The Where & The Why of Our Travel in 2025

I didn’t write a “looking ahead” post at the start of 2025, so here it is. We have a lot of travel planned this year. It isn’t all related to my writing, but you can bet I’ll write about all of it!

Next week, we’re heading to Crested Butte. It’s a work trip for Ryan, and I decided to tag along. Fritzi is going too. Grand Lodge kindly gave us a media rate, and of course, I will write about it here on HeidiTown. I haven’t been to Crested Butte since 2018.

I won’t write much about Crested Butte now since the trip will soon appear on HeidiTown. By the way, you needn’t be a skier to enjoy Crested Butte. While it’s a hoot in the winter, full of people from all over the world (but mainly Texas), the other seasons are awesome. Spring is minty green, in the summer the region is brimming with wildflowers, and in the fall, there are rainbows. Few areas of the world rival the beauty of Crested Butte and Gunnison County.

In two weeks, I’ll be in Gothenburg, Nebraska, and I can’t wait to share this little town with my readers. Just past North Platte on Interstate 80, I am going there to speak as HeidiTown Consulting at the annual Chamber of Commerce event. However, I intend to soak up the town as well.

As you know, we’ve been traveling to Nebraska to go tanking for the past five years. In 2023, Dusty of Dusty Trails (our tank provider) called me two weeks before our tanking trip to say we had to tank the canal because the river(s) were too high or too low. We ended up tanking the canal and the float trip started in Gothenburg. The canal was a hit, by the way.

This summer’s trip isn’t on the schedule yet, but we’ll do it again because it’s a fantastic and affordable weekend.

What is Tanking in Nebraska? 

I don’t know if we’ll make it this year, but we have the burning desire to go to Oktoberfest in Omaha. As most of you know, I married a Schlaefer, and I co-founded Berthoud Oktoberfest with the Berthoud Surveyor. Oktoberfests have been a big part of my life for years despite not being German. I did marry one and my name is Heidi, and I like bier. So, if not this year, next! We must polka in Omaha.

After Gothenburg, we’re making a quick dog-friendly trip to Palisade to ski at Powderhorn (Ryan will ski, I will aprés ski). Gothenburg is a dog-friendly trip too. Fritzi is one lucky dog. All our trips this year, with the exception of those involving airplanes, are dog-friendly.

The trip to Palisade and Powdershorn is an official HeidiTown and The Heidi Guide adventure, so you’ll have various ways to read about it. I’m extra excited because the Deputy Mayor of HeidiTown lives in Palisade, and I haven’t seen her since the Keystone Bacon & Beer Festival 2023.

At some point, we’ll travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming, just 45 minutes north of us, to stay at the dog-friendly Little America Hotel & Resort. You’ve read about it here before because we’ve stayed in the past, but this year, they are doing a marketing campaign with HeidiTown.com highlighting holidays at the hotel like Easter, Mother’s Day and Thanksgiving.

Cheyenne Frontier Days: That’s WY

This spring, we’ll fly to Medford, Oregon, to visit my parents and brother. One day, we’ll plan a couple of days at the Oregon Coast as part of this excursion. Medford is about two and a half hours from Brookings, the tiny coastal town where I was born. I miss my parents, but I also miss the ocean.

Medford is located in the Rogue Valley and it is in the middle of wine country, so I’m sure we’ll sip a few vintages while there. I also always take a trip to Jacksonville. Only about 15 minutes from my parent’s home, it’s an adorable community with a lot of wine-tasting rooms and the best little wine shop.

I haven’t written specifically about Medford, but I should do an introductory article for you. There’s a direct flight from Denver to Medford on United Airlines.

Our anniversary always marks a road trip, and for the last few years, these adventures have been a highlight of the year. Usually inspired by a book we’ve read and our love of the west, we set out in the truck, because it’s newer than my car, and a nicer ride for the dog.

We’ve been on a Dust Bowl Road Trip, a Cattle Drive Road Trip, a trip to northern New Mexico wineries, and we’re headed to New Mexico again. This time was inspired by reading several books, specifically “Blood & Thunder” by Hampton Sides.

I’m not going to write much about this other than I am super duper ecstatic about this road trip.

My husband has been reading a lot of Native American and Western literature. He got on a roll after we both read “Blood & Thunder.” At some point this year, he wants to visit Fort Laramie, near Guernsey, Wyoming.

He has his heart set on staying at the dog-friendly Cedar Lights Retreat in one of the dome dwellings at Guernsey State Park. That area is only a couple of hours away from us, so we’ll squeeze that in sometime soon.

We will also make a trip to Scottsdale, Arizona in 2025. The showroom that displays Ryan’s furniture is located there and we try to visit once a year. It’s always a quick trip. Despite the short stay, we managed to eat a lot of tacos last year. Our Tempe hotel was located near a handful of taco joints and cheap beer spots. I love being in a college town!

Two Nights & More Tacos in Tempe, Arizona

A big trip that has to happen is to Bellingham, Washington. It’s where Ryan and I met, and where I spent two years of college. One of Ryan’s longtime friends lives there. We haven’t been back since 2017, but now it’s imperative. My college brewery hangout is closing permanently at the end of this year.

A Visit to Bellingham, Washington: The Mayor’s Homeland

Boundary Bay Brewery opened in 1995, the year I graduated college. They’re calling it quits permanently, which evokes all kinds of emotions for me. I wrote about it in End of Eras: Craft Beer & My Youth. We hope to make it in the summer because summers in Bellingham are fabulous. There’s nowhere quite as picturesque as the Pacific Northwest in the summer.

I’m sure other trips will come up throughout the year. I have a couple of conferences that will take me here and there too. Plus, I will have more speaking gigs, and I eagerly look forward to where those will take me.

I had feared when I stopped 95 percent of all freelance writing in 2023, that my travel lifestyle would slow down, and it has a bit. However, we are still out there road trippin’ around and I still love to write about it, so thanks again for coming along on the ride.

Here’s to safe travels in 2025!