Talley Your Adventure – The Blog

Adventure Awaits!

At Talley Your Adventure, we don’t just plan luxury and culturally rich travel experiences—we live and breathe them. Our blog, travelingtalleys.blog, is where we share the real stories behind our adventures: kayaking alongside glaciers in Alaska, exploring temples in Japan, chasing waterfalls in Iceland, and wandering through storybook towns in Germany. If it’s unforgettable, chances are we’ve done it—or we’re planning it next.

Nicolette brings deep experience in travel and heritage. With a Master’s in Public History, she’s worked as a Supervisory Park Ranger, Revenue Manager, and Program Analyst across multiple national parks for over a decade. Her career has taken her from managing interpretive boat tours in Alaska’s wild backcountry to overseeing large-scale visitor service projects with million-dollar budgets. And yes—she’s also a licensed 100-Ton Inland Master Boat Captain who’s led cultural and ecological tours from riverboats to remote beaches.

Clinton’s travel roots run just as deep. He’s worked in logistics and operations for the National Park Service and was a key member of the hospitality team aboard National Geographic Lindblad Expeditions. From managing guest services on remote international voyages to coordinating facility software systems stateside, he knows what it takes to deliver seamless, high-end travel experiences—even in the most unpredictable places.

Together, we created Talley Your Adventure to bring our experience, passion, and attention to detail to your travel planning. Whether it’s a fully curated group trip or a personalized vacation built just for you, we combine expert-level service with insider know-how—so you can focus on the magic of the journey.

Want us to help you on your next adventure? Head over to www.talleyyouradventure.com!

@talleyyouradventure_dv
Sakura Blooms – Inuyama, Japan

Keukenhof Gardens, Netherlands

Keukenhof Gardens, Netherlands

Welcome back to #NationalParkWeek posts! Our last post to celebrate this week will focus on the Keukenhof Gardens, located in the Netherlands. I was very disappointed when I found out that the peak bloom season for the cherry blossom trees in D.C. started when I was going to be in Europe, so to make up for it we decided to go to Keukenhof 20180404_123620 (1)instead! I found the gardens while we were watching Rick Steves. 🙂 It definitely more than made up for the blossoms!

Keukenhof is one of the world’s largest flower gardens, located in Lisse, South Holland. We were lucky because we have friends who live pretty close to the location who also were nice enough to pick us up in Amsterdam and drive us to the gardens for the day.

Keukenhof has some interesting history that dates back to the 15th century, with Countess Jacoba van Beieren would gather the fruits and vegetables from the area for the kitchen of Teylingen Castle. The Keukenhof Castle was built in 1641. The castle gardens were redesigned in 1857 by Jan David Zocher and his son, Louis Paul Zocher, in the English landscape style. In 1949 a plan was created to use the estate to exhibit spring-flowering bulbs. The park officially opened its gates to the public in 1950 and hosts a theme every year in honor of the various gardens. This year the theme is “Romance in Flowers”, and with the many beautiful colors arranged gorgeously around a grand landscape it definitely fits!

Windmills and clogs seem to be essential distinguishing aspects of Dutch culture (to us at FB_IMG_1524234848277least!) and they did not disappoint! There were opportunities to pose with the large clogs and the beautiful windmill surrounded by the gorgeous, bright flowers were a great backdrop. Another important Dutch icon is the tulip, which was the main reason we were visiting the gardens. The gardens were not all at their full bloom but that didn’t matter! These gorgeous flowers came to western Europe around the sixteenth century. Seventeenth century Netherlands produced the Dutch Golden Age and Tulip mania, which include creating variegated patters in the tulip flowers. From this point on, the Netherlands became the major producer of tulips at world markets.

By the way, the Dutch Golden Age will probably be mentioned throughout the next few articles when I describe our Europe trip in more details, but to tide you over for the moment remember that this was a 150 year span starting with the Thirty Years’ War and ended with the Netherlands becoming, at the time, the foremost maritime and economic power in the world.

Enjoy the slideshow of pictures – there were too many to include in only one post! Until next time, I hope you enjoyed National Park Week and were able to #FindYourPark wherever you are!

 

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