The forecast for Saturday was rain, especially in the mountains, so we decided to start south and work our way back. After breakfast we drove down to Castle in the Clouds for the Shannon Brook trail...
Blog posts from USA Travel
New England, October 2021: New Hampshire hikes and sights, part 2
On Friday we started fairly early on the popular Kancamagus Highway ($5 day use fee for all stops). Our first stop was the Pemigewasset Overlook, which was a little underwhelming. I think we are...
New England, October 2021: New Hampshire hikes and sights, part 1
The majority of our trip was spent exploring in New Hampshire, and as usual, waterfalls were a significant component. We finally arrived in NH on Wednesday afternoon (Sept 28) and managed to hit...
New England, October 2021: introduction
We've wanted to experience a New England autumn for years, but other trips always took precedence. This year we found a great airfare deal to Manchester, NH, so we booked a week-long trip. With...
Oregon 2021: wineries
Because of COVID we had to make reservations in advance for each place, so we only did 1-2 places per day, which forced us to relax at each a bit more than in previous trips. Arborbrook Our first...
Oregon 2021: Willamette Valley restaurants
Rosmarino Osteria Italiana, Newberg Probably our favorite restaurant in the valley (other visits), if they had been open on Wednesday we would have gone for our anniversary. Alas, this year they...
Oregon 2021: coastal drive
We left our Monday free of wine tasting reservations in the hopes of visiting the Oregon coast, and thankfully, the weather cooperated with our plans. Our plan was to check out the section from...
Oregon 2021: Portland
Our Oregon trip was bookended by days in Portland. On Sunday morning, we checked out of the Holiday Inn and headed to the Gateway Breakfast House for breakfast. They were busy! After a short 10...
Oregon 2021: introduction
If you asked us in 2019 where we would go for our 20th anniversary, we likely would have replied with somewhere in Asia, or perhaps the Pacific. Fast forward to 2021, and we did end up along the...
NC Mountains Summer 2021: waterfalls + hikes
Although this was a 'working vacation' in western NC, we still had plenty of time with a full weekend plus some late afternoon days to do some exploring in the late summer sun. On Saturday, we...
NC Mountains Summer 2021: Blue Ridge Parkway
On this trip we managed to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway twice, Sunday and again on Friday. On Sunday we decided to have a picnic dinner, first stopping to pick up food from Ingles and Publix, then...
NY Summer 2021: Wine and beer tasting
Much like previous summers, we spent a few afternoons visiting local wineries and breweries in July. Lenz Winery, Peconic We've been members for years now, and Lenz always has some interesting wines...
NY Summer 2021: shucking oysters!
A few days after we arrived on Long Island I started noticing "Local Oysters" placards popping up along the side of the main and north roads. Normally, I would get my oyster fix once or twice a...
NY Summer 2021: daytrip to Orient
On a Thursday with beautiful weather we set our emails to out-of-office and drove with my parents out to Orient, the very end of the North Fork of Long Island. Our first stop was at Opties and...
NY Summer 2021: Food
We were much more active this summer compared to 2020, and since things were generally open, we were able to return to old favorites as well as try some new spots. In general chronological order:...
NY Summer 2021: beaches
In 2021 we made a concerted effort to get to a beach for sunset several times a week - while conditions didn't always cooperate with great light, each visit was still worthwhile. Bailie Beach A...
NC Outer Banks, May 2021: Sylvan Heights Bird Park
Reminiscent of our experience at the World of Birds in South Africa, this NC bird park located in Scotland Neck had a reasonably photogenic collection of birds to check out, only 2 hours from RTP....
NC Outer Banks, May 2021: Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park and Museum
On the way to the beach Leandra surprised me with a stop at this fun little park in downtown Wilson hosting a collection of large whirligigs - the blue skies were a great backdrop for the colorful...
Our Itinerary
2025 Trips
Tampa Bay, FL (Jan)
Buenos Aires, Argentina (Feb)
Villa la Angostura, Argentina (Feb)
Bariloche, Argentina (Feb)
Iguazu Falls, Argentina + Brazil (Feb)
Miami, FL (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Mar)
Boston, MA (Apr)
Kathmandu, Nepal (May)
Bhutan (May)
Slovenia (Sep)
Treviso, Italy (Sep)
Bologna, Italy (Sep)
Turin, Italy (Oct)
2024 Trips
San Diego, CA (Jan)
Sarasota, FL (Feb)
Madrid, Spain (Mar)
Valencia, Spain (Mar+Apr)
Palma, Mallorca (Apr)
Croatia (May)
Long Island, NY (July)
Faroe Islands (Aug)
London, UK (Sept)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
London + Manchester, UK (Dec)
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)