As we do every year, we made multiple trips to the beach for sunset. Unlike 2021, we had quite a few good sunsets this summer! We found lots of jingle shells to add to our collection and managed to...
Blog posts from beach
Spain 2022: Valencia – El Cabanyal
We centered our Saturday afternoon around reservations for a late lunch at Casa Montaña, and we were very happy with our choice to do so! From the old town we used google maps to help find a bus...
Hilton Head Island, May 2022
For my birthday weekend we happily accepted an invitation to stay at our friend's house in Hilton Head Island, SC. Somehow we'd never been here before, and the amount of trees and hidden development...
NY Summer 2020: sunsets
One of our favorite activities on Long Island is going to the beach for sunset, especially since Pasha is allowed off-leash. in 2020 we were able to go quite a few times, and each time was a unique...
Grand Cayman: Kimpton Seafire Resort
The main reason to go to Grand Cayman was to use two free night certificates from IHG that were expiring. After investigating several California properties, we decided we'd rather go to the...
Oregon: Cannon Beach
For our overnight on the coast Cannon Beach was a good spot since it put us within walking distance of several restaurants. We had a free Hotels.com night to use, and one of the few places that had...
Marlborough: mussels and Cable Bay
After checking out of the hotel at 10am and packing up the car, we walked into town to do a little shopping at the local souvenir shop. On our way out of town we stopped at one last winery before...
Eric’s 40th: Iceland day 5 – back to Reykjavík
After a filling breakfast at the hotel we checked out and started our leisurely drive back to Reykavjik. Before we left Vik we wanted to see their famous black sand beach, so we started there for...
Nusa Dua: Grand Hyatt
We wanted to be relatively close to the airport for our final night, and since I had a free night with Hyatt, we decided to stay at the Grand Hyatt in Nusa Dua. I'd seen the Nusa Dua area described...
Candidasa: Tirta Gangga, Ujung Water Palace and White Sandy Beach
The east side of Bali has several temples and sights of interest, so we search Tripadvisor and a few other websites for a driver and found Gejor. Before our trip we corresponded via email and...
San Diego 2014: where we stayed
In mid-January I attended a conference in San Diego, and after a busy weekend Leandra flew out for the remainder of the week. Though we've been to SD many times now, we still love returning and it...
Curacao 2013: sights
Around Thanksgiving we found several interesting travel deals for 2013, and a return to Curacao for a long weekend was one of them. Since we had explored much of the island in 2007 we didn't feel...
Asia/Australia 2013: Great Ocean Road coastal sights
From Melbourne we drove about an hour south through dry countryside before hitting the first views around Torquay. With a beautifully sunny day we had views in every direction. Along the road we...
Asian adventure 2011: Similan Islands
We'd read that Thailand's Similan Islands had some great snorkeling that shouldn't be missed, so we emailed the hotel concierge for some advice. Our hotel recommended Andaman Leisure Phuket (ALP),...
Beaches and snorkeling in Kauai
We spent time relaxing on the beach in Kauai, mainly at two destinations: Ke'e Beach and Tunnels Beach. Both are on the north end of the island and both have an abundance of trees and therefore,...
Humacao Nature Preserve and El Yunque
The weather was supposed to be unpredictable on Sunday, so we rescheduled our planned snorkeling trip via email to Monday and headed down to the Humacao Nature Preserve instead. Supposedly, this...
St Martin, the beaches
We spent a lot of time on this trip exploring various beaches all over the island. The idea was to hit the recommended snorkeling spots and then do some strolling and people watching at the more...
Grand Case, St Martin
The first thing we needed to decide after buying the tickets to St Martin was where on the island we wanted to stay. The northern (French) side of the island is better known for dining and...
Our Itinerary
2023 Trips
San Diego (Jan)
Orlando (Feb)
Richmond, VA (Apr)
Northern Italy (Apr)
NC Mountains (May)
Long Island (Jul)
Wisconsin (Aug)
Chicago (Aug)
Bordeaux (Sep)
Rugby World Cup (Sep)
Castile and 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)