I came to this country as a 5-year-old little girl with just my small suitcase...

Alas, during my time in Phoenix last week, I heard the horses down by the Salt River, but as I hiked down the rocky incline,  I could hear the hooves as they scattered.  I spent an hour at the bend in the river, watching the early morning light change and dissipate my cold breath in the air.

We received a lot of advice about getting to Yosemite early, parking in one of the main lots and then taking the Shuttle, which takes you to just about every popular place, or you can hike from those popular places to where you want to be. This was our plan until my 14-year-old daughter sprained her ankle literally two days before our trip and ended up on crutches.  Our plans for hiking now had to be adjusted to Plan B: driving and parking as close to the sights as possible.

The perfect place to begin traveling again is Carson Valley, Nevada. I'm tired of making "bucket lists", after the year we have all been through, it's time to start thinking about really matters. What will feed my soul, renew and refresh me? Where can I once again feel a connection with people, and validate a sense of resilience and purpose? Go beyond things to check off on your travel goals list.

Now that I've been here about 2 and a half years, you can take my lessons learned if you want to use the most of your time in Hollywood on where to go and where not to go.