A little About Me.

My name is Alison Foust, although the only people I know that call me ‘Alison’ are people reading off an attendance list, and yes, as you might have gathered, Nathan does as well. To everyone else, I normally just go by Ally.

At the moment, I am living in Madison for school, but I was born and raised with Nathan in our hometown of La Crosse Wisconsin. I am currently a college student at the University of Wisconsin studying Marketing, Digital Studies, and Supply Chain Management while trying to take in as many college experiences as possible.

I’ve finally found a major that I love, but aside from studying I enjoy playing sports with my friends like volleyball—especially beach—basketball, and soccer as well as watching movies, cooking, and enjoying a respectable glass of wine or bottle of beer.

History of Family Vacations.

As Nathan mentions on his About Page, we grew up pretty fortunate and were able to take weeklong family vacations about every other year during the summer. I always looked forward to these trips as a time to get away and have fun with the family but never thought it would turn into a true passion of mine. Most of our early trips consisted of beach towns in Florida, or similar places, which was great, but I didn’t truly begin to crave travel until we found our way to the mountains. Don’t get me wrong, I love a relaxing day at the beach, but there is just something about summiting a mountain and seeing the world from a different perspective that gets me going. The views are so unbelievable that I can’t even begin to do them justice by simply writing about them, and each new breathtaking scene only intensifies my desire to see more.

The Start of My Obsession.

I think the moment I really realized that there was so much more out there in the world that I wanted to see was actually while scrolling through Pinterest. I would be looking through unbelievable  photos of exotic places that I could only dream of going to, when images of this beautiful place kept coming up. What was that special place you ask? None other than Glacier National Park. It was then and there that I realized I could and would go see this place with my own eyes, and I haven’t looked back since.

Well, it wasn’t as easy as that. You see, Nathan won’t admit it, but our parents— our mom in particular—have a bit of a soft spot for him and he can convince them of just about anything. When he finally got to pick where our family vacation would be a few years earlier, I thought for sure this would be a choice that was passed around and I would have my chance to decide. That did not happen. I begged and pleaded with my parents to choose Glacier as the next vacation spot, but nobody was buying it. I had given up hope of ever getting out there, when one day out of the blue Nathan said, “if you want to go to Glacier, I’ll go with you.” And the rest is history.

That road trip for a week in the summer of my junior year of high school was the start of what I thought was going to be a lifelong tradition of him and me trekking to various National Parks every summer together. Unfortunately, life can get in the way and we’ve had to modify our plans a few times, but have only missed one summer entirely. Our travel peak so far together was probably the summer of 2019 when we spent an entire month driving around multiple states tenting and hiking. This was also the first summer of the infamous Honda S2000, or more easily understood as a small two-seater, bright yellow convertible. Hence the idea of “Top Down Lifestyle” was born. 

My Top Destinations

Glacier National Park

My all time favorite National Park located in Montana and Canada.

Salamanca, Spain

Where I went on a school trip in high school.

La Crosse, Wisconsin

I will always have a soft spot for my hometown–it’s beautiful.

Ten Fun Facts About Me.

1. I am competitive about anything and everything.
2. I have played the cello since fourth grade.
3. I have a love-hate relationship with running.
4. You will not catch me without my sunglasses until it’s literally dark outside.
5. My skin is either pale or red–I do not tan.
6. I got up on my first time ever wakeboarding, but have never been able to do it since.
7. I have had at least four–diagnosed–concussions.
8. The way to my heart is through an ice-cold Dr. Pepper.
9. I will chew the same piece of gum for hours, well after it has lost its flavor.
10. I love Tarantino films, and my top pick would definitely be Django Unchained.

Travel Dreams.

• Visit every National Park.
• Live in Spain & finally become fluent.
• Travel around the U.S. living out of a van for a year.
• See the Northern Lights.
• Kayak down a waterfall.

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