Tag: recap

2023: A Year in Review

On December 27, 2023

Pena Palace

2023 has probably been the best year of travel for us so far. We had several amazing, life-changing trips and visited many new-to-us destinations. We started the year in an airport: as the clock struck midnight we were walking through the Atlanta airport for a few hours shut-eye before catching our early morning flight home from Puerto Rico.

We discovered a love of train travel this year and took several weekend trips to Chicago on Amtrak. The train takes about the same amount of time as driving and it allows you to relax and do other things as you travel. We have found our favorite neighborhood in Chicago (River North) and are planning to return in 2024.

Disneyland Train Station

In March we crossed off another state in my goal to visit all 50 states before I turn 40. This time, we headed to California and took a wonderful cruise that allowed us to see a lot of the coastal cities. I understand why so many people love California. Each place was more beautiful than the last. The cruise also took us to Mexico and we have been trying to figure out when we can squeeze in a return trip. It was our first Celebrity cruise and it will not be our last. And of course, I realized my lifelong dream of visiting Disneyland.

In May, Chris went to a conference in Austin and I got to tag along for the weekend which was a fun way to break up the time between big trips. I have come to realize that some of the best meals of my life have been in the Austin area so I never turn down an opportunity to visit.

Sunset at Sea

Less than 3 months after our spring cruise, we hit the sea again for our longest and most crazy cruise yet, a transatlantic from Florida to Portugal. It was a return to our favorite cruise line (Norwegian) after 3 cruises and it felt like coming home. The ports were amazing and afterward, we spent a week and a half exploring the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain) with a stopover in Iceland on the way home. This trip was life-changing and we’ve just been figuring out how to return to Europe since we got home.

Enjoying a Glass of Wine at Bonobo

We stayed closer to home in the second half of the year. We took a few camping trips around Michigan, and in August, we spent a week in one of our favorite places, Traverse City, and we took our furry friends. While traveling with the cats added some challenges, not having to worry about them while we were away was worth it for us.

In the fall, we discovered how one-night getaways can be a fun way to break up the routine without having to shell out the money for multiple nights of lodging. We spent a night in Milwaukee that was surprisingly enjoyable and I would love to go back and see more of the city.

Icelandic Sheep

Overall, this was a year of seeing new places for short amounts of time. I have added many new places to my “to return to” list which I put into writing this year. I am struggling to figure out where to go in 2024 between the places I have never been and the places I want to return to. This will probably be a lifelong struggle. Stay tuned to find out where I end up next year!

Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, visit my Trips Page. To read campground reviews check out my Michigan Campground Reviews page. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page and follow me on Instagram! For my list of gadgets to make your travels easier, click here. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.

2019: Year in Review

By Ashleigh

On December 23, 2019

In Travel

2019 was the best year for travel in my recent memory! Before this year, the last time I had been on an airplane was New Years Day, 2014. In 2019, we took three plane trips and visited more airports than seems reasonable. I finally spent some time west of the Mississippi and even got to break out the passports a few times. We took another amazing cruise and took my family to one of our favorite places.

Today, a memory popped on Facebook that we booked our flights to Phoenix one year ago. That trip was a super busy whirlwind, but it was an experience I will never forget. It was my first time visiting a desert, it was cold and rainy so I still haven’t really gotten a true desert experience. It is still fun to joke about Phoenix being a cold and rainy place. Of course, the highlight was spending a day at the Grand Canyon. Getting there right after they had reopened due to a blizzard was amazing! Crowds were low and the snow really added something special to all of our photos. I’ve printed the above photo and it is now hanging in my living room.

Just about a month after getting home, we hopped on another plane for our much anticipated cruise. We bought a voucher for this cruise on our last cruise back in 2015. We had booked and cancelled and rebooked so many times I was worried we were never actually going to take this trip, so it was a great relief to finally get back on a ship! All of the ports were visited were amazing and we took some great excursions. I can say that I accomplished everything on that trip that I had hoped to. Of course, we also got to experience New Orleans, but I don’t feel like one day was really enough time to take that city in.

After getting home from our cruise, we had just a few short months to prepare for our trip to Maine with my family. It was good to go back and spend more time in a place that has so much to see and do. It was great to share it with my family and watch them take in the beauty for the first time. Of course, we still weren’t able to do all that we wanted to do at Acadia so we’re trying to figure out how we’re going to make it back to Maine in 2020.

Of course, we took some day and weekend trips since June. We went camping at Sleeping Bear Dunes and spent a chilly weekend by the fire in Canada. After spending all that time in airports in the first half of the year, I really do miss getting farther away. Especially with the weather getting colder, I would love to escape somewhere warm for a little bit! I have been obsessively checking for flight deals so we can jet off for another long weekend.

We do have another trip coming up before the end of the year. We are taking my mother-in-law this time and heading back to Corning, New York. Too bad we didn’t make it back to Boston, or we would’ve hit all of our stops on our 2018 road trip again this year. We’re heading out that way because the Corning Museum of Glass has an exhibit until the end of the year entitled “How Glass Got Us To The Moon” that we wanted to check out. So, be sure to stay tuned in the next few weeks for posts about that trip.

Thanks for stopping by! To read about some of our previous trips, click here. If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram! You can purchase prints on Etsy and Fine Art America. To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. For information about our new Guided Photography Tours, visit GuidedPhoto.com.