Over the course of the week we tried a number of breweries and restaurants in the NC mountains. April 10 Oskar Blues, Brevard - we'd been here previously so we knew they had lots of parking and a...
Blog posts from restaurants
Week in Florida: Eat + Drink
Other Breweries Good Liquid Brewing - We originally planned to go to the South Manatee location, but at the last minute we noticed their newish location in Sarasota that was a little easier to get...
Chicago, December 2021
A trip to meet up with Leandra's sister and family in early November fell apart, so we decided to fly up to Chicago for a long weekend in December. Since we also had a free Hilton night we needed to...
New England, October 2021: Maine food & drink
When I was planning the Maine part of the trip I knew we would have to visit Allagash, but I also stumbled across the large list of sours and dark beers at Barreled Souls Brewing -- definitely a...
New England, October 2021: New Hampshire food and drink
On our first evening in NH, we went to Covered Bridge Farm Table for dinner right around sunset, where we managed to snag a table looking over the river and famed Blair Covered Bridge! Eric had the...
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: 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...
NC Mountains Summer 2021: food and drink
Frog Level Brewing - Waynesville After a 4.5 hr drive we were happy to be out of the car and ready for a beer! I took Pasha for a quick walk while Leandra scouted the brewery for seating options....
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:...
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...
NC Mountains, October 2020: Intro and Food
Facing a 14-hour drive back from Illinois, we knew we would want to stop somewhere along the way. As we checked over the map for options, Western North Carolina looked viable (~10 hour drive). It...
Midwest 2020: overnight in Cincinnati
In September we drove from North Carolina to Illinois to spend a week with Leandra's sister and family. Given it is a ~14 hour drive we broke it up into two days, spending a night in Cincinnati....
NY Summer 2020: North Fork Food + Drink
With coronavirus restrictions we were very selective about where we went this year, but still got to try a few restaurants, breweries and wineries. Food A Lure Chowder House - This was the first...
Grand Cayman: food
Grand Cayman is known as a pricey destination, and we definitely found that to be true. However, we were pleasantly surprised at the general quality, so at least you are getting a commiserate value...
UK January 2020: Bracknell
Bracknell is a convenient town for accessing my UK office, but it generally lacked interesting restaurants. After a multi-year development the downtown is completely re-done, including new...
UK January 2020: London
In mid-January I had a work trip to the UK which gave me some time to head into London. Leandra wasn't able to come on this trip, so I focused on theater shows and museums she was less likely to...
Patagonia: Puerto Varas food + drink
We arrived into town on a sunny Sunday and after checking into our B&B we decided to walk into town and grab lunch. Puerto Varas has some lovely views of the lake and volcanoes, and as with...
Patagonia: Torres del Paine food + drink
Restaurante Pehoe - This restaurant had a great view and good Google reviews, but a recent menu change and incompetent staff resulted in the worst meal we had on the trip. On Thanksgiving no less. I...
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)