About Sami

Sami is always up for an adventure. She’s just a big kid who lives for spending time outdoors. Living in Montana, she finds adventure around every corner. With adventure comes a ton of learning, problem solving, contemplating, playing, and growing- all things she loves to do!

Sami believes that nature is the ultimate classroom, benefiting everyone. Her goal is to spark wonder and curiosity in children that will inspire them to get outside. 

Questions with Sami

Favorite Things?

Laughing, Playing, Reading, Hiking, Camping, Backpacking, Swimming, Mountain Biking, Climbing, Fishing, Writing, Exploring New Places with Josh(her husband), Trying New Things, Coffee, Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans, Playing with the Rocket and Ray (her pups), Traveling, Animals, Nature, Alone Time, Yoga, Meditating, Running, Food, Getting to Know People - these are a few of my favorite things...

Favorite Job?

Writing Children’s Books- duh! :) But before this, I LOVED getting paid to kayak, take water samples, and fish. I also enjoyed my time at the Ocoee River! I also LOVED walking around looking at historic and prehistoric things in the middle of Beautiful Nowhere. When people would ask what I did as an archaeologist, I’d say, I walk around the desert looking for old trash! I always thought how cool it would be to write stories about these objects we found- hence Gertrude & Daisy’s Great Basin Adventure.

Favorite Place?

Man, I really love so many and each place is so uniquely perfect! The Nevada Desert, Trinity Alps, Big Island of Hawaii, the Southwest, Tahoe and Chattanooga hold a very special place in my heart though.

How’d you get to Montana?

Josh and I jumped in our truck camper and traveled around the country for about a year in search of a place that felt like us. We really fell in love with this country and ultimately Montana became our base camp.

Sunrises or Sunsets?

Definitely sunrises! It is so peaceful before the world wakes up!

Things or Experiences?

Experiences 100%. I would spend all my money on experiences or ways to gain more experiences! (Here’s a secret though- I’m a reformed hoarder. My friends in college use to joke that I’d be on buried alive! Now, I love love love simplicity and throwing things out. Less really is more!)

One Wish?

I wish I could Yodel!

What have you always wanted to learn?

How to play the bagpipes!

Why Children’s Books?

I love the curiosity and wonder that children have for the world… We don’t have to lose it as we get older. Combine that with outdoor adventures and loved ones and you have the recipe for a happy life!

Have a Question? Feel Free to Ask :)

A Deeper Look…

For all of you who want to know more…

Growing up in California and Nevada, I remember being outside all the time! My sister and I played outside literally everywhere we went. We made mud pies, climbed on the roof of my great grandmas house, played Pocahontas in our pool (the diving board was the diving from the cliff scene), gardened with our grandma, and climbed rocks and trees anywhere and everywhere! I remember camping trips every year to Yosemite and other various places around California and Tahoe. The only indoor play I remember was baking with my aunt and being allowed to watch ONE episode of Rug Rats with after dinner ice cream before bed.

I am fortunate enough to have a family that loves to travel and camp. We went on numerous camping and road trips and I even got to leave the country multiple times! All these experiences shaped my love for other cultures and the great outdoors. It is something I hope to continue with my own family.

After high school, I went to study anthropology and archaeology at the university of Nevada, Reno and fell in love with the Great Basin and the sage! Hard work was instilled in me from a young age and I managed to graduate debt free thanks to working three jobs while being in school full time. While it was a lot, I secretly loved it. I loved the independence and I loved the busyness. I worked in cosmetics/retail, hospitality/restaurants, and my favorite, natural resources where I seriously got paid to kayak and fish!

After undergrad, I worked as an archaeologist and explored all over the beautiful state of Nevada. I absolutely loved it!

Change was calling though and I took a management job with Estee Lauder, moving to Tennessee. I decided then to go back to school to get an MBA. There is a fine line between balancing work and play and I was needing more play. So I left management to work at a rafting outpost and at the YMCA as a water aerobics instructor while pursuing my MBA.

I met my perfect lifelong adventure partner, Josh, shortly after moving to Chattanooga. I have always been pulled towards outdoor adventure and luckily, so is he.

We camped, hiked, and backpacked all over the South with our two pups. Some of the best times were spent living in our 5th wheel on our friends farm exploring every weekend. At this time of my life, I fell in love with trail running, mountain biking, and rock climbing. Oh, and started my own Social Media Marketing business.

The West started calling again and like that, we were off on our next adventure! There is so much beauty to see and adventure to be had in this country- we were itching to experience it. We weren’t tied down with a house nor did we have children. It was the perfect time to hit the road and explore. We worked and explored for about a year traveling all over the West in our truck camper. It was an incredible experience and helped up pick the place we wanted to lay down roots to start a family- Montana.

That year on the road also helped me realize my true passion for writing and imagination. I’ve kept a journal since I was a child and had always loved writing stories as a kid. As an adult the stories played themselves out in my head never finding paper but always there. Any quiet moment I had was spent in my head imagining things! Sometimes they were stories, sometimes they were scenarios. Sometimes they were real life, sometimes they were completely creative and unrealistic…

So the beginning of 2019 I decided to become a children’s book author and put all my passions together: Writing, Imagination, and Nature.