Bringing Down the White Picket Fence
A Couple's Quest to Live Globally
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For a couple of years now we’ve been quietly stashing away points in our United airlines app for the trip of a lifetime: Japan. Once we’d accumulated enough points to obtain two roundtrip tickets from Newark to Tokyo, we paid the $100 in taxes and fees and finally booked the flight. It would turn out to be one of the best decisions of our lives. On June 23rd, we Ubered to the… Read More
It has been about a month since we returned home from our first trip to Portugal, and we can’t stop talking about it. Paul’s YouTube subscriptions are now overflowing in the category of “expat tips for moving to Portugal”, and upon my arrival home each day after work, he’s eager to show me every video he could find highlighting some small city, town, and/or village he thinks would suit us best. He… Read More
We are putting together a new series on the blog called “The Mets Travel Series” to feature cities around the United States who are hosting the Mets at their home stadiums this season. We are eager to travel to some new places that have always been on our list, and feature some tried and true favorites that we’ve returned to again and again. We promise, you don’t need to be a Mets… Read More
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’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
This past weekend, we enjoyed some time away in New York City. We love to stay downtown near the Financial District. Here it is always sleepy on the weekends, with great restaurants and magnificent views. The best part is, we are just steps away from the Governor’s Island Ferry or a subway ride or ferry into Brooklyn. Here are some scenes from our recent venture into downtown Manhattan.
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
What do you know about this quote carved into the marble of the southeast wall of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, D.C.? If, like me, you read the words and thought, that’s powerful and pertinent, but what’s the context? Did he say it? Write it? Who was it directed at? So, I did a little research. This is from a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to Samuel Kercheval, a Virginia lawyer and… Read More
Bringing Down the White Picket Fence 