Our big adventure for the day was the "Heart of the Park Explorer" hike and kayak trip with Kaiteriteri Kayaks in Abel Tasman Park. We were picked up at the hotel at 7:25am. I was a bit worried when...
Blog posts from waterfalls
Wellington: botanical gardens & coastal views
Since breakfast was good the day before, we returned to Sweet Mother's Kitchen. Eric got scrambled eggs on toast and I got a flat white with an order of beignets and the breakfast burrito. Service...
Wellington: day trip to Martinborough
After a great night's sleep and feeling a mild aftershock while laying in bed, Eric got up to work out and I caught up on computer stuff. For breakfast we walked over to Sweet Mother's Kitchen where...
Leandra’s 40th: Silver Falls State Park
We've been wanting to go to Silver Falls State Park since our very first trip to Oregon, but it always fell off the list for one reason or another. This trip we set out to rectify our previous...
Leandra’s 40th: Columbia River Gorge
Our original plan for our last day in Oregon was to drive to the coast, but I vetoed four hours of driving in favor of returning to the Columbia River Valley and visiting some waterfalls we hadn't...
Leandra’s 40th: Mt. Hood
On this trip to Oregon we originally intended to spend Friday wine tasting in Willamette Valley. However, with an expected temperature of 95F, we decided to escape to a higher elevation in search of...
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...
Eric’s 40th: Iceland Day 4 – Fjallsárlón and Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoons
For day 4 our main destinations were the glacial lagoons Jökulsárlón and Fjallsárlón, several hours drive from Vik. As usual, we made quite a few stops along the way. The first stop was a quick hike...
Eric’s 40th: Iceland Day 3 – Selfoss to Vik, waterfalls galore and Skógafoss
The day started out overcast with a light drizzle but cleared up the further east we headed. From Vik our first waterfall of the day was AEgissufoss, a large river cascade near Hella. Parking was...
Eric’s 40th: Iceland Day 2 – RAIN!
This will be forever referred to as the 'wet' day in Iceland. It was about 40 degrees and drizzling with gusty winds and after two stops at Gullfoss and Geysir we were absolutely soaked. Thankfully...
Eric’s 40th: Iceland Day 1 – Golden Circle and Þingvellir National Park
After some debate on time and routes, we decided to head north to Hraunfoss & Barnafoss waterfalls. They were far away from the Golden Circle but we are glad we made the detour because it turned...
Middle East 2016: Wadi Shab
We knew that Wadi Shab tends to become more crowded as the day progresses, so we decided to leave Muscat by 7am. After about 30 minutes of driving through the various suburbs of Muscat we enjoyed...
Wild West 2015: Yellowstone (Day 2)
We decided to make the famous Old Faithful geyser our first stop for the morning, so we walked over from our cabin ~20 minutes beforehand to find a nice viewing angle. Thankfully we had enough...
Wild West 2015: Yellowstone (Day 1)
We arrived at the West Yellowstone park entrance around 4:30pm where entry was quick and painless with our airport-purchased pass. It doesn't take long for Yellowstone to welcome you - 20 minutes...
UK 2015: Glencoe and Ben Nevis
Heading north out of Callander we stopped briefly at the Trossachs Mills for a few shots of Hamish and Honey, the wooly highland cows. A few miles down the road, and though my car registered the...
UK 2015: Southern Scotland daytrip
One of the major to-dos on our trip was for our friend to visit her family castle, MacClellan's Castle. Located in southern Scotland, we decided to make it a day-trip from Glasgow and visit several...
Auckland: Waitakere Ranges and Hunua Ranges
The weather around Auckland was quite unsettled when we visited in March, with rain and sun trading places intermittently and causing us to skip a few of our planned hikes. However, we did get to...
Drive to Milford Sound
Since we were starting in the afternoon due to the Doubtful Sound cruise, we needed to prioritize which sights we would visit before it became too dark to hike. Along the drive we decided our first...
Our Itinerary
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)
Bari, Italy (Sept)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
Grand Rapids, MI (Nov)
London, UK (Dec)
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)
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)