Our Blogging Year in Review {2023}
Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick, Canada
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With 2023 officially in our rear view mirror, we want to take a moment to look both behind and ahead . . . including a bit of a teaser for some new content coming soon!
to make much of time: 2023 by the numbers
In early February, we’ll celebrate our five year anniversary of To Make Much of Time and are enjoying it as much as ever! 2023 saw our greatest readership to date (thank you!) and a 40% increase over the prior year. We posted the largest number of new blog posts since year 1, clocking in at 43, bringing our all-time total to 264.
2023 adventures in travel
In 2023, we had a lot of amazing travel experiences, which included:
Checking out more local hikes in our beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain home. We keep a post of all local hikes here.
6 days hiking all the trails at Breaks Interstate Park, a park which sits on the border of Virginia and Kentucky. We rented one of the park’s dog-friendly cabins with a view of a small lake. (Read here.)
A week in West Virginia with half the trip in the New River Gorge area and half in Canaan Valley. We enjoyed a variety of hikes, including those with amazing vistas, explored a ghost town, and more. (Read here.)
Taking our longest trip to date mid-summer: a 13-day road trip to explore New Brunswick, Canada, with many stops on the way from our home state of Virginia. We learned about the Acadian culture, explored two national parks in Canada, and our car wheels touched the ground in 10 US states! (Read here.)
A 3-day cabin stay at Hungry Mother State Park in Marion, Virginia (Posts coming soon.)
2023 adventures in reading
After exceeding my goal in 2021 to read 100 books (I finished the year at 103), I set a goal in 2022 to hit that again and fell quite short at a total of 72. So I decided to go for a do-over in 2023, set my goal at 100 again, and this time exceeded it with 107 reads. I’ve already decided to pare back my 2024 goal to 50 given all the other priorities in my life!
With such a large number to pick from, I’ve selected 5 apiece of fiction and non-fiction that really stuck with me this year. Many are also books I’ve also reviewed in more detail, and those links are included below.
The Woman with No Name by Audrey Blake - a World War II tale of espionage based on the true story of Yvonne Rudellat’s heroic and brave efforts to undermine the Germans in Vichy France. This novel is set to be released March 12, 2024 and is available for pre-order. (Read our review here.)
Close Your Eyes: A Fairy Tale by Chris Tomasini - Given that this book truly is a fairy tale, it is best read instead of described, but to me the novel breaths life into the importance of story-telling and how through the narratives we tell about ourselves and our lives, we define and refine our purpose. (Read our review here.)
The Evolution of Anabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald - the small town of Dayton, Tennessee, was thrust into the public consciousness in the 1920s when it became the epicenter of the famous Scopes trial, which tested the ability to teach evolution in schools. This novel is set to be released April 16, 2024 and is available for pre-order. (Read our review here.)
Rednecks by Taylor Brown - tells the story of Blair Mountain, the spot of the largest union uprising in America which transpired in the 1920s. The novel is set to be released May 14, 2024 and is available for pre-order. (Read our review here.)
The Anomaly by Herve Le Tellier - the New York Times is quoted as saying this is the best thriller of the year in 2021. Who am I to argue with that? In all seriousness, this book is utterly unexpected, intriguing, and has layer upon layer to peel back. At its core: what if you got on a plane and arrived in an alternative version of your own life? This novel tackles the big questions about existence.
Looking for the Hidden Folk: How Iceland's Elves Can Save the Earth by Nancy Marie Brown - a fascinating tale about Iceland’s history, culture, beliefs and how they exist in our modern world where climate change is threatening even the most remote places. (Read our review here or check out our Iceland trip posts here.)
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer - some parts memoir, some botany, some ecology, some Native American traditions and culture, some spiritual, and some musings on motherhood, family, and community. The common thread running through all these pieces of Kimmerer’s work is the reciprocal relationship that needs to exist between the Earth and all of its inhabitants, especially humans. (Read our review here.)
Virginia’s Lost Appalachian Trail by Mills Kelly - in researching the trail, the author came across a surprise and has produced a fascinating little-known history of about 300 miles of the trail through Southwestern Virginia that until 1953 was routed very differently than today’s well-trodden path. (Read our review here.)
God Save Benedict Arnold by Jack Kelly - an astounding deep dive into someone whose name went down in American history as a traitor but who was far more complicated and could as easily have been remembered for his earlier heroism that in fact saved America. (Read our review here.)
The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World by Patrik Svensson - I picked this up on a whim in a rental house in West Virginia and was riveted for two days, learning more than I ever knew I wanted to learn about eels. While they still give me the heebie jeebies, I think they’re way cooler than I ever gave them credit for. Even if you don’t think you’re interested in eels, I recommend this!
Muddy - but worthwhile! - hiking in Fundy National Park in New Brunswick, Canada
Views of Kentucky from Virginia at Breaks Interstate Park
adventures in life
We continued with our soap-making and candle-making experiments, new hobbies we picked up in 2022. We also continued to make strides on Laurel Ridge, our 130-acre mountain that we purchased in 2022. You can read more of this year’s efforts there in this post. But a BIG chunk of our time has been spent toiling and sweating over our newest adventure, which is all I will say for now, but which we’ll start to feature in the coming months!
what’s in store for 2024?
As semi-fanatical dog parents to our 3 Labrador Retrievers who are truly a pack of old ladies, we have decided to do more low-key travel to places where they can join us. Our youngest just turned 11, and our oldest turned 14 back in October. Honestly, we’re incredibly lucky that they are spry, happy, and healthy, but that doesn’t mean boarding them at the vet while we travel internationally is appealing either at this stage. So, I have held off on too much advance travel planning for 2024 until recently. We now have three trips booked through mid-year.
Smith Mountain Lake State Park - While we’ve done some hiking here in the past and it is only about an hour from our home, that makes it just inconvenient enough that we haven’t really explored the trails. So, we’re renting a dog-friendly cabin in the spring. In case you missed it, Travel + Leisure named Smith Mountain Lake (“SML” to locals) the “Lake Tahoe of the East” earlier this year. While I don’t see it (I’ve been to Tahoe), it is still a great spot!
For the third year running, we will be visiting West Virginia. We’re going to be to Watoga State Park, West Virginia’s largest state park, which we visited in September 2021. In that prior case, we mostly hiked outside of the park itself so we want to do more in-park hiking and do some additional biking on the Greenbrier River Trail (a rail to trail path). Again, this checks the dog friendly cabin box! (Read about our prior trip here.)
We’re excited to visit Carter Cave State Park in Kentucky as well. This spot looks to be right up our alley with dog-friendly cabins, hikes that look interesting and rocky, and a number of caves in addition to other outdoor activities. I found this park about a year ago and look forward to visiting. This will be our first real trip into Kentucky, since our prior trip to Breaks Interstate Park was really just on the Virginia/Kentucky border.
Thank you for joining us on this adventure, and we look forward to sharing more in 2024!
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