had Cirque of the Towers. The Blue Lakes. Yeah. Washington. Yep. Wait. In Colorado. Yeah. Or yeah. In Colorado. Yeah. I promise we'll probably have some differing answers. Yeah. We will on the next one. I'm pretty sure. These are the ones that I think I knew we'd be pretty much on the same page. And I'm curious what your third hike will be. I mean, the Blue Lakes. I mean, similar to Cirque of the Towers. There's lakes. It's wilderness. Just forests. And gorgeous mountains. And... Gatorade blue lakes. Snow. Yeah. Like those Gatorade blue glacial lakes. Yeah. So my third hike is the one that I went back and forth on a lot. I had a different answer this morning than the one I'm going to share now. I was debating do I do something from Utah because I'm kind of light on Utah answers even though I loved Utah. I just... At the end of the day, I love the mountains. I love green trees. I love the lakes. Same for both of us. Like it's... We prefer the mountains over the desert. Yeah. So I wanted to give my true answer, not an answer just to like feel like I'm making all the states happy. Mm-hmm. So I'm going with Mount Albert. Wow. Okay. All right. And it's not because I enjoyed that hike. Because I actually hated it. It was awful. It was so hard. The hardest hike we've ever done. We started at 10,000 feet of elevation. We went up to 14,440, I think. I think that's right. And it's the second tallest peak in the lower 48, the tallest peak in Colorado. So it was just... I think the reason I picked it is because it... The emotions behind it. It was such a big accomplishment for us. It was the highest we've ever hiked. And also the day before was my last day at my corporate job, which was a humongous goal for us. So I had this really exciting day the day before, where we were finally launching into A plus K full-time. And then we went and hiked this killer peak, which was so hard. And I think... I'll remember it forever. And it was kind of just a good reminder to myself that I can do anything I set my mind to between those two accomplishments. So it was sentimental value. And at the top, you can just see peaks as far as the eye can see. It was beautiful. It was definitely beautiful. But I think a lot of it was the emotions behind it. That's a solid pick. I think emotion is the good word for that one. Just like the sense of accomplishment you get at the top, turning full-time into A plus K. Yeah. Nice pick. Kona also said that was her favorite. We asked her before. Yeah, yeah. She did. She loved that one. She was really good at it. She could race up twice if we would let her go, probably. Yeah. All right. My third pick. I think it's going to be different. So it lines up. I was thinking all week, is it going to line up with your top destinations and stuff? And mine does. So I went with Franconia Ridge. Nice. That was one of my options, too. Yeah. So the reason I picked Franconia Ridge is because it was just kind of unique. You go up one way, and then you get to go along that ridge, which is a really wild experience because you can see this way. You can see that way. So you've got a couple of 4,000 footers that you get to check off your list. But then once you start coming down, you get to go to the Greenleaf Hut, I think that's what it was called. So backpackers can stay there. We got a little apple snack and a lemonade, and it was a lot of fun. Yeah. That one I struggled with because I really, really enjoyed that experience, too. So I easily could have had that as my third as well. And then I also, just some honorable mentions. All the ones in Utah. Like, I felt bad not picking something in Utah, but like Canara Falls, the spooky Peek-A-Boo Canyon. There were so many awesome hikes we did in Utah. Capital Reef National Park. So yeah, those are my honorable mentions. I almost put Cassidy Arch on there. Yeah, that one was really fun. Because that one, like the sunrise was epic. Yeah. I'm so... Next category is best food. This one was so hard because we could only pick one. Yeah. Ugh. We decided to not give ourselves three options for everything just for the sake of keeping this somewhat short and also forcing ourselves to really pick something. So yeah, this was really hard. All right. I'll go first this time. So my favorite, this I think is going to surprise you because I think you have something else in mind, but it is in a similar area. So this one I picked the fry bread taco from Hungry Hippie Tacos. Oh, okay. Yeah, that was really good. In Grand Marais. Yeah. What'd you think? I thought you'd say. I thought you were going to think... I thought you thought I was going to pick OMC. I thought you were going to pick the lobster roll. Oh, I had that written down. So I had the lobster, what I picked, the fry bread and the barbecue from OMC and then I narrowed it down to the fry bread. I just thought the fry bread like on its own was super good. I don't know how to describe it. It was just a great vessel for that taco and all the toppings on it was so good. But I think what set it over the top, which might be cheating, is when we go to a place again off camera, you know, sometimes we don't always have time for that, but we went the next day and got a burrito and we got the tachos on the vlog. Yeah. So I was actually going to use that reasoning for some of my future ones because we try not to eat out off camera because we're just trying to save money and be healthy. So if we go to a place again off camera, that's how you know we really, really like it. But that's a good one. So mine, I think you might be a little surprised. I don't know. I mean, you may not. It was the Vampiro from Tacos La Pasadita in Green River, Utah. So the Vampiro was kind of like a quesadilla with, it was kind of like a quesadilla with meat inside of it. Oh, it was so good. It was so cheesy. The meat was just so good. The salsas were good. And it was just kind of our vibe. It was a food truck kind of in like a, in like a random location, a gas station. It loaded the meat on there. Yeah. It was just, and the people were really friendly. It just, if I could say like what our type of restaurant we want to go to is, it's that. It's just kind of a little hole in the wall place with good food. And I think even on that vlog, I said, this is the best thing I had eaten in Utah at that point. And I just love tacos. So that's my answer. Best coffee. So this one, it might surprise you too, but I went with the Kiva Coffee House in Escalante, Utah. Oh, nice. Yeah. So it was really good coffee. You know, it was, you sat outside and it's up on this like cliff on this hill and it just had the best view of a cup from a coffee house. Yeah. Like, I don't know that I can remember. That place was amazing. Yeah. That's all I got on that one. It was so good and an awesome view. My answer is the Maple Latte from Java Moose in Grand Marais, Minnesota. I went for that solely because I just loved that drink. And it's one of those things that we went and got again off camera, which we, like I said, we don't do. So when we do it, that means we loved it. And it was just so sweet. So good. We enjoy it by the water. Next up, we've got best ice cream. All right. I struggle with this one. I had three that were really solid, but I'm going with Cream Bean Berry. Boo, boo. I got that too. Nice. In Durango, Colorado. Sweet. Yeah. I'm glad we had the same one. I just loved it. We went, it's another one that we went off camera again. We bought a pint on camera, like we've had it, we had it three times in our few weeks in Durango. We just loved it. The, it was the peanut butter chocolate vegan flavor. It was, uh, cause the mixed berry crisp and the, that's what I had in the vegan peanut butter and fudge. The vegan peanut butter fudge. You would never know it's vegan. And the best part for me was that I could actually eat a cone there. The cone was safe for my dietary restrictions that I usually cheat on, but this time I didn't have to. And that just made the experience even better. It was the blue corn one, right? Yeah. It was really unique. Yeah. I've never seen that anywhere. Next up, we have favorite city or town. And I know Adam really struggled with this one. Yeah. I had a big, very hard time with this one. And I'm still like, I think it's going to be a game time decision here. So I think it's going to surprise you. I'm going to go with Duluth, Minnesota. Wow. I am kind of surprised. Yeah. I was torn between that one and Burlington, Vermont. I'm surprised Portland wasn't it? Yeah. It was on my list. That was the third one. I was like, all right, I'll knock this one off because I have a few more pros for these. So I chose Duluth because it had awesome food and ice cream. What else? It had like the Seattle, like PNW vibes, you know, just maybe that was the day we were there, but it was like foggy. But then there was like hills in the background, the waters right there, a maritime history that we got to check out was super cool. No, Duluth was great. And then like the North shores, you know, right there for you to explore. So sweet. That was a surprise one for me. I went with, and Adam won't be surprised, I don't think, Telluride, Colorado. I just, I loved Telluride. It was a place that we weren't planning to visit. Many people said you guys should go there. I thought it was going to be this like over-manufactured touristy ski town, but what really surprised me about it is it retained a lot of its like historic charm. It felt very just like friendly and welcoming and like a lot of local businesses. It didn't feel like how I envisioned it feeling. If you go up the Free Gondola, which is another reason why I liked it, you get to this ski area, which definitely has that more like manufactured ski town vibe, but the town itself down below, it just, I thought it was beautiful. Like the backdrop was beautiful. There's so much to do in town for free hiking, the gondola, it just, it gave me a vibe. Like if we could afford to live there, we'd live there if we were rich, but I think we saw houses for sale for 25 million, so it's not happening ever. Next up top national park. So I decided to go with a brand new national park for the year. We revisited a few of them this year, so I'm going based off of the ones that were brand new to us and I went with Acadia National Park. Is that not yours? No. It was going to be my pick, but I had a feeling that was going to be yours and so I wanted to be different. But Acadia just had it all. It had an awesome mix of mountains, lakes, the coast, and there was a unique food item to try. Plus we visited around peak foliage and I think that just made it even better. I just, I loved it. It had everything that I love in one park. That was going to be my pick, but I just wanted to share something different. I think it's going to surprise you, but I picked Capitol Reef. No, that was my second one. Really? Yeah, that was my second one. I just really loved the mix of, you know, awesome scenery, but then there's like a lot of history there and that's where we got the pie, right? Yeah, similar to Acadia. Food item. Yeah, a nice little food item in the thing, in the park, and the orchards that were there and just kind of history behind the place. Yeah, the schoolhouse with like the scribble on the rock. That was cool. And it's underrated. A lot of people just drive by it, but we, I think, I mean, to be honest, it's really hard to pick out of the Utah ones because they're all really, really cool. I lean towards that being my favorite of the five Utah ones. Me too. So yeah, good choice. Favorite place we slept. This is tough because, as you said at the beginning of the video, we slept at 108 different places. 18 were Walmarts. I crossed out all the Walmarts. There are a couple of Cracker Barrels I thought about putting in mine, not really. But my favorite place, it's going to surprise you again, is Valley of the Gods near Mexican Hat, Utah. Like when we first got on the road. That was almost on my list too. That was a good one. That was just a cool, epic spot because it's just like a, I don't know, 15, 18 mile road and you can kind of almost just park anywhere you want, wherever there's a pullout. And we got to fly the drone there. It was just pretty epic footage, I thought. Yeah. It was cool. And it was our first time back on the road in quite a few months, so I think it was extra special. So I went with a Utah one as well. I went with the place we stayed near Kanab, Utah, which was like the old Highway 89 dispersed, I think is what it's called. And I picked it because one, the views were really amazing. We were really close to Zion and we had just really cool views of like mountains and canyons just around the van. We parked kind of up on a hill. Okay. That's the one we drive up. Yeah. I thought we would flip over every time we drove down it. But we were by ourselves on this hill. So even though people were around, we had some seclusion. But the main reason I picked it, and this is just so important to me when we're boondocking, is it has really good cell phone service. So we could work without having to leave the van. And that's always the best experience when you get to just work with the views all around you. You don't have to go into town because there's no cell service. So it maybe isn't the most epic spot we stayed at, but I think from like an overall experience, it was my favorite. It has all the boxes, like you said. Yeah. Cool. All right. Our top three experiences. So to clarify what an experience is, it's basically just not a hike. So something we did that wasn't hiking since we already talked about hikes. So my first one, and these aren't necessarily in order, but my first one is the Jeep in Colorado. Same here. Really? Yes. Okay. Awesome. That was just so fun. It was unlike anything we've ever done. We had never done it before. And our van's very limiting at times with those kinds of roads, especially. So getting to drive a Jeep up a mountain, the views were insane. We didn't see many people. It was just, I can see the Jeep hype for sure after that. It was just so much fun. You get to go on these crazy one lane roads and just zigzagging up them. And then you get to the top and you have all those mountains around you. And again, we got to fly the drones. That was fun. And get epic footage again. And so when we're driving the van on way more tamer roads than that, but I'm very careful. But in a Jeep that you're renting, you get to just kind of let it loose a little bit. So we just, I don't know, you just, it was way more fun and yeah, it was fun. It was awesome. Number two is the Durango train ride. Yeah. No, that's not on my list, but it would have been top five for sure. Yeah. That one was so much fun. It was just very unique. We don't do a lot of train stuff. So getting to, it was what, three or four hours, five hours. And so it just goes nice and slow through the mountains and through these canyons and the river rushing by and you get to stop at the end and there's like a suspension bridge with mountains all around. No, it was a blast. It was a fun, unique experience. And it's a big part of the history of the area too, which made it even cooler. Yeah. I was close to picking that one. My second one though is Niagara Falls. That was my third one. Nice. We just, I don't know. I think it was pretty evident from our video. It's honestly one of my favorite videos we made this year because we were just having the best time. You just giggle and giggle. Giggle and smiling. I think that was honestly the most joy that we felt. Yeah. I don't know. Pure joy. It makes you feel like a little kid being there and it was a blast and so wet. Yeah. A big natural water park. My third one, I'm going to cheat a little bit. So boats. We had a couple water, a few water activities this year. We went on the lobster boat in Portland, Maine, which was a blast getting to learn how lobsters are caught. We went on the Apostle Island's kayaking trip, which was so cool and I wanted to pick both of those. That was my honorable mention. But what I'm going with is something that kind of has more sentimental value, I think to us. And when I look back on this year and I think about experiences that I'll remember forever, it's going to be hanging out with our friends, Jen and Elliot on their boat. Oh yeah. For me, just getting to be with friends was super rejuvenating. It had been a pretty chaotic year, especially the last part of the year was pretty busy and it was just nice to just kind of sit still for three days and just take it easy. Like we spent hours in the morning just drinking coffee and hanging out like we don't ever get to do that. That was awesome. And then just getting to learn about the boat and then getting to hang out with these friends that we had talked to online, but then meet in person and they're even more amazing in person and we had even more fun than I thought we would have. It was just the best three days for me. That's my top one too. I'm knocking my other ones out of the way. That one's my top one. Cheater. Our final category is the best surprise of the year, which I guess could have different interpretations, but I picked a place that surprised me the most and I picked, well, so to kind of cheat, the Great Lakes as a whole really surprised me with just how beautiful they were. All the blue water, just all the variety of views. There was a lot more different types of scenery there than I expected, but I have to go with Minnesota's North Shore. Me too. When we were there, it just reminded me so much of the Pacific Northwest, which is our happy place. Tons of green trees, crazy coastline or lakeshore line, you know, with all the rockiness and the waves and, you know, mountains, I mean, they're kind of small, but kind of hills to climb and stuff like that. And it was just gorgeous and it felt wild and more remote and more untouched compared to some places we've been and it's somewhere that we would love to just like rent a cabin and stay for weeks. Yeah. That was a really great surprise. And it checks all of our boxes, food, cute little towns, good coffee, water right there. The water's even better in my eyes because it's not salty, but yeah, tons of hikes. It was, it was a big surprise. I think Kona would pick it too. Yeah. She would be here, but she wouldn't be able to chill at all, so she's not here, but she would probably pick it too because she loved Lake Superior. The cold did not faze her whatsoever. A huge thank you to everyone out there for watching our videos and for all the support and kindness you've shown throughout the year. It has meant the world to us. We're going to be taking a little bit of a break from YouTube so we can recharge a bit. We can catch up on guides for our website and so we can prepare to hit the road again next year. But we'll be back in about two or three weeks or so, and we'll share what we've been up to since we've been home as well as our plans for 2022, which we are so excited about. But we hope you guys have a safe and happy holiday and we'll see you next year. But hold on, stick around for a few more minutes. We're going to share some of our favorite bloopers from throughout the year. That was fun. I didn't want to hit you. Mamma mia. It's a me, a Mario. So we're... Ah, a bug. Oh God. This one looks like an elephant trunk. My dad used to make the best elephant noises growing up. Here's my attempt. That's a good one. Nailed it. Perfect. Yeah. Perfect combo. Two peas in a pod. Best trail name I've ever heard right here goes to Wampa Hoofus. Don't be a doofus. Hike the Wampa Hoofus. What? Hoofus. Don't be a doofus. Hike the Wampa Hoofus. We are being a doofus because we're not hiking the Wampa Hoofus. And you can drive up to it, but my lips got stuck together and I couldn't get my words out. Ow. Yeah. It hit my head. That did not feel good. What was that? It was cooler in my head. Do you like my new look? It's Wind River Range fashion. It's called Mosquito. Mosquito. It's Mosquito. It's fancy. I got me a couple slabs of burgers. Look at the grease dripping through there. The grease ain't dripping. I ain't eating it. That's what I always say. This is the first time I've ever said it. If the grease ain't dripping, I ain't sipping. If it ain't greasy, I say no for sheezy. And for dessert we have... Am I saying it? Oh, yeah. Just loosen up for the camera. Loosen up. Like a goose? Loose like a goose? I don't know. Teaser for later. Wow. The oink wasn't the best. Welcome to the tallest capital in North Dakota. The tallest building. The tallest capital in South Dakota. I'm really hoping Grandma Val, if you're out there, will you adopt me, please? You shall not pass. Soulja Boy. It's so cold. I don't know why I'm nervous. I feel like I heard it. Yeah. Is it every bite? Yeah. Wow. Heal thee, heal thee. I am the queen of gold. The gangsta queen. Feels like a big stage and my massive crowd is out there at my music concert. Ain't doing anybody out there. This one's dedicated to my mom.