Bringing Down the White Picket Fence
A Couple's Quest to Live Globally
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In July of 2022, we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on a trip to San Diego and Los Angeles. Still a bit unsure of the Covid situation, we decided against flying to Europe and masked up for a plane ride back to California. San Diego was great; LA was tolerable. Paul returned with Covid; I somehow returned without it. It’s May 2023 now; well into a very new year. I’m just allowing… Read More
Before I start this post about Healdsburg and Santa Rosa, I’d like to take some time to talk seriously about the English muffin experience we had in St. Helena. If you read the First Stop: Yountville post, then you know we made a stop at The Model Bakery on the way to Calistoga to get our very first taste of Oprah’s favorite English muffin. After reflecting on this experience over the last… Read More
Downtown Calistoga is an old western town with modern amenities. As the northernmost place to visit in Napa Valley, it’s rustic yet charming with a laidback vibe and relaxing atmosphere. Eateries line the main thoroughfare with craft brews and vegan lasagna, while a community of friendly and hardworking citizens gather at the Calistoga Inn to raise a glass to a hard day’s work in the tasting rooms and vineyards. Accommodations range from… Read More
We booked this spring break trip in January during the height of Omicron when cross country flights were around $320 per person. We had a flight credit that had to be used, and I considered myself incredibly lucky to find two roundtrip flights to California for the exact amount of our credit. Even the American Airlines representative was impressed to realize that I did not owe them a single cent more than… Read More
We’ve been embracing train travel more than ever these days. Amtrak has become therapeutic in delivering us from point A to point B without the stress and exhaustion of navigating a car on America’s increasingly dangerous highways. We are comforted by the chug of the train beneath us as we pop in our AirPods and watch the window show. It thrills us that we are well on our way to earning a… Read More
I’m totally ashamed to admit that my first taste of Frank’s Deli in Asbury Park was today. In honor of Bourdain Day, I had one request. While I was at work, Paul was to go to Frank’s and get me a #4 sub with hot peppers, the same way Bourdain ordered it when he visited for his New Jersey episode of Parts Unknown. It was one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever… Read More
I never got to eat at Dooky Chase’s restaurant, and because of that, I never had the honor of meeting Leah Chase, a culinary icon of New Orleans. Sadly, Leah Chase died on June 1st at the age of 96, leaving behind a legacy bigger and more famous than the delicious gumbo she served up to presidents, civil right’s activists, celebrities, and travelers. Leah Chase transformed her husband’s small sandwich shop in… Read More
I don’t like to be stuck in a city in the rain; I don’t have good hair for it. I do prefer to sit in a window and watch other people dash through it, some of them so elegant, others so mysterious. Paul always seems to capture these breathtaking moments of people walking through the city. He can usually find the one person with the most stylish patterned umbrella as they delicately… Read More
There’s nothing that intrigues me more than grand, historic buildings filled with good food and passionate people. Paul may have had the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on his list, but my must-do Cleveland adventure started here at West Side Market in Ohio City. Ohio City is a neighborhood just west of downtown Cleveland and the Cuyahoga River. It is filled with good restaurants, hopping breweries, and happy locals eager to… Read More
There’s something about Washington, D.C. and sunshine. The sky, the trees, those cherry blossoms when they’re in bloom. Who doesn’t love this city? We’re a little bit of Alexandria and a little bit of D.C. people. This means that when we travel there, we have to visit both. I always said that if we won the lottery, we’d need to have a vacation home in Alexandria. It’s probably not the Caribbean Island… Read More
Bringing Down the White Picket Fence 