Our flight to Spain left Chicago O'Hare on Monday, so we decided to position ourselves in the city on Sunday just in case of travel delays. Unfortunately, Southwest only had an early Sunday morning...
Blog posts from USA Travel
Florida’s Sun Coast: overnight in Savannah
For our trip back to NC we decided to spend a night in Savannah - it would break up the trip into two easier driving days, plus we had a free night certificate at an IHG hotel that we needed to use....
Florida’s Sun Coast: Sarasota sights
During our two weeks in Sarasota we were a 10 minute walk from Crescent Beach so we visited multiple evenings. Even when the color wasn't great we were entertained watching the pelicans and terns...
Florida’s Sun Coast: restaurants
During our two week stay we tried lots of restaurants, ranging from classic breakfasts to a beach cocktail spot, and from in-restaurant to take-away. Breakfast Original Word of Mouth - Quite busy on...
Florida’s Sun Coast: breweries
With two weeks on the west coast of Florida we had multiple opportunities to explore local breweries. First up was Corporate Ladder, our favorite brewery in central Florida - we stopped by three...
San Diego 2024: sights
While most of our time in San Diego was spent working, we did have some time to enjoy the sun and sights. North Park Most of our time in this neighborhood was spent in restaurants or bars, but while...
San Diego 2024: food & drink
Thursday This year we arrived in San Diego in the early evening, so after checking in to the hotel {link to hotel blog post} we drove to Hillcrest Brewing to check out what they had on offer....
San Diego 2024: where we stayed
Where We Stayed Much like in 2023 and other years past, we divided our week-long stay between Hotel Circle and Pacific Beach. Holiday Inn Express - Mission Valley Located within a few minutes walk...
2023 Year in Review
Previous years-in-review – 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009 In 2023 we focused on longer, slower trips. That led to less total flying than in...
Oregon Wine Tasting, a weekend with friends in Willamette Valley
A Southwest airfare sale spurred us to look at some options for a quick weekend trip in December, and much like 2019, we choose a weekend of wine tasting in Oregon's Willamette Valley. On this trip...
Labor Day weekend in Oak Island, NC
Over Labor Day weekend we were invited to stay at a house two blocks from the beach in Oak Island, NC - how could we say no? Oak Island is less than a 3 hour drive from our place, but we still made...
Midwest 2023: three days in Wisconsin
In 2022 we had plans to visit our friend's house on Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin, but ended up cancelling. Determined to visit, we re-scheduled for August 2023, first flying into Chicago and renting a...
Summer 2023: overnight in Lancaster PA
On our way back home from New York we stopped for a night with our friends in Lancaster, PA. After unpacking the car, they took us to Lititz to check out some breweries and local shops. Downtown was...
NY Summer 2023: food
Over the weeks we were in NY we tried a lot of different food options, from restaurants with a view to farmstands and spots in between. Below are our notes: July 2 We arrived in time to spend the...
NY Summer 2023: wine and beer tasting
July 1: Long Island Farm Brewery We stopped here after a long day of driving to stretch our legs. Though this brewery is about 30 minutes from my parent's house we had never visited before. I...
NY Summer 2023: sights
We spent the majority of July away from NC, escaping some of the heat and humidity. Though we typically worked during the day, we had plenty of time in the evening and on weekends to check out the...
Summer 2023: weekend trip to Connecticut
It has been several years since we had seen some of our family members in Connecticut, so the weekend after Independence Day we traveled up for a quick overnight visit. Our 9:30am ferry out of...
The mountain vacation that wasn’t
Instead of heading out-of-state for Memorial Day we planned a week-long return (2021, 2022) to the NC mountains. As the title of this post indicates, it simply wasn't meant to be... On 11am Friday...
Our Itinerary
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Oak Island, NC (Sept)
Brooklyn, NY (Sept)
Bordeaux + Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castilla y León (Sep)
Seychelles (Nov)
Willamette Valley (Dec)
2022 Trips
Florida (Feb)
NC Mountains (Apr)
Washington DC (Apr)
Valencia, Spain (May)
Hilton Head, SC (May)
Pacific NW (Jun)
Long Island (Jul)
Florida (Sept)
Chicago (Sept)
Poland (Sept)
NC Mountains (Nov)
Euro Xmas Markets (Dec)