Real stories from the road, shared with heart.
Welcome to a space where travel isn't just about destinations, but the soul-stirring moments found along the way. I'm Lacy, and I've spent the last decade navigating the high peaks of Colorado and the winding backroads of the world in my van. This blog is my love letter to the outdoors and the unfiltered reality of a life lived in motion.
I'm Lacy, a Colorado-based writer with a journalism degree and a decade of chasing sunsets and alpen glow. Ten years of exploring this state taught me that the best travel tips come from actually doing it, not just reading about it. That's what you'll find here: real advice from someone who's tested it, the good trails, the wrong turns, and everything worth knowing in between.
How This Started
In high school, my counselor told me something that ended up shaping my entire twenties: "You're not going to just go to college. You're going to participate, join a club, study abroad." I didn't think much of it, until my sophomore year at Ball State, working my shift at the college bookstore, when a man struck up a conversation with me on my break. He asked my major. Photojournalism, at the time. He told me about a summer program in Buenos Aires: college credit for photography and travel writing. He was the one leading it. I took the brochure home for Thanksgiving break, and that was that.
Finding Colorado
That was about ten years ago. I've built my whole life around this state since. I converted my first van during COVID, converted a second one after that, and now drive my dream setup, a GeoTrek van, to national parks and across the country more times than I can count. A decade in Denver later, I'll call myself a local expert, and I still find something new in Colorado constantly. My two dogs come with me for most of it; van life with dogs is its own skill set, and it's one I actually care about getting right.
Life on the Road
In more recent years, Europe has taken over a big chunk of my travel calendar, and my passion for the festival circuit has brought me to some of the best party destinations in the world: Ibiza, Tomorrowland in Belgium, Burning Man, parties in the Tulum jungle, EDC Las Vegas, underground clubs in Barcelona.. But I balance it: I love to explore historical cities, wander museums, and try the local cuisine, because I want the whole picture of a place, not just the party. I'm a full foodie too, if it's local, exotic, or slightly questionable, I'm trying it once. From Michellin-rated to empanadas on the street, to the local cafe in middle America, I love to explore what every culture has to offer.Â
The Philosophy
My approach to travel comes down to one Hunter S. Thompson line: buy the ticket, take the ride. Between him and Anthony Bourdain, I learned that the best travel writing doesn't sanitize anything, it just tells the truth about what a place actually feels like. I'm also a little obsessive about doing all of this affordably. Finding the deal, the workaround, the budget version of an expensive destination is honestly half the fun for me, and it's the whole reason I've been able to travel as much as I have.
Weekend Warrior
I'm a weekend warrior at heart. Most of this blog gets built around weekends, long weekends, and any PTO I can get my hands on, plus a background in marketing that comes in handy behind the scenes. I also run Lace Creates, my personal brand for content creation, marketing, and website work for small businesses. If that's what actually brought you here, you can find that side of things at lacecreates.com.
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What You’ll Find Here
Every guide starts the same way: I show up, pay attention, and write it down before the feeling fades. I'm after the trailheads and the overlooks, sure, but also the diner nobody posts about and the local who actually tells you where to go.
This blog, Lacy Wanderlust, is where I put all of it: Colorado guides from someone who actually lives here, national park trips, budget-friendly international travel, and the occasional detour into wondering about the origin story of some 1880s cabin I passed on a trail.