Asia, Hikes, Travel, Tropical

🌅 Two View: Hiking Koh Tao’s Scenic Viewpoints

Koh Tao is famous for its spectacular coastal scenery, and Two View offers a chance to experience both sides of the island in one hike! Perched high above Sairee, this scenic hiking area features panoramic viewpoints overlooking Tanote Bay, Ao Leuk, and Koh Tao’s western coastline. We spent our final afternoon exploring rocky trails, photographing a surprisingly photogenic black cat, and soaking up golden-hour views before relaxing at Two View Bar & Restaurant for sunset. With relatively short hikes and incredible scenery, it was a memorable way to wrap up our Koh Tao adventures!

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November 5, 2026 by
Asia, Hikes, Travel, Tropical

🏝️ Koh Nang Yuan: Hiking Thailand’s Iconic Viewpoint & Exploring Paradise

Just off the coast of Koh Tao lies Koh Nang Yuan, a tropical paradise made up of three small islands connected by two stunning white sandbars! Famous for its crystal-clear turquoise waters and spectacular panoramic viewpoint, this was one of our most anticipated stops in Thailand. We arrived just before the island opened, raced to the summit to beat the crowds, and enjoyed breathtaking views almost entirely to ourselves! Afterward, we explored Nangyuan Island Beach, one of the most beautiful beaches we encountered during our entire Thailand adventure.

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November 5, 2026 by
Asia, Hikes, Travel, Tropical

🛶 Koh Tao Private Boat Adventure: Snorkeling with Sharks & Island Paradise

Koh Tao is a tropical paradise known for its crystal-clear waters, colorful marine life, and breathtaking coastal scenery. With so many beautiful bays scattered around the island, we decided a private longtail boat adventure would be the perfect way to explore! The highlight of our five-hour journey was snorkeling alongside blacktip reef sharks at Ao Leuk, an unforgettable experience! We also explored colorful fish and coral at peaceful Mango Bay, visited the stunning islands and sandbars of Koh Nang Yuan, and cruised past secluded bays and dramatic granite formations along Koh Tao’s coastline. It was one of our favorite adventures in Thailand!

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November 4, 2026 by
3D Prints, Cosplay, Projects

🍄 Super Mario Meets Spider-Verse: Our DIY Halloween Cosplay

With great power comes great plumbing! For Halloween 2026, we wanted costumes the neighborhood kids would recognize, so we gave the Mushroom Kingdom a superhero makeover with a Spider-Verse twist! Scott transformed into Spider-Mario, I became Spider-Peach (Princess Peach meets Spider-Gwen), and our orange tabby Frito reluctantly joined as Luigi. Our nephew also got in on the fun as Luigi, giving us double the green-clad plumbers! Between custom 3D-printed costumes and accessories, a little wand magic, and plenty of web-slinging, we brought our own Mario Multiverse to life for a super-powered Halloween!

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November 1, 2026 by
3D Prints, Decorations, Projects

🕷️ Lord of the Rings Halloween Decor: Shelob’s Lair & Frodo’s Sticky Situation

One does not simply walk onto our porch! For Halloween 2026, we transformed our front entrance into the Pass of Cirith Ungol from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, complete with a massive Shelob looming over poor Frodo, who found himself hanging upside down in her web. Using a combo of 3D printing, duct tape, trash bags, paint, and plenty of spiderwebs, we brought one of Middle-earth’s creepiest encounters to life!

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October 29, 2026 by
Asia, Hikes, Travel, Tropical

⛰️ John-Suwan Viewpoint: Hiking Southern Koh Tao

Koh Tao is known for its incredible coastal scenery, and John-Suwan Viewpoint is one of the island’s most iconic hiking destinations. We spent an afternoon exploring the southern tip of Koh Tao, combining two panoramic viewpoints, Sun Suwan and John-Suwan, with a visit to Freedom 2 Beach. The short hikes rewarded us with sweeping views of turquoise bays, lush jungle, and dramatic coastline. With several nearby beaches and trails, this is a great area to spend a few hours exploring.

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October 23, 2026 by
Asia, Gluten-Free, Hikes, Travel, Tropical

Phuket, Thailand: Songkran, Island Hopping, Avista & Ta Khai

Phuket was the perfect next stop on our Thailand adventure, offering beautiful beaches, lively coastal towns, and easy access to some of the country’s most spectacular islands. In just three nights, we experienced the absolute chaos of Songkran in Patong, explored the dramatic limestone scenery of Phang Nga Bay and James Bond Island, and visited the famous Maya Bay in the Phi Phi Islands. We stayed at Avista Hideaway Phuket Patong, a quieter hillside retreat with hiking access to the beautiful Freedom Beach, and celebrated Scott’s birthday with one of our favorite meals of the entire trip at Ta Khai, a White Lotus filming location. With two island tours requiring pickups around 5:00 AM, this was anything but a relaxing beach getaway, but it became one of the most adventure-packed stops of our Asia trip!

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October 15, 2026 by
Asia, Gluten-Free, Travel, Tropical

🌅 Phi Phi Islands Sunrise Tour from Phuket: Maya Bay, Snorkeling & Monkeys

The Phi Phi Islands are famous for their dramatic limestone cliffs, turquoise lagoons, and stunning beaches, including Maya Bay, made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio’s The Beach. To beat the crowds, we booked the Luxury Small Group Phi Phi Sunrise Tour with Simba Sea Trips, which meant another painfully early wake-up after our James Bond Island adventure the previous day. Thankfully, this time we were rewarded with a spectacular sunrise over the Andaman Sea! Our day took us from recreating movie scenes and spotting blacktip reef sharks at Maya Bay to swimming in Pileh Lagoon, snorkeling near Viking Cave, searching for monkeys, and admiring colorful longtail boats along Nui Beach. We finished with some much-needed relaxation at Ko Rang Yai before returning to Phuket in the early afternoon. While the boat itself didn’t quite live up to its luxury billing, the incredible variety of stops made this another unforgettable island-hopping adventure.

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October 14, 2026 by
Asia, Gluten-Free, Travel, Tropical

🔫 James Bond Island from Phuket: An Early-Bird Phang Nga Bay Adventure

James Bond Island may have been the famous name that got our attention, but it ended up being just one small part of an incredible day exploring Phang Nga Bay. We booked the Early Bird James Bond & Beyond Tour with Siam Adventure World, which combined caves, hidden lagoons, dramatic limestone islands, canoeing, a floating village, an amazing viewpoint, and a beach stop into one very full day. The 5:00 AM pickup was painful, especially since it was Scott’s birthday, but getting to James Bond Island early and experiencing so much beyond the famous movie location made it worth the alarm.

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October 9, 2026 by
Gluten-Free, Hikes, Travel, Tropical, US National Parks

St. John, USVI – One Week of Hiking, Snorkeling & Beach Hopping

We traveled to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a week with our friends Justin and Katie to celebrate Justin’s 40th birthday, and it turned out to be an incredible island for the kind of trip we love. With much of St. John protected as part of Virgin Islands National Park, we spent nearly every day hiking to panoramic overlooks, snorkeling with turtles and rays, exploring historic ruins and beach hopping around the island. St. John doesn’t have an airport, so getting there requires a boat or ferry from neighboring St. Thomas – but it’s absolutely worth staying longer than a quick cruise excursion. We visited in September during peak hurricane season, which was definitely a gamble, but we lucked out with almost perfect weather and the huge bonus of surprisingly quiet beaches and trails. Our home base at Thalassa Seaside Retreat gave us gorgeous ocean sunrises, a private pool and plenty of space to relax between adventures, while having our own Jeep – plus a day captaining our own dinghy along the North Shore – gave us the freedom to explore St. John from just about every angle.

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September 27, 2026 by