Going to bed early the night before allowed us to wake up before dawn on Monday to get to the Moraine Lake area at sunrise... along with a hundred other people! Our planning paid off though because...
Blog posts from hiking
Canadian Rockies: Johnston Canyon, Lake Minnewanka + Johnson Lake
A few of the hikes we wanted to do involved beating many of the other park patrons to a parking lot, so we found ourselves up with the sun to drive to Johnston Canyon on Sunday morning. After a...
Canadian Rockies: Sundance Canyon hike + seeing old friends
We landed late into Calgary and had to wait a bit for the shuttle van to the hotel but the welcome sign was cheerful! Woke up early to meet our friends Jay & Anne who drove us to our rental car...
Scotland 2017: Loch Ness
Upon landing and waiting for the rental car, the weather changed multiple times... sunny, pouring rain, cloudy, back to sun, etc. So, welcome to Scotland! We were waiting behind a couple who were...
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 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...
New Zealand – Clay Cliffs and return to Christchurch
On our drive from Christchurch to Wanaka we passed a sign pointing toward the Clay Cliffs near the town of Omarama. We wrote a note to ourselves to remember them as a possible stopping point on our...
New Mexico 2014: Albuquerque to Santa Fe
Our main destination for Saturday night was Santa Fe. By interstate it would take about an hour; but taking scenic backroads and making stops at several spots turned it into an all day exploration....
Asia/Australia 2013: Yarra Valley hikes & sights
While the area around the Yarra Valley is well known for its wines there are also a number of nice nature spots in the neighboring hills too. We started out our first morning with a curvy drive to...
Asia/Australia 2013: Yarra Valley wine tasting
Our first winery stop was Innocent Bystander in Healesville, a bustling restaurant and shop with a wine tasting area near the front door. They offered a free tasting that was ok but not really...
Asheville 2012: views
Last weekend we packed up the Vue, put Riesling in the back seat, and drove out to Asheville to enjoy some hiking amongst the fall color. We hit six waterfalls between Dupont Forest, Pisgah Forest...
British Columbia 2012: waterfall hiking
In addition to the waterfalls in Strathcona Park we visited several other waterfals on our Vancouver trip. Our mileage varied... Ammonite Falls We had some time between the ferry arrival and showing...
British Columbia 2012: Paradise Meadows
Following our first excursion deep into Strathcona Provincial Park we next forayed onto the western facing Paradise Meadows atop the mountain ridge. This part of the park is linked to the...
British Columbia 2012: Strathcona Provincial Park
Strathcona Provincial Park was a primary objective on our Vancouver Island itinerary, and we spent our first full day exploring and hiking around the Buttle Lake part of the park. The drive from our...
Chile 2012: Exploring Santiago
We had an evening flight out of Santiago which gave us the whole day to explore the city. Our first stop was the sculpture park located just across the river from our hotel. I really enjoyed seeing...
Chile 2012: Daytrip from Santiago
For our first day in Santiago we wanted to get out of the city and eventually booked a trip with AndoAndes. They had very good reviews on TripAdvisor for their main hiking excursion to the nearby...
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)
Puglia, Italy (Sept)
Matera, Italy (Oct)
Rome, Italy (Oct)
Mosel Valley, Germany (Oct)
Frankfurt, Germany (Oct)
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)