Make Your Next Trip Extraordinary

We four—my husband, daughter, son-in-law and me—had a glorious 4-night trip to Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks over 2026 Memorial Day weekend, which ordinarily would have been my worst nightmare—long lines and crowds! I had read on Wendy’s site about privately guided national park trips, which quickly erased my resistance to visiting them.

Melissa planned it all, from a knowledgeable local driver who fetched us at the Fresno airport and drove us to Wuksachi Lodge in Sequoia Park, to our rooms there and to our extraordinary private guide, Paul. He is my new best friend as we share a passion for trees. I plan on visiting other national parks with
Melissa’s’ help, now that I know how to organize them! I will also suggest to my grandchildren that they seek out a job in one of our national parks as summer interns. Wish I had thought of that!!!!!

Melissa planned a wonderful trip for my family to Seattle and Vancouver (Mar 28-Apr 4). She booked some nice hotels with the accommodations we needed and provided a balanced trip itinerary with scheduled activities and time on our own. She was super easy to talk to when planning our trip, and she listened to our preferences and interests.

The Pacific Northwest is beautiful and has a great vibe. We loved being by the water, the indigenous people’s history, the nature, and the food. For Vancouver, we highly recommend the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, the Aquarium, and Granville market. For Seattle, Pike Place market (of course), Ballard Locks, PacSci, Snoqualmie Falls, and the Space Needle (definitely worth it). There is a lot of stuff we wanted to do but didn’t have time, so we are talking about a return trip.

Our favorite activity that Melissa arranged was a private chef-guided tour of Pike Place followed by a cooking class for lunch. This was fun, educational, and a great way to experience the huge market.

Our trip to Las Vegas and Utah National Parks planned by Melissa Ladvala was perfect. Melissa spent time with me understanding what I was looking for—fun in Las Vegas, private tours in the parks with picnic lunches, transportation and great places to stay! She delivered on every aspect. When she couldn’t get a guide in one place, she substituted an off-road adventure that everyone loved!

Ken Gerstein and his wife next to a helicopter in Alaska.

Traveler Ken Gerstein and his wife had an “awe-inspiring” private helicopter ride to a remote glacier.

My wife and I just returned in late August from a terrific trip to Alaska planned by Melissa. Our trip took us to Anchorage, Talkeetna, Seward, Homer and Girdwood, and our activities included: private guided hikes at Denali State Park and Exit Glacier; a flight-seeing tour of Denali by plane with a glacier landing; a boat tour of Kenai Fjords National Park to see whales, orcas, puffins and other wildlife; and a flight to see bears at Lake Clark National Park. All of the arrangements made for us by Melissa went off without a hitch, and all of the services provided to us (transfers, tours and guides) were absolutely top notch.

One highlight of our trip was our 5-night stay at Kachemak Bay Wilderness Lodge (KBWL). At KBWL, we had a comfortable cabin with great views, wonderful food, and staff and guides that went above and beyond the call. Our activities there included kayaking, hikes (including a hike to a glacial lake with icebergs), fishing, tide pooling, and wildlife viewing. KBWL has only 5 guest cabins and the staff there (who were all personable and knowledgeable) outnumbers the guests. So everything is personalized for your own interests.

The other highlight was our WOW Moment—a private helicopter tour of the immense glaciers north of Anchorage that included a landing in the middle of a remote glacier. It was an incredible and awe-inspiring experience to stand all alone on a remote glacier surrounded by glacial pools and water flows. The great part about touring by helicopter was that you could see so much more than what is possible by plane since the helicopter can fly low and slow.

Planning our trip with Melissa was easy. She stayed on top of everything prior to our trip and was thus able to get us reservations at better hotels that weren’t initially available.

One final thing to note: We added an additional day to our stay in Anchorage at the beginning of our trip so that we could visit the Alaska Native Heritage Center (where we spent 3 1/2 hours!) and visit the Anchorage Museum. These places are well worth going to if you want to learn about the people and history of Alaska.

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