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Justine & Sam Goldon | Outdoors & Adventure Travel

@thegoldonqueers

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The intersection of outdoor adventures, queer/trans visibility & vulnerable chats. You are safe here. 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈
📍Dena’ina land (Anchorage, AK)

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To be honest, I’ve been procrastinating on putting together a 2025 recap reel for a while now. Taking the time & energy to perfectly curate a catching, aesthetic thing that people will “like” just doesn’t feel as interesting anymore, when with that time & energy I could be looking up, doing the things. And I think what’s changed is I’m wanting to not just do the big, exciting things that made this video - I want to enjoy slower moments too. Maybe I want to put together another puzzle, slowly this time, or take the dog for a walk with no headphones in, or actually read a freaking book for once next year. I really have come to appreciate the zest for life I’ve grown into - an outcome of all the decade I spent living with a really serious, life-stopping chronic illness. I love how much we go & do. But just as I was reflecting on that around the dinner table with friends last night, four hours later Justine was calling an ambulance for me. I spent the night in the ER and today I’ve done nothing but be horizontal. Is it the universe telling me to slow down in 2026? Is it a reminder to be more grateful for the generally capable body I do have now? Is it a lesson that it’s okay to press pause? Life will indeed go on if I don’t get this video up in time for people to care about it.

Edit: and then I dropped my phone on my face and it accidentally pressed “post.” Unedited, stream of consciousness, I guess this is what you’re getting. I definitely think this was the universe saying something - just fck it and stop overthinking, Sam. You’re allowed to just be, and that’s a beautiful thing. by @thegoldonqueers

Obsessed with this era of us.

Looking back at photos past & present just really emphasizes the immense growth we’ve experienced, individually and as a partnership. Both the confidence we each have in the way we express ourselves outwardly, and the softness with which we hold ourselves internally - for our minds & our bodies - has just expanded so beautifully in the last couple of years.

I’ve come out and found myself on this gender journey. Justine has discovered and harnessed her ADHD. I’ve gone back to therapy and started opening up more. Justine has reached a beautiful place in her eating disorder recovery, feeling stronger than ever and more at peace with her body than she’s ever been. We’ve invested in new hobbies and sought out new adventures and taken on more responsibility at work, which is especially true for Justine. We’ve lived in our first home for a whole year, planting actual roots and building community. And later today we’ll be embarking on our third group trip with a bunch of amazing queer folks who felt safe & seen enough to fly across the world to adventure together, and we’ll never stop feeling grateful for and honored to have that opportunity.

Some days I think, ‘Are our early 30s the peak?’ But then I have the feeling & the hope that this may just be a very wonderful, very beautiful false summit.

In any case, this really feels like the golden years, and us - we’re The Goldon Queers. 💛✨

#queercouple #lgbtcommunity #queer #transpride #pan #nonbinary #queer #lgbtoutdoors by @thegoldonqueers

We’re Justine (she/they) & Sam (they/them) - a queer, outdoorsy, travel-loving, quirky, niche-less married duo happily settled in Anchorage, Alaska. We started this account when we got married back in 2019 as a means to document our adventures together, but it’s become a means of finding community & connection that has changed our lives for the better, forever. We’re genuinely so glad you’re here. Now a re-intro of us! 👇🏼

Sam!
Proudly non-binary & trans masc 💉5/18/22 🔪1/17/23
For work: pediatric nursing but let’s skip to the fun stuff
For play: rock climbing, mtn biking (or training for that on the Peloton), running, all things skiing, any reason to sleep outside or off the grid, game nights, & eating ice cream
Good at: planning, keeping spaces clean & tidy, to-do lists, responding to all the things (no notification bubbles on my home screen 🤘🏼)
Bad at: turning the brain off aka relaxing
Role on here: writing captions, posting stories, responding to DMs
You outta know: I’ve lived with chronic illness since I was 14 - first IBD (ulcerative colitis), got my colon removed, now interstitial lung disease
Fun fact: ask me about the time I pooped in a litter box 😽

Justine!
Proudly pan + queer and constantly evolving my idea of gender and where I fall
For work: software product manager 🤓
For play: weightlifting (been lifting 5x/week for over 10 years now!), XC skiing, sleeping under the stars, tending to my ever-growing plant collection, and whatever current hyperfixation hobby my ADHD has drawn me to 😅
Good at: learning new things, seeing the bright side, making people laugh, sourdough baking, chefing it up
Bad at: responding to texts, having my schedule disrupted
You outta know: I’ve recently been diagnosed with ADHD and while I start meds and continue to understand and work with (not against) my spicy brain, I’m unpacking many chapters of my life previously shadowed by shame (particularly my teen years spent in wilderness therapy/residential programs and how I possibly got in the situation to get arrested at 26)
Role on here: Photography, editing, ad-hoc stories, business comms 🤓
Fun fact: I’ve gone skydiving butt naked 🍑 by @thegoldonqueers

An ode to one of our favorite movies of the year. 🪵🐟💕 If you haven’t seen it yet, you must!

Turns out Value Village had a lot of wicker baskets and it also turns out that if you hot glue through panty hose it still glues to your skin and hair underneath. Swipe to the end to see how I got it all off. 💀 by @thegoldonqueers

I have my mom to thank for all of this. After years of my childhood spent typing thoughtfully at her formal wooden desk - no doubt a present to herself for braving night school at 40 as a single mom to get that BFA in English - if there’s one gift my mother gave me, it’s the ability to write a kick ass essay. And the other would be that I should trust in my own still small voice. That it’s okay to have feelings, and it’s good to say them out loud. My perspective, my emotions - they were worth something, wanted, held with care and uplifted. They were celebrated, as we all should be for using our voice. I am so grateful for that blessing, and I’m honored to continue this journey of our shared passion, our footsteps as letters winding through forests of feelings, climbing mountains of meaning, like rivers weaving, flowing, converging towards a place of connection, where her and I and we all meet. That’s the hope, of course. So if you’re with us - thank you. I’m really happy you’re here. 🫶🏼 by @thegoldonqueers

Bring on the wild ice, the alpenglow, the 4pm sunset skis turned into cozy cabin nights eating ramen by candlelight. People think that summer is Alaska’s best season, but those people have never biked into glacial ice caves or watched the aurora dancing over Denali or skied amongst hoarfrosted trees twinkling in the late morning glow. There’s just so many amazing ways to get outside and explore in winter, and this year we’re adding one more hobby to our list - we’re taking an avalanche safety course to get us out in the backcountry for skiing. What a beautiful world we get to live in. 🥹❄️ by @thegoldonqueers

let me tell you kid,
we get to go run in the woods
and go bike with our friends
and come home to our best friend
and the cutest lil animals
and then go outside and play basketball
while listening to Simple Plan
with the sun on our back
leaves rustling in the trees
the same wind that blows through
our fuzzy legs,
back to the way they were then
free, again
but even freer!
because we’re outside our own home
our flag waving proudly
bearing all the colors,
because all of me and you and her and us
is welcome here
it’s safety and it’s grounded and it’s full of joy
it’s like we drank a magic potion
and it turned us into a boy 💉🏳️‍⚧️✨ by @thegoldonqueers

It’s tiiiime! The midterm elections are happening now. I know you’re tired, I know past disappointments feel defeating, I know it feels easy to be complacent when the options at hand don’t fully represent you, I know we’re ready for the ads to stop (trust me, my dad’s been on them - I can’t wait for this to be over). But we have to seize this moment. We have to do our part. One foot in front of the other. Zoom out and you’ll see that the arc of history bends towards justice. We have to stay engaged. Alaska, there is SO much at stake here. We are a battleground state! Remember what those who’ve come before us have done to get us here and use that to fuel your fire.
VOTE EARLY! Vote by mail!
And if you have a yearning and capacity to get more involved - check out opportunities organized by the @indivisibleteam ❌👑! You can use your voice and be a part of Phone Banks or canvassing through their Neighbor2Neighbor program. Spread the word.
Know your options, know your rights, know that you do matter. We all do, and that’s why we have to show up - voting is community care. We’re in this together. 🫶🏼

#IndivisiblePartner by @thegoldonqueers

I cried so many emo tears reading what y’all shared. I got messages from ex-Mormon missionaries who served in my dad’s ward (also one is now a freaking rock star?!), neighbors I grew up next to who have secretly been hating my dad’s MAGA hats, so many moms and dads offering their parental love, someone who played on my same high school soccer team in Kansas where I played with my first ever girlfriend, a cishet dude I used to work with who said the kindest things, another cishet man in rural Alaska asking genuine questions about hot button trans issues so he could understand better, Rosie O’Donnell (🤯😅), folks all across Alaska who yelled profanities (or “shut up Rebecca!” 😂) at their TVs when my dad’s face came on, and so so many folks navigating similar heartbreaks within their families who were grateful for this moment to feel less alone, and so was I.

If you need a boost, go read the comments. Trans people are so wanted and needed in this world. We are a lantern. We are lighting the way for all people from all walks of life with all sorts of unique stories to show up just as they are, and to be celebrated for it. How fcking heartwarming is that? 🥹💗

Also - if you’re trans masc and looking for more community & connection + an epic adventure, join me on my next 🏳️‍⚧️ trip to Bali next May! Leave a comment or send a DM if you’re interested and I’ll send ya the info! 🫶🏼🤙🏼 by @thegoldonqueers

It’s a desperate situation we’re in, on the defensive, never knowing who to trust who is safe when is the next blow like free falling backwards I just want to live each day like it’s all I have left without fear or sadness or reminders that my siblings are being framed, we’re being blamed, being shamed, being tamped down like rocks in the soil - so why are we delivering blows to each other? why are we letting them turn us against our own? - but I still believe it’s not hard minerals and stone that make us who we are. They’ve tried to bury us but what they don’t know is we are seeds. And if you ask me I will say we should share our nutrients and take on the rain and find gratitude for moments of sunshine and become the garden that blooms and offers the world wisdom & softness & liberation, the pure air we all need to breathe.

For the last 7 years we’ve let a lot of our lives be public-facing, visible, vulnerable. I won’t pretend for a second that it’s entirely selfless - I’ll be the first to share that this platform has given me a thousand lifetime’s supply of affirmation, connection, & opportunities - but it is activism. We may have different approaches, but we’re on the same team and I’m trying the best I can to do what I can with what I have in the ways I know how. And I guess I think that’s all we can ask from each other.

Today, I’m letting out this breath

and
onward
we
walk. by @thegoldonqueers

It’s pretty cool that love shines brighter than hate. It’s so sad that the angry keep the rich in power and that anger is aimed in the wrong direction. This viral moment is proof that we, the people, hold more power than we think. I say use it - even when you don’t think it will matter. You never know how far your voice, lofted above the noise, carried like a glass bottle on the tides of a collective calling for kindness and hope and protecting - no, preventing - the vulnerable, from war and from climate disaster and from being a punished for choosing a life that lights you up inside, from men who have yet to face consequences, from a culture that tears apart families outside their front doors and through their TV screens within… They have anger; we have grief. And anyone who’s experienced loss knows that grief is rooted in love. We’ve all seen how far that message can reach, how deeply it can touch. Elections may not have the perfect candidates, but I still believe it’s important to show up and do our part to steer the ship back towards the light. Now’s the time to get your voting plan on the calendar, friends. Spread the word! by @thegoldonqueers