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...
Blog posts from USA Travel
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...
NC Outer Banks, May 2021: beaches and lighthouses
Bodie Island Lighthouse We didn't try to go up the lighthouse, but enjoyed the views from the ground. On the far side is a boardwalk through part of the marsh where we saw an Eastern King Snake and...
NC Outer Banks, May 2021: Introduction
With full vaccinations (!) and a desire for a quick getaway, Leandra planned a two night trip to the NC Outer Banks for my birthday. There were several firsts on this trip: (surprisingly) the first...
We’re vaccinated – let’s go to Florida!
After completing our second vaccinations, our first activity was driving down to Florida to visit family. Since we drove and were staying with Leandra's folks we brought Pasha, who definitely...
NC Mountains, October 2020: Lake Toxaway
As mentioned in a previous post [link], Smoky Mountain NP was too crowded for us, so the next day we changed gears and headed south to Lake Toxaway, an area we've driven past but hadn't explored on...
NC Mountains, October 2020: Smoky Mountain National Park
We have planned trips to Smoky Mountain National Park multiple times over the years, and each time something has caused us to cancel the trip - sick dog, bad weather, etc. This time we did finally...
NC Mountains, October 2020: Blue Ridge Parkway and nearby waterfalls
One of our primary reasons for staying in Western NC was the ability to access the very end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the only part we hadn't driven. Our first visit to the BRP was way back in 2002...
Our Itinerary
2026 Trips
Parrish, FL (Jan)
Medellin, Colombia (Feb)
Wilmington, NC (Apr)
Asturias, Spain (May)
Galicia, Spain (Jun)
Ireland (Aug)
Vietnam (Nov)
Laos (Nov)
Cambodia (Dec)
Singapore (Dec)
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)
Doha, Qatar (May)
Bristol + London, UK (Jul)
Long Island, NY (Jul)
Slovenia (Sep)
Treviso, Italy (Sep)
Bologna, Italy (Sep)
day trips from Bologna (Oct)
Turin, Italy (Oct)
Greensboro, NC (Nov)
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)