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My name is Chelsea and I am a travel storyteller from Kentucky. Drop your email below to stay in the loop on my travels.
Remaining
I watched the video 8 times before 7 AM today Before the coffee finished brewing Before the sun had risen The nameless, faceless men hide behind guns and flags and federal orders Their loyalty lies with the bigger dogs who have the power to justify, condone, and redeem With hands washed clean by a press…
Mourning in the mountains: Camping on the outskirts of Hurricane Helene
We booked a campsite for Babcock State Park in West Virginia early in September. We had anticipated the burnout that would surely catch up to us by October but had not predicted the weather, which brought buckets of heavy, humid rain from a hurricane brewing down south.
Skipping Stones
On a bright, blue-skied Saturday afternoon in the middle of September, Seth and I hauled our tent, sleeping bags, and camp cookware down from the attic and loaded it into our car. After more camping trips than I can count, packing is now a methodical equation where we subtract most of the comfortable amenities of…
GEAR WE LOVE: Nine items you need for adventures with a high-energy dog
A few months before Wally, our border collie rescue, joined our pack, we began preparing for his arrival by researching the best ways to integrate him into our adventurous life. We knew we wanted to raise a family dog that would ride along to school drop-offs, hike fourteeners, and spend a lot of time with…
September Was
When I was a child, September was a purple jacket zipped up to my chin and fleece pants to match. September was new shoe shopping and my sister’s birthday month. September was Andy Griffith playing on the living room TV And ideas for homemade Halloween costumes. The rows of corn in our garden became a…
Part Two: Wild Blackberries and Grits
Read Part One: Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill HERE. I woke before sunrise to the smell of wood and the stillness of a house long settled into its stone foundation. I fumbled in the quiet, creaky darkness for shoes, a book, and a spare room key before stepping out into the lavender morning, already humid…
Part One: Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill is located on 3,000 acres of grasslands, well-tended gardens, and rolling hills in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. Most locals know the village for its seed-to-table dining menu that displays the best of Kentucky’s eats or the quaint, 200-year-old lodging accommodations of The Inn. Most younger locals know the village as a glorified…
When Home Feels Heavy
“When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the…
Soul Dog
Walden was born in an Eastern Kentucky holler and dropped into my arms at five weeks old on a humid Sunday in mid-July. He had the signature black and white coat of a border collie, though his feet and face were stained a rusty brown from lying in a bed of mud for the first…
The Pines, The River, and The Ducks
“I am trying to live a life worthy of Polaroid film and picture frames. I am trying to write a story worth sharing again and again and again. I want to tell my grandkids about the way these mountains breathe when you aren’t looking. I want to tell a stranger what it’s like to be…
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Before it Gets Dark 