“We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”

Traveling has become my way of decompressing from the stress of everyday life. The idea of traveling appealed to me as a child as I listened to my grandma Kuhn share stories of places she had visited. She had a hutch with glass doors to showcase her collection of coffee mugs; each cup was labeled with the city and state she had visited. When I would visit we would pick out a coffee mug and she would share stories from that vacation. That’s when I decided to make traveling a part of my life, however, I didn’t know how important traveling would become in maintaining my own mental health!

My name is Kristy Bettinger and I am a Registered Nurse currently working in Oncology at our local cancer center. I started my nursing career at the age of 18.. That’s over 16 years ago now! I love being a nurse, it is very rewarding to be able to lift patients and their families back up at some of the worst times in their lives. There are days you are thankful to be there for families, and there are days we all barely make it through. My patients encourage me not to take life for granted, every day counts; almost daily inspiring me to live out our family dreams.. don‘t keep waiting for a better time.. the time is now!

I love traveling not only to de-stress but LEARN more about life! The traveling began in 2007 with my husband David (boyfriend at the time) and I’s first trip together!

A little about my family… David and I have been married for 12 years, together for 18 years total, and have 3 energetic kids! Our oldest son is Hayden, he loves racing ATV’s; currently in the GNCC series (Grand National Cross Country) We travel all over the eastern US from February - October for racing! We have another son Luke that loves anything related to farming or camping.. Especially building wood fires! In June 2020 we completed our family with our little girl Lynlee Jane! We don’t know what Lynlee‘s thing is yet, but we know she loves being outdoors! ❤️

That is what brought me the idea of making a blog about our family.. Nursing isn’t the only job in today’s world that can become overwhelming at times. In 2021 everyone has added stress to their daily life no matter what their career is! ... including stay at home moms! (I have been a full time working mom, stay at home mom, and now a part time working mom.. they are all stressful in different ways!) I am hoping that writing blogs about ways to travel and get away to clear your mind together as a family becomes inspiring to others. Traveling or vacationing doesn’t have to be exotic, on a beach, or cost thousands of dollars! My boys favorite camping trips are at Wolf Run State Park just a little over 5 miles from our house! I hope you enjoy following our journey as we seem to live life at full throttle!

Disclaimer: My full throttle blogs are for entertainment purposes only. These are my families stories to share for fun, and our opinions only. I am not giving professional advise or recommendations. Thank you for reading! ❤️