We live in Arlington, VA. Our family loves to get out into nature. Julia first fell in love with camping through girl scouts, back in junior high school. A few years after she met Gordon in college, he bought our first tent—a pop-up Eureka. We haven’t stopped camping, cycling, hiking, and kayaking since. And when our kids were born, we put them into baby backpacks and got out on the trail (read a bit more of the history in our first blog post). Now we’re headed out for a five-month journey in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Here’s a bit about who we are and what we’re most looking forward to.
Natalia is 14 years old and in eighth grade. She plays soccer and runs, and loves reading, art, and photography. The parts of the trip she’s most looking forward to are visiting Paris and biking in Bali.
Julia is a cultural anthropologist who has spent a lot of time in South America—especially Chile and Ecuador. Lately, she’s been working as associate editor for the online journal Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC. She’s eager to visit Asia, live in Bolivia, and do a ton of outdoor sports.
Isaiah is 14 years old and in eighth grade. He likes board games and Yu-Gi-Oh!; and he loves reading—particularly science fiction and fantasy. He’s especially interested in visiting cities with ancient histories—like Athens and Rome—and seeing first-hand the current events in Europe, Asia, and Latin America that he’s been following in the news.
Gordon is a community organizer. He works for PICO, a network of faith-based community organizations working in 21 states in the United States, as well as Central America and Rwanda. Gordon loves to plan trips! He almost never fishes (but he eats what he catches).
Looking forward to keeping up with your adventures. Have a wonderful time. Love, Ardie & Bev
It is so inspiring to be following you and your family on this adventure through this blog Gordon. I hope your family has the greatest time in the world and that those other cultures you will encounter will give you more energy through out your life! Be blessed and I am eager to read more about your travels on this blog, I see you made it to Japan:) Eat a lot of Sushi for me……
Jerry Elias Peña
Julia, Gordon, Natalia & Isaiah -I’m so glad to find your blog, and hope you have a marvelous time on your travels! We’ll miss Natalia at soccer, but being able to go in this incredible journey is such a blessing. I’ll be living vicariously through your adventures!
This is an incredible blog/site and you have an incredible family! My kids (and all of us) can now learn from and get inspired by all you are doing on this trip!
Hi Julia and Family – Hope you are all doing well, learning and having fun. The trip sounds fantastic. I am enjoying your blog. I just got back from a vacation in Argentina, Chile, and Easter Island – only 2 weeks! Enjoy and please be safe.